Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services v. Mendez

98 So. 3d 604, 2012 WL 3023214, 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 12116
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJuly 25, 2012
DocketNos. 4D11-4644, 4D12-196
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 98 So. 3d 604 (Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services v. Mendez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services v. Mendez, 98 So. 3d 604, 2012 WL 3023214, 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 12116 (Fla. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

GROSS, J.

This consolidated case concerns parallel class actions, in the Palm Beach and Bro-ward County circuit courts, over the destruction of citrus trees by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Two classes, comprising affected landowners in Palm Beach County (the Mendez class) and Broward County (the Bogorff class), filed suit against the Department and its commissioner. The gravamen of the complaints was their inverse condemnation claims. In final judgments, the circuit courts found the Department liable and awarded, in the Palm Beach

action, $19,222,490.52, and in the Broward action, $8,043,541.50.

The issues in the appeal and cross-appeal of these non-final orders involve post-judgment proceedings on how, or whether, to allow the plaintiffs to execute on their judgments against a state agency. We hold that the applicable statute precludes the issuance of a writ of execution against the Department and decline to reach the constitutional issues at this time.

Palm Beach County Case

The Palm Beach County final judgment provided that “[ejxecution shall not issue on this judgment absent further order of this Court.”

The Mendez class moved for a “further order.” They made two arguments. First, the class contended that section 11.066, Florida Statutes (2000),1 which prohibits the execution of judgments against the State and its agencies, should be interpreted in light of a property owner’s right to receive full and just compensation for a taking, and that another statute, section 74.091, Florida Statutes (2000),2 serves as an exception to the prohibition in takings [607]*607cases. Second, and alternatively, they argued that section 11.066 was unconstitutional as applied to takings judgments as an infringement on the power of the judiciary to determine full compensation.

The Department opposed the motion for a further order. The trial court granted the class’s motion and ordered the issuance of a writ of execution after “the conclusion of all appellate proceedings arising from” the final judgment. The court noted that neither party disputed that the Department’s taking was an exercise of the State’s police powers, making it appear that section 11.066 required the class to obtain a legislative appropriation. However, the court reasoned that the language in subsection 11.066(4) — “Notwithstanding s. 71.091, a judgment for monetary damages” (emphasis added) — created an exception to the rule precluding execution against the State and its agencies, and set out to determine whether that exception applied.

Starting its analysis, the court noted that in Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services v. City of Pompano Beach, 829 So.2d 928 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002), we applied the provisions of chapter 73, the main eminent domain statute, to inverse condemnation claims. The court observed that no court had ruled on the similar applicability of chapter 74, the proceedings supplemental to eminent domain statute. After considering the State’s constitutional guaranty of full and fair compensation for takings, and that such compensation is compulsory, the trial court held that the section 74.091 exception applied, so that the class could seek execution of their judgment against the Department without going through the section 11.066 appropriations process. The court did not reach “the question of whether section 11.066 is unconstitutional.”

Broward County Case

In the Broward final judgment, the trial court stated the amount of the award, followed by the language “for which let execution issue.” The Department moved to preclude issuance of a writ of execution. The circuit court granted the Department’s motion. It “conclud[ed] that [s]ee-tions 11.066(3) and (4), Florida Statutes, govern on the issue regarding execution on the Final Judgment in this case,” and declined to follow the ruling of the Palm Beach circuit court. Instead, the court held that section 11.066 “[took] precedence over [s]ection 74.091, even in these circumstances.” The class’s remedy, the court wrote, was that provided by section 11.066 — the appropriations process. If the class went through that process and could not secure an appropriation, “this Court may permit execution to issue.” Finally, the court held that section 11.066(3) was constitutional as applied.

I

The heart of the Palm Beach order was the application of section 74.091 to allow the issuance of a writ of execution. However, chapter 74 does not apply to inverse condemnation proceedings.

Statutory interpretation is reviewed de novo. GTC, Inc. v. Edgar, 967 So.2d 781, 785 (Fla.2007). “The plain meaning of the statute is always the starting point in statutory interpretation,” the goal of which is to ascertain and give effect to the drafters’ intent. Id. (citing Holly v. Auld, 450 So.2d 217, 219 (Fla.1984)). When the statute is clear and unambigu[608]*608ous, courts will not look behind the statute’s plain language or resort to rules of construction. See Daniels v. Fla. Dep’t of Health, 898 So.2d 61, 64 (Fla.2005). Where possible, a court “must give full effect to all statutory provisions and construe related provisions in harmony with one another.” Forsythe v. Longboat Key Beach Erosion Control Dist., 604 So.2d 452, 455 (Fla.1992).

Section 74.091 is found in chapter 74, which involves “proceedings supplemental to eminent domain.” Section' 74.011, Florida Statutes (2000), which defines the “scope” of the chapter, provides:

In any eminent domain action, properly instituted, by and in the name of the state; the Department of Transportation; any county, school board, municipality, expressway authority, regional water supply authority, transportation authority, flood control district, or drainage or subdrainage district; the ship canal authority; any lawfully constituted housing, port, or aviation authority; the Spaceport Florida Authority; or any rural electric cooperative, telephone cooperative corporation, or public utility corporation, the petitioner may avail itself of the provisions of this chapter to take possession and title in advance of the entry of final judgment.

(Emphasis added). The provisions of chapter 74 accordingly apply only to traditional, state-initiated eminent domain actions. Neither the Broward nor Palm Beach classes were a petitioner enumerated in section 74.011.

In its order, the Palm Beach County circuit court noted that City of Pompano Beach held that chapter 73 — “Eminent Domain” — applied to inverse condemnation cases. 829 So.2d at 931. However, that case cannot be extended to control the application of chapter 74 because chapter 73 does not contain a limitation on its application similar to section 74.011.

II

Both classes argued that subsections 11.066(3) and (4), Florida Statutes (2000), are unconstitutional as applied to their cases. First, they asserted that subsections 11.066(3) and (4) unconstitutionally restrict the right of Palm Beach and Bro-ward homeowners to recover payment of full and just compensation. Second, they contended that the statutory provisions unconstitutionally interfere with the power of the judiciary. We do not reach this issue because in the Palm Beach County case the issue was not preserved, and in the Broward County case the issue was not ripe.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
98 So. 3d 604, 2012 WL 3023214, 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 12116, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/florida-department-of-agriculture-consumer-services-v-mendez-fladistctapp-2012.