State, Department of Legal Affairs v. Sanford-Orlando Kennel Club, Inc.

411 So. 2d 1012, 1982 Fla. App. LEXIS 19700
District Court of Appeal of Florida·Decided March 31, 1982·No. No. 81-789·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

DAUKSCH, Chief Judge.

This is an appeal from a final judgment of the trial court adjudging Section 3 of Chapter 80-88, Laws of Florida (1980) (hereinafter referred to as section 550.075, Florida Statutes)1 constitutionally invalid. [1015] The plaintiffs below, appellees Sanford-Orlando and Daytona Beach Kennel Clubs, sought declaratory relief in their complaint against appellant Seminole Park, attacking the constitutional validity of section 550.075 on ten grounds. In a carefully explained opinion the trial judge held section 550.075 unconstitutional and permanently enjoined Seminole Park from further operation of dograce meetings pursuant to the invalid statute.2

The trial court found that: 1) section 550.075 is either a general law of local application or a special law enacted in the guise of a general law; 2) as a special law enacted in the guise of a general law the act is invalid because it fails to meet the requirements of Article III, Section 10, Florida Constitution;3 3) as a general law of local application the act is invalid because the purported classification of tracks therein is arbitrary, and in reality a descriptive technique used to identify Seminole to the exclusion of other potential permittees; 4) as either a special law enacted in the guise of a general law, or a general law of local application, it is invalid as violating Article III, Section 11(a), (12) and (20)4 because it grants a privilege to Seminole, a private corporation, and purports to regulate an occupation already regulated by an agency and board operating under the Department of Business Regulation; and 5) the provisions of section 550.075(3), purporting to require issuance of an annual license in perpetuity and for a particular portion of each year is invalid as a denial of equal protection and due process of law.

When an appellate court has occasion to pass upon the validity of a statute after a trial court has found it to be unconstitutional, the statute is favored with a presumption of constitutionality. In re Estate of Caldwell, 247 So.2d 1 (Fla.1971). Legislative enactments are presumptively valid and, when reasonably possible, all doubts as to validity of a statute are to be resolved in favor of its constitutionality. State v. Cormier, 375 So.2d 852 (Fla.1979). If there is a reasonable interpretation that may be placed on the statute which would render it valid, a District Court of Appeal is bound to adopt such an interpretation. Perry v. City of Ft. Lauderdale, 387 So.2d 518 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980).

It appears that section 550.075 was enacted solely to enable Seminole to convert their harness racing permit to dogracing and to allow Seminole to conduct summer dograce meetings, a feat that could not be accomplished under existing law. Although enacted as a general law, we find section 550.075 to be in reality a special law or general law of local application and thus constitutionally invalid for failing to comply with Article III, Section 10 and Section 11, Florida Constitution.

I

A statute relating to subdivisions of the state or to subjects, persons or things [1016] of a class, based upon proper distinctions and differences that inhere in or are peculiar or appropriate to the class, is a general law. Carter v. Norman, 38 So.2d 30 (Fla.1948). General laws operate uniformly, not because they operate upon every person in the state, but because every person brought within the circumstances provided for is affected by the law. Laws are general and uniform in their operation upon all persons in like situation, and the fact of their being general and uniform is not affected by the number of persons within the scope of operation. Cesary v. Second National Bank of North Miami, 369 So.2d 917, 920 (Fla.1979).

A special law is a statute relating to particular persons or things or other particular subjects of a class; a local law is a statute relating to particular subdivisions or portions of the state or to particular places of classified locality. Local laws, often termed general laws of local application, use classification schemes to restrict application to particular localities. On occasion, the legislature has attempted to enact general laws under the guise of being general laws but which were operative as special or local laws, as determined from obvious purpose or legal effect as gathered from language or context. State ex rel. Baldwin v. Coleman, 148 Fla. 155, 3 So.2d 802, 803 (Fla.1941).

Section 550.075 was not enacted as a special law since it was not designed to become effective upon approval of the electors in the area affected. Proceeding on the premise that section 550.075 is thus a general law of local application, the act may be a valid general law only if 1) the classification scheme has a reasonable basis in the subject regulated and is not so designed as to fit some particular county or subject, and 2) the subject of regulation is not one of the 21 subjects proscribed by Article III, Section 11.

II

The trial court examined the classification scheme in section 550.075 and concluded the scheme was designed to fit a particular subject, namely, Seminole:

The purported classification of permit holders to which Chapter 80-88 applies is contained in Section (a) 1 and 2, and is similar in many respects to classification schemes contained in statutes construed by our Florida Supreme Court in two cases under the 1885 Florida Constitution. Though decided only 14 months apart, different results obtained. In West Flagler Kennel Club Inc. v. Florida State Racing Commission, 153 So.2d 5 (Fla.1963), Chapter 61-1940, Laws of Florida, was declared invalid.5 In Biscayne Kennel Club, Inc. v. Florida State Racing Commission, 165 So.2d 762 (Fla.1964) the validity of Chapter 63-130, Laws of Florida, was upheld.6 This court is unable to [1017] discern any reason for the conflicting results. But, though Biscayne is later in point of time, it is the opinion of this trial court that the West Flagler case more nearly comports with the result which should obtain in this cause using the 1968 Constitution as the standard. See Hialeah Race Course, Inc. v. Gulfstream Park Racing Association, Inc., 245 So.2d 625 (Fla.1971) (discussion at page 629 concerning the Biscayne case).

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State, Department of Legal Affairs v. Sanford-Orlando Kennel Club, Inc., 411 So. 2d 1012, 1982 Fla. App. LEXIS 19700 (Fla. Ct. App. 1982).

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