Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...or whose rights, status, or other equitable or legal relations are affected by a ... contract ... may have determined any question of construction or validity arising under such ... contract ... or any part thereof, and obtain a declaration of rights, status, or other equitable or legal relations thereunder. .... 86.051 Enumeration not exclusive....

...pon which the existence or nonexistence of such immunity, power, privilege or right does or may depend, whether such immunity, power, privilege, or right now exists or will arise in the future" (emphasis added); (2) the part of the Act, now found in section 86.051, which provides that the enumeration in section 86.021, upon which the Court relied in Columbia Casualty, does not limit or restrict the exercise of the general powers conferred in section 86.011; (3) the part of the Act, now found in...

...er the Act concerns the determination of an issue of fact; or (4) the part of the Act, now found in section 86.101, which provides that the Act is to be liberally administered and construed. We agree with the Fourth District that sections 86.011(2), 86.051, 86.071, and 86.101 support the conclusion that an insurer may pursue a declaratory action which requires a determination of the existence or nonexistence of a fact upon which the insurer's obligations under an insurance policy depend....

...immunity [lack of coverage] ... does or may depend.'" Conde, 595 So.2d at 1007. Second, although section 86.021, upon which Columbia Casualty exclusively relies, grants to the courts the power to determine any question of "construction or validity" arising under a contract, section 86.051 states that the enumeration of powers in section 86.021 "does not limit or restrict the exercise of the general powers conferred in section 86.011." Therefore, we now conclude that the Columbia Casualty decision was too limiting of the scope of section 86.021 when read with this other section of the statutes....

...lar case. In the present case, we approve the decision of the district court affirming the trial court's decision to have the indemnity *18 coverage issue tried prior to the underlying tort action. III. CONCLUSION On the basis of sections 86.011(2), 86.051, 86.071, and 86.101, as well as with an understanding of the evolution of the declaratory action in Florida's jurisprudence, we answer the certified question in the affirmative and recede from Columbia Casualty and its progeny....

...concerning said existence or non-existence. In a declaratory *564 judgment action other forms of relief may be requested and, if appropriate, granted. Section 86.011, Florida Statutes (1975). Although not intended to be an exclusive enumeration (see Section 86.051, Florida Statutes (1975)), some of the more common situations in which a declaratory judgment action is proper involve persons who may be in doubt about their rights under a deed, will, contract or other written instrument or are in do...

...nly show an imminent controversy."). Indeed, the statute pertaining *216 to declaratory judgments itself provides that such relief "may be rendered by way of anticipation with respect to any act not yet done or any event which has not yet happened." § 86.051, Fla....

proposed electric power plant expansion, citing section 86.051, which provided that “[a]ny declaratory judgment

...If no dwelling units become available, the site plan can never be approved in the designated RAC, whether the application is declared pending or terminated. "Any declaratory judgment . . . may be rendered by way of anticipation with respect to any act not yet done or any event which has not yet happened...." § 86.051, Fla.Stat....

...t between Pandya and the County, so that the declaration concerned a present, ascertainable state of facts. A declaratory judgment "may be rendered by way of anticipation with respect to any act not yet done or any event which has not yet happened." § 86.051, Fla....

...ch case the judgment shall have the same binding effect with respect to that future act or event, and the rights or liability to arise therefrom, as if that act or event had already been done or had already happened before the judgment was rendered. § 86.051, Fla....

...able controversy so that the court does not have jurisdiction, and (ii) the complaint should be dismissed for failure to join the Board as an indispensable party. We reject these contentions. Gulf Power has stated a claim for declaratory relief. See section 86.051, Fla....

...." in order to determine "any question of construction or validity arising under such . . . contract. . . ." Fla. Stat. § 86.021. This "does not limit or restrict the exercise of the general powers conferred in s. 86.011 in any action where declaratory relief is sought." Fla. Stat. § 86.051....

...judgment shall have the same binding effect with respect to that future act or event, and the rights or liability to arise therefrom, as if that act or event had already been done or had already happened before the judgment was rendered." Fla. Stat. § 86.051....

...lying litigation are resolved. Aetna Ins. Co. v. Borrell-Bigby Elec. Co., 541 So.2d 139, 141 (Fla. 2d DCA 1989). However, any disparity in the scope or the temporal ripeness of these duties is of no moment for purposes of *10 declaratory relief. See § 86.051, Fla....

...In reaching this conclusion we note that many aggrieved prisoners may now be able to pursue a declaratory judgment under chapter 86, Florida Statutes. Section 86.021, Florida Statutes, expressly authorizes such a remedy with regard to "any regulation made under statutory authority," and section 86.051, Florida Statutes, further provides that the court's general power to grant declaratory relief does not depend on a specific enumeration of authority and may extend to "any act not yet done or any event which has not yet happened......

...“No action or procedure is open to objection on the ground that a declaratory judgment is demanded.” This clear and unambiguous legislative injunction cannot be construed to allow the dismissal of CAT’s derivative/declaratory action. Further, Section 86.051 re-emphasizes this legislative injunction: “The enumeration in [the preceding sections] does not limit or restrict the exercise of the general powers conferred in s.86.011 in any action where declaratory relief is sought.” 3 [e.s.]...

...A declaratory judgment “ ‘may be rendered by way of anticipation with respect to any act not yet done or any event which has not yet happened....’” S. Riverwalk Invs., LLC v. City of Fort Lauderdale, 934 So.2d 620, 623 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006) (quoting § 86.051, Fla....

...�either before or after there has been a breach of it.” § 86.031, Fla. Stat. In this same vein, any declaratory judgment “may be rendered by way of anticipation with respect to any act not yet done or any event which has not yet happened.” § 86.051, Fla....

...or whose rights, status or other equitable or legal relations are affected by a statute, or *76 any regulation made under statutory authority, . or by municipal ordinance, contract, deed, . . . [etc.] . . . may have determined any question of construction or validity .arising [thereunder] Fla.Stat. § 86.051, on “Enumeration not exclusive,” states: “The enumeration in sections 86.021, 86.031 and 86.041, Florida Statutes, does not limit or restrict the exercise of the general powers conferred in section 86.011, Florida Statutes, in any action where declaratory relief is sought.” Fla.Stat....

...� of “any immunity, power, privilege, or right” or any fact upon which the existence or non- existence of one of these “right now exists or will arise in the future.” § 86.011, Fla. Stat. (emphasis supplied). 2 Regardless, 2 See also § 86.051, Fla....