Grova v. Baran

134 So. 2d 25
District Court of Appeal of Florida·Decided September 29, 1961·No. No. 2248·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

SHANNON, Chief Judge.

This appeal is from a final decree permanently enjoining the appellant, defendant below, from collecting garbage in certain garbage collection districts in Palm Beach County.

In 1955 the Legislature passed a Special Act, Chapter 31118, which authorized the Board of County Commissioners of Palm Beach County to grant franchises for garbage and waste collection, and empowered the Board to fix district boundaries for this purpose. The Act also set out other standards by which the Board was to be governed, and stated that the purpose of the Act was to promote the health and general welfare of the community.

On December 15, 1959, the plaintiff (ap-pellee) filed his bill of complaint, seeking a permanent injunction restraining the defendant from collecting garbage, trash or rubbish in districts numbered 3, 4 and 6A, the districts for which the plaintiff had an exclusive franchise. Various defenses were filed and testimony was taken. The chancellor, in his final decree, held for the plaintiff and granted him a permanent injunction, stating in his decree, in part, as follows:

“Ordered, Adjudged and Decreed that the Defendant, his servants, agents and employees be and they are hereby permanently restrained and enjoined from collecting garbage, trash or rubbish or engaging in the business of collecting and disposing of garbage, trash or rubbish within the districts numbered 3, 4 and 6-A, as described in Exhibit A attached to the complaint herein.”

Chapter 31118 of the Special Acts of 1955 provides, in part as follows:

“Section 1. For the purpose of promoting the health and general welfare of the communities, as hereinafter provided, the Board of County Commissioners of Palm Beach County, Florida, is hereby authorized and empowered to grant franchises in such districts in said County as may be designated by it lying outside the boundaries of any city or town, to persons or to corporations applying therefor, the same to inhere to the heirs or assigns of the said persons or to the successors or assigns of the said corporations, for the purpose of collection, removal and disposal of garbage and waste in such districts. Such Board of County Commissioners by resolution may designate and create districts in such size, number, shape or area as it may from time to time deem best suited to carry out the purpose of this Act. The said franchises may be exclusive or nonexclusive, but shall not exceed the term of five years.”

There is provided in the Act the procedure for obtaining such franchise. Pursuant to the Act, the Board of County Commissioners, on January 23, 1956, passed a resolution establishing and describing certain garbage and trash collection districts in the confines of the county and awarding [27] exclusive franchises to certain named trash and garbage collectors. This resolution was amended by further resolution of the Board on February 27, 1956, which set out the districts that are the subject of this suit. The defendant failed to apply, under the Act, for a franchise for districts numbered 3, 4 and 6A, or any part of them, although the Act itself had a provision requiring him to make such application and secure a franchise if he were to obtain any rights or interest in the garbage services in these districts. Notwithstanding defendant’s failure to make an application, he proceeded to solicit and engage in the business of garbage and trash collection within the plaintiff’s exclusive territory in violation of the Special Act and in direct contravention of the terms of the plaintiff’s exclusive franchise. That the defendant did encroach upon the plaintiff’s territory is not denied by any of the pleadings or by the testimony that has been presented.

Throughout his brief and his argument the defendant hits constantly at the principle of non-delegation of legislative power. We agree that the principles he cites are correct. In Bailey v. Van Pelt, 1919, 78 Fla. 337, 82 So. 789, 793, the court had this to say concerning the problem of the delegation of the legislative power:

“The Legislature may not delegate the power to enact a law, or to declare what the law shall be, or to exercise an unrestricted discretion in applying a law; but it may enact a law complete in itself, designed to accomplish a general public purpose, and may expressly authorize designated officials within definite valid limitations to provide rules and regulations for the complete operation and enforcement of the law within its expressed general purpose. This principle of the law is peculiarly applicable to regulations under the police power, since the complex and everchanging
conditions that attend and affect such matters make it impracticable for the Legislature to prescribe all necessary rules and regulations.
“Authority to make rules and regulations to carry out an expressed legislative purpose, or for the complete operation and enforcement of a law within designated limitations, is not an exclusively legislative power. Such authority is administrative in its nature, and its use by administrative officers is essential to the complete exercise of the powers of all the departments.”

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Grova v. Baran, 134 So. 2d 25 (Fla. Ct. App. 1961).

134 So. 2d 25 (Grova v. Baran) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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