Hoesch v. Broward County

53 So. 3d 1177, 2011 Fla. App. LEXIS 1510, 2011 WL 408882
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedFebruary 9, 2011
Docket4D09-3843
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 53 So. 3d 1177 (Hoesch v. Broward County) 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
Hoesch v. Broward County, 53 So. 3d 1177, 2011 Fla. App. LEXIS 1510, 2011 WL 408882 (Fla. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

ROSENBERG, ROBIN L., Associate Judge.

Brian Hoesch and South Florida Siberian Husky Rescue, Inc., appeal a final summary judgment denying relief in their declaratory judgment suit filed against Broward County, Florida. That suit challenged two Broward County ordinances regulating dangerous dogs on the grounds that they are in conflict with state law. We find that the ordinances conflict with state law, and reverse.

The relevant facts are undisputed. Hoesch’s dog, Mercedes, escaped from Hoesch’s back yard and attacked and killed a neighbor’s cat. Prior to this incident, Mercedes had never been declared dangerous by any governmental authority. Broward’s animal control division took Mercedes into custody, where she remains. Broward served Hoesch a “Dangerous Dog Disposition” notifying Hoesch of its intent to destroy Mercedes. Per the ordinance, Hoesch requested a hearing. The hearing officer sustained the disposition. Hoesch then sought declaratory relief in the circuit court, arguing that the ordinance conflicted with Florida’s animal control statutes such that Broward could not rely upon the ordinance to destroy his dog. Hoesch and Broward filed cross-motions for partial summary judgment on the claim that the ordinance and state law conflicted. The trial court entered final summary judgment in favor of Broward and this appeal followed.

The “Dangerous Dog Disposition” was made pursuant to the Broward County *1179 ordinances regulating dangerous dogs. Broward defines a dangerous dog as, among other things, “any dog that according to the records of the Division or other animal control or law enforcement authority ... [h]as killed or caused the death of a domestic animal in one incident, while off the owner’s or keeper’s property and while unprovoked.” Broward County, Fla., Code of Ordinances ch. 4, 4-2(k)(2) (emphasis added). Broward prescribes the disposition of dogs that have not been previously designated dangerous:

If any dog not previously classified as dangerous ... causes the death of a domestic animal, while unprovoked and while off the owner’s or keeper’s property, an officer shall immediately confiscate and impound the dog and, after written notice to the owner and expiration of ten (10) business days from the date the owner receives the notice, dispose of such dangerous dog in a humane manner.

4 — 12(j)(2) (emphasis added).

Florida has specifically defined a “dangerous dog” as any dog that according to the records of the appropriate authority “[h]as more than once severely injured or killed a domestic animal while off the owner’s property.” 767.11(l)(b), Fla. Stat. (2010) (emphasis added). Florida requires the destruction of dogs that have previously been declared dangerous if they attack a domestic animal without provocation. 767.13(1). Thus, chapter 767 does not require the destruction of dogs, such as Mercedes, that have killed a single domestic animal. In fact, reading these two statutes together, a dog would have to kill at least three domestic animals before section 767.13(1) would require its destruction.

The parties stipulate that the issue presented in this case is not one of preemption. If there is no issue of preemption, then the question is whether the county ordinance conflicts with the state statute. See F.Y.I. Adventures, Inc. v. City of Ocala, 698 So.2d 583, 584 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997); Art. VIII, § 1(g), Fla. Const. (“The governing body of a county operating under a charter may enact county ordinances not inconsistent with general law.”). Hoesch contends that Broward’s ordinances directly conflict with state law. We agree.

“Conflict” has been construed to mean “contradictory in the sense of legislative provisions which cannot co-exist.” Jordan Chapel Freewill Baptist Church v. Dade Cnty., 334 So.2d 661, 664 (Fla. 3d DCA 1976) (quotation omitted). Thus, an ordinance and statute are in conflict when compliance with the ordinance violates the state law, or makes compliance with state law impossible. Id. It is not a conflict if the ordinance is more stringent than the statute. See id. In such cases, the more stringent ordinance supplements the statute. See id. at 664-65.

When an area of law is not preempted by state law, a county can pass ordinances concurrently on subjects regulated by state statute. Thomas v. State, 614 So.2d 468, 470 (Fla.1993). The Florida Supreme Court has further explained:

Certainly, municipal ordinances are inferior to laws of the state and must not conflict with any controlling provision of a statute. In other words, a municipality cannot forbid what the legislature has expressly licensed, authorized or required, nor may it authorize what the legislature has expressly forbidden. An ordinance penalty may not exceed the penalty imposed by the state; however, a municipality may provide a penalty less severe than that imposed by a state statute.

City of Hollywood v. Mulligan, 934 So.2d 1238, 1246-47 (Fla.2006) (alterations re *1180 moved) (citations omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted).

A duly enacted ordinance of a local government is presumed valid, and the party challenging it carries the burden of establishing its invalidity. Lowe v. Broward Cnty., 766 So.2d 1199, 1203 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000). A corollary of this presumption is that an appellate court will indulge every reasonable presumption in favor of an ordinance’s constitutionality. Id. at 1203-04.

It is undisputed that Mercedes is a “dangerous dog” pursuant to Broward ordinance 4-2(k)(2) but not Florida statute section 767.11(l)(b). Likewise, Broward ordinance 4-12(j)(2) requires the dog’s destruction, but section 767.13 does not.

Broward attempts to avoid this suggestion of conflict by pointing to section 767.14, Florida Statutes (2010). Bro-ward argues that no conflict exists because, in that statute, the Legislature has authorized local governments to heighten the regulation of dangerous dogs:

Nothing in this act shall limit any local government from placing further restrictions or additional requirements on owners of dangerous dogs or developing procedures and criteria for the implementation of this act, provided that no such regulation is specific to breed and that the provisions of this act are not lessened by such additional regulations or requirements.

Id. (emphasis added). To wit, if a dog is designated as a “dangerous dog” as defined in section 767.11(l)(b), then the local government may enact additional restrictions or requirements on the owners of such dogs. Mercedes, however, is not a dangerous dog as defined by section 767.11(l)(b). Thus, Broward’s argument that section 767.14 authorizes additional restrictions on owners of dogs such as Mercedes is misplaced. Section 767.14 narrowly applies to owners of statutorily defined “dangerous dogs,” and neither authorizes nor prohibits additional restrictions or requirements for dogs that are not included within the state’s definition of “dangerous dog.” See Nicholson v. State,

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53 So. 3d 1177, 2011 Fla. App. LEXIS 1510, 2011 WL 408882, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hoesch-v-broward-county-fladistctapp-2011.