State v. Cronin

774 So. 2d 871, 2000 WL 1880209
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedDecember 29, 2000
Docket1D99-3226
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 774 So. 2d 871 (State v. Cronin) 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
State v. Cronin, 774 So. 2d 871, 2000 WL 1880209 (Fla. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

774 So.2d 871 (2000)

STATE of Florida, Appellant,
v.
Nash N. CRONIN, Deborah Combs, Craig J. Oswald, Steven Warfield, Lakewood Chiropractic Clinic, P.A., Gerald R. Mart, D.D., Mark E. Klempner, D.C., Casmar Inc., d/b/a Casmar Chiropractic, Appellees.

No. 1D99-3226.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

December 29, 2000.

*872 Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General; Edward C. Hill, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for appellant.

Nancy A. Daniels, Public Defender; Edgar Lee Elzie, Jr., Assistant Public Defender, Tallahassee; Henry M. Coxe, III and Aaron Metcalf of Bedell, Dittmar, DeVault, Pillans & Coxe, P.A., Jacksonville; D. Gray Thomas of Sheppard, White & Thomas, P.A., Jacksonville; Robert Stuart Willis of Willis & Ferebee, P.A., Jacksonville, for appellees.

WOLF, J.

This is an appeal from a final order dismissing criminal charges against appellees. The state asserts that the trial court erroneously concluded that in order to pursue a violation of section 817.234(8), Florida Statutes, the state must allege and prove that the solicitation covered by the statute was made with an intent to defraud. While we conclude that fraudulent intent is not an element of the offense defined in the statute, we nevertheless hold that the statute as written violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and article I, section 4 of the Florida Constitution. The order dismissing the charges is therefore affirmed.

Appellees were charged with one violation of Florida's RICO Act and several violations of section 817.234(8), Florida Statutes, otherwise known as Florida's anti-solicitation statute, with the predicate conduct for the RICO charge being the several counts of unlawful insurance solicitation. The counts charging appellees with violations of section 817.234(8) alleged only that appellees had unlawfully solicited business from the victims for the purpose of making motor vehicle tort claims or claims for personal injury protection (PIP) benefits. Among the various motions to dismiss filed by appellees was a joint motion to dismiss the charges on grounds that the information failed to allege the essential element of the anti-solicitation offense that appellees had solicited their victims with the intent to defraud. The trial court dismissed the charges based on the fourth district's decision in Bradford v. State, 740 So.2d 569 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999), which the trial court interpreted as requiring an allegation that the solicitation occurred with the intent to defraud.

Under the express terms of section 817.234(8), any person who solicits business, through any medium, with the intent of receiving payment by making a motor vehicle tort claim or a claim for PIP benefits commits a third degree felony. See Barr v. State, 731 So.2d 126, 130 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999) (holding that "to solicit" as used in the statute means to contact or communicate with either orally or in writing). In Barr, the defendant chiropractors had been charged with violating section 817.234(8) and filed motions to dismiss the charges arguing that the statute was unconstitutionally vague, overly broad, and violative of equal protection. See id. at 128. After the trial court in Barr denied their motions, the defendants pled no contest to the lesser offense of conspiracy to commit violations of the statute, specifically reserving their right to appeal the alleged unconstitutionality of the statute. See id. On appeal, the fourth district held that the statute *873 passed the four-part test announced in Central Hudson Gas & Elec. Corp. v. Public Service Comm'n, 447 U.S. 557, 100 S.Ct. 2343, 65 L.Ed.2d 341 (1980) for determining the constitutionality of a restriction on commercial speech. See Barr, 731 So.2d at 129. The four prongs of the Central Hudson test, as modified by Board of Trustees of State Univ. of New York v. Fox, 492 U.S. 469, 109 S.Ct. 3028, 106 L.Ed.2d 388 (1989), are: (1) whether the speech at issue is not misleading and concerns lawful activity; (2) whether the government has a substantial interest in restricting that speech; (3) whether the regulation directly advances the asserted governmental interest; and (4) whether the regulation is narrowly tailored, but not necessarily the least restrictive means available, to serve the asserted governmental interest. See Central Hudson, 447 U.S. at 566, 100 S.Ct. at 2351; Fox, 492 U.S. at 476-81, 109 S.Ct. at 3032-35. The fourth district in Barr reasoned that the first prong of the Central Hudson test had been satisfied because the solicitations made by the defendants in that case were unlawful only because they violated section 817.234(8). See Barr, 731 So.2d at 129. The court in Barr also reasoned that the second prong of the Central Hudson test had been satisfied because the state had a substantial interest in combating insurance fraud and the resulting increase in insurance premiums borne ultimately by the public. See id. The court in Barr further reasoned that the third prong of the Central Hudson test had been satisfied because section 817.234(8) does, in fact, directly advance the state's interest in preventing insurance fraud. See id. With regard to the fourth prong of the Central Hudson test, the court in Barr reasoned that it too had been satisfied because,

The statute is not a blanket ban on all solicitation of business by a chiropractor, but rather, targets only those persons who solicit business for the sole purpose of making motor vehicle tort or PIP benefits claims. Although not the least restrictive means available to achieve the state's purpose, we hold the ban on such solicitation is reasonably tailored to the state's interest in preventing insurance fraud and raised premiums.

Id.[1]

A little over two months after the issuance of the decision in Barr, the fourth district again had occasion to write on the constitutionality of section 817.234(8) in Bradford v. State, 740 So.2d 569 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999). In Bradford, the defendant chiropractor had been charged with violating section 817.234(8) and had, like the defendants in Barr, filed a motion to dismiss the charges arguing that the statute was unconstitutionally vague, over broad, and violative of equal protection. See id. at 570-71. After the trial court denied his motion, the defendant in Bradford pled no contest to the lesser offense of conspiracy to commit violations of the statute, specifically reserving his right to appeal the alleged unconstitutionality of the statute. See id. On appeal, the fourth district in Bradford affirmed, based on its prior decision in Barr, but wrote to "clarify why subsection (8) does not punish purely innocent activity." Id. at 570. The fourth district explained that only solicitations made with an intent to defraud were prohibited by the statute. See id. at 571. The supreme court subsequently granted review. See State v. Bradford, 761 So.2d 331 (Fla.2000).

After the fourth district issued its opinion in Bradford, but before the supreme court granted review in that case, the third district in Hershkowitz v. State, 744 So.2d 1268 (Fla.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Kortum v. Sink
54 So. 3d 1012 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2010)
Linder v. Linder
72 S.W.3d 841 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2002)
State v. Cronin
801 So. 2d 94 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2001)
State v. Bradford
787 So. 2d 811 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2001)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
774 So. 2d 871, 2000 WL 1880209, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-cronin-fladistctapp-2000.