Tucker v. Resha

610 So. 2d 460, 1992 WL 277280
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedDecember 30, 1992
Docket92-1744
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 610 So. 2d 460 (Tucker v. Resha) 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
Tucker v. Resha, 610 So. 2d 460, 1992 WL 277280 (Fla. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

610 So.2d 460 (1992)

Katie D. TUCKER, Petitioner,
v.
Donald George RESHA, Jr., Respondent.

No. 92-1744.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

October 12, 1992.
On Motion for Rehearing and Certification December 30, 1992.

*461 Brian S. Duffy, McConnaughhay, Roland, Maida, Cherr & McCranie, P.A., Tallahassee, for petitioner.

Richard E. Johnson, Spriggs & Johnson, and William A. Friedlander, Tallahassee, for respondent.

PER CURIAM.

Tucker, the defendant below, petitioned for a writ of common-law certiorari for review of the trial court's order denying Tucker's motion for summary judgment as to Counts IV and VII of respondent Resha's amended and supplemental complaint. As the basis for invoking jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 4(b), Florida Constitution, and Fla.R.App.P. 9.030(b)(3), Petitioner maintained the trial court's order fulfills the two prerequisites for review by certiorari because 1) it is a departure from the essential requirements of law that will cause material injury to Petitioner throughout the subsequent proceedings below, and 2) a full and adequate remedy by appeal after final judgment is unavailable. See Brooks v. Owens, 97 So.2d 693, 695 (Fla. 1957); Harte v. Palm Beach Biltmore Condominium Ass'n, 436 So.2d 444, 445 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983); Boucher v. Pure Oil Co., 101 So.2d 408, 410 (Fla. 1st DCA 1957). As a former public official, Tucker also asserted a substantive federal right not to stand trial, a right established by the United States Supreme Court in Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985). Although Tucker's claim of qualified immunity from suit involves a type of protection that cannot be effectively or adequately restored by an appeal, once it is lost by exposure to trial, see Flinn v. Gordon, 775 F.2d 1551, 1552 (11th Cir.1985), cert. den., 476 U.S. 1116, 106 S.Ct. 1972, 90 L.Ed.2d 656 (1986), we decline to exercise our limited and discretionary jurisdiction because the order *462 does not violate a clearly established principle of law or otherwise depart from the essential requirements of law resulting in a miscarriage of justice. See Martin-Johnson, Inc. v. Savage, 509 So.2d 1097, 1099 (Fla. 1987); Combs v. State, 436 So.2d 93 (Fla. 1983); Chalfonte Devel. Corp. v. Beaudoin, 370 So.2d 58 (Fla. 4th DCA 1979). In contrast with the federal procedural entitlement to interlocutory review of non-final orders denying summary judgment based on qualified immunity, see Mitchell, the applicable Florida laws governing certiorari jurisdiction over non-final orders afford a much narrower scope of relief. Accordingly, the petition for writ of certiorari is denied.

During the time period at issue, Petitioner was Executive Director of the Florida Department of Revenue ("DOR"). Tucker asserted a claim of qualified immunity, which shields from civil liability those governmental officials performing discretionary functions, to the extent "their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known." Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 2738, 73 L.Ed.2d 396, 410 (1982); Green v. Brantley, 941 F.2d 1146, 1148 (11th Cir.1991). Tucker contended that the federal presumptive right not to stand trial or to face the other burdens of litigation established in Harlow and Mitchell affords her the opportunity for immediate review of the non-final order denying summary judgment. See Felder v. Casey, 487 U.S. 131, 151, 108 S.Ct. 2302, 2313-14, 101 L.Ed.2d 123, 146 (1988) (state courts are required under Supremacy Clause to proceed in a manner that protects the substantial federal rights of the parties).

A. FEDERAL RIGHT OF INTERLOCUTORY REVIEW OF NON-FINAL ORDERS

Counts IV and VII involved claims of deprivation of civil rights based on 42 U.S.C., section 1983. Tucker asserted the claim of qualified immunity to support the motion for summary judgment on both counts. The petition relied in large measure on the established federal appellate mechanism for interlocutory review of orders denying summary judgment on the issue of qualified immunity. 42 U.S.C., section 1983, does not address the right of interlocutory review of such non-final orders, but 28 U.S.C., section 1291, provides in part: "The courts of appeals shall have jurisdiction of appeals from all final decisions of the district courts of the United States." Federal appellate courts construing section 1291 have held that to the extent a federal trial court's denial of a qualified immunity claim on a motion for summary judgment turns on an issue of law, the order is considered an appealable "final decision," notwithstanding the absence of a final judgment. See Mitchell, 472 U.S. at 530, 105 S.Ct. at 2817, 86 L.Ed.2d at 427; Wyatt v. Cole, 504 U.S. ___, 112 S.Ct. 1827, 1832, 118 L.Ed.2d 504 (1992); Rich v. Dollar, 841 F.2d 1558, 1560 (11th Cir.1988).

A thorough review of the applicable state appellate procedural rules has convinced us that Florida does not have a rule analogous to 28 U.S.C., section 1291. Fla.R.App.P. 9.130(g) provides that the rule "shall not preclude initial review of a non-final order on appeal from the final order in the cause." However, because the entitlement asserted by Tucker is immunity from the burden of trial, review following the final order would not afford effective relief. Mitchell; Williams v. City of Albany, 936 F.2d 1256, 1258 (11th Cir.1991). Our independent research corroborates Petitioner's assertion that no other Florida opinion has directly addressed interlocutory review of an order denying summary judgment based on a claim of qualified immunity. Cf. Huffman v. Davis, 571 So.2d 1371 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990) (appellate review of order granting summary judgment in favor of correctional employee in inmate's section 1983 action).

In urging us to expand the scope of interlocutory review of non-final orders in accordance with the principles enunciated in Mitchell and Harlow, Petitioner relied on the merely persuasive authority of the courts of other states that have fashioned relief for civil-rights defendants seeking review *463 prior to trial where qualified immunity defenses were denied. See, e.g., McLin v. Trimble, 795 P.2d 1035 (Okl. 1990) (determining Mitchell was mandate to state courts, but stating the Supremacy Clause did not create state appellate court jurisdiction absent another jurisdictional basis, with result that exercise of original jurisdiction was proper); Henke v. Superior Court, 161 Ariz. 96, 775 P.2d 1160 (Ct.App. 1989) (although denial of motion to dismiss was non-appealable interlocutory order, jurisdictional relief was granted under the "unusual step" of a special-action petition); Anderson v. City of Hopkins, 393 N.W.2d 363 (Minn. 1986) (finding Mitchell analysis to be persuasive, "well-reasoned case that

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610 So. 2d 460, 1992 WL 277280, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tucker-v-resha-fladistctapp-1992.