CopyPublished | Florida 3rd District Court of Appeal
...The City separately filed a petition in this Court
seeking alternate remedies of prohibition and mandamus (case number
3D21-701). We consolidated the cases. We affirm the trial court's temporary
injunction, but grant the City's petition and remand with instructions for the
trial court, pursuant to section
164.1041(1) of the Florida Statutes, to abate
further proceedings until the procedural options of chapter 164 have been
exhausted. The controlling case of City of Miami v. Firefighters’ & Police
Officers’ Retirement Trust & Plan,
249 So. 3d 709 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018),
provides as follows:
The only reasonable construction of [section
164.1041(1)]
requires the trial court to abate the proceedings until the parties
exhaust the procedural options of Chapter 164, even if dispute
resolution procedures were not initiated prior to filing suit....
...City of Miami,
249 So. 3d at 716-17 (remanding case to the trial court to enter
temporary injunction coincident with holding, in the same opinion, that the
2
trial court had erred by denying motion to abate as required by section
164.1041(1)).
Preliminary injunction affirmed; petition granted; case remanded with
abatement instruction.1
1
We express no opinion as to whether the parties’ actions occurring after
the entry of the March 7, 2021 preliminary...
CopyPublished | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal
...procedures prescribed by Chapter 164, Florida Statutes (2022), the Florida
Governmental Conflict Resolution Act. We affirm and write to address
Pembroke Pines’ contention that a dispute concerning a governmental
entity’s public records’ request is exempt from section 164.1041’s duty for
pre-litigation negotiation.
Background
Pembroke Pines and Southwest Ranches have been embroiled in a
complex contract dispute for more than a decade....
...thwest Ranches of its intent
to sue to enforce its public records request. After Southwest Ranches still
did not comply, Pembroke Pines filed the suit underlying this appeal.
Southwest Ranches then filed a Motion to Dismiss and/or Abate,
referencing section 164.1041, Florida Statutes (2022). That statute
requires governmental entities to exhaust alternative dispute resolution
options before initiating court proceedings. In response, Pembroke Pines
argued section 164.1041 does not apply to actions under Chapter 119.
The trial court disagreed and dismissed the action without prejudice,
stating: “once [Pembroke Pines] has exhausted the conflict resolution
procedures in Chapter 164, it may refile the c...
...This appeal timely followed.
Analysis
Pembroke Pines’ appeal concerns the question of whether, before filing
suit under the Public Records Act against another governmental entity,
the suing governmental entity must first comply with section
164.1041,
and attempt pre-suit conflict resolution, or whether a Chapter 119 public
records request falls under a statutory exception to section
164.1041’s
“duty to negotiate.” The standard of review on this issue is de novo. B.Y.
v. Dep’t of Child. & Fams.,
887 So. 2d 1253, 1255 (Fla. 4th DCA 2022)
(“The standard of appellate review for issues involving the interpretation of
statutes is de novo.”).
Section
164.1041(1) imposes on government agencies a duty to
negotiate before initiating litigation that requires that “court proceedings
on the suit shall be abated, by order of the court, until the procedural
options of this act have been exhausted.” §
164.1041(1), Fla....
...the conflict via passage of an
ordinance, resolution, or interlocal agreement. See §§
164.1053–57, Fla.
Stat. (2022). The statute also provides a limited set of exceptions and
instances where these procedures do not apply.
In pertinent part, section
164.1041(1), Florida Statutes (2022) provides:
2
If a governmental entity files suit against another
governmental entity, court proceedings on the suit shall be
abated, by order of the court, until the procedural options of
this act have been exhausted....
...ered under
this act.” §
164.1051, Fla. Stat. (2022).
[W]here a governmental entity files suit against another
governmental entity and the procedural options under
chapter 164 have not been exhausted, the plain language of
section
164.1041(1) requires the trial court to abate the action
regardless of whether either party has initiated the conflict
resolution procedures....
...ating the entire
legislative purpose and intent of Chapter 164.
City of Miami v. City of Mia. Firefighters’ & Police Officers’ Ret. Tr. & Plan,
249 So. 3d 709, 716 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018).
A number of proceedings that are exempted from the section
164.1041
duty to negotiate are explicitly mentioned in section
164.1041(1): Chapter
120 proceedings; appeals; crossclaims and counterclaims filed in
3
litigation; eminent domain, foreclosure or other proceedings where the
governmental entity is a necessary party; where a different alternative
dispute resolution process is specifically required by general law or
contractually agreed to or used; challenges to comprehensive plan
amendments; and tax assessment challenges. Section
164.1041(1) does
not explicitly mention Public Records Act disputes.
Nonetheless, Pembroke Pines, below and on appeal, with reference to
section
164.1041(1), argues that section
119.11 is a “procedure[] for
challenges to specific governmental actions,” and the duty to negotiate
would “abrogate” that section’s “accelerated hearing” procedure.
We agree with the Answer...
...y over other pending
cases, but those provisions are not abrogated by requiring a
governmental entity to first comply with Chapter 164 when its
dispute is with another governmental entity.
There is no statutory ambiguity here. Section 164.1041(1)’s plain
language states that suits between government entities “shall be abated,
by order of the court, until the procedural options of this act have been
exhausted.” § 164.1041(1), Fla....
...An exception
from the duty to negotiate, for a public record request, must come from
the Legislature, not the courts.
Conclusion
Suits between government entities arising under Chapter 119 do not
fall into the provided exceptions to the duty to negotiate under section
164.1041(1)....
CopyPublished | Florida 3rd District Court of Appeal
...eptember 27 letter;
and (2) because, where a governmental entity files suit against another
governmental entity, Florida law requires abatement until the procedural options of
the Florida Governmental Conflict Resolution Act have been exhausted.
§164.1041, Fla. Stat. (2017). We agree with the trial court that section 164.1041
warrants abatement.
The purpose of Chapter 164 is to:
enhance intergovernmental coordination efforts by the creation of a
governmental conflict resolution procedure that can provide an
equitable, expeditiou...
...The Legislature has expressed its intent “that conflicts
between governmental entities be resolved to the greatest extent possible without
litigation.” Id. It is undisputed that the parties in this case are all “governmental
entities,” as defined in chapter 164.5
Pursuant to section 164.1041(1):
If a governmental entity files suit against another governmental entity,
court proceedings on the suit shall be abated, by order of the court,
until the procedural options of this act have been exhausted.
(Emphasis added)....
...passed by the members of the Board’s governing body as required under section
164.1052(1). Therefore, the City argues, the Board did not “initiate the conflict
resolution procedures provided by this act,” and may not move to abate the
proceedings pursuant to section
164.1041(1).
We agree with the City that the Board’s letter of September 27 does not
qualify as a “resolution” as would be statutorily required to initiate dispute
resolution procedures under section
164.1052(1)....
...provided by this act.” Indeed, the record reflects no such resolution having been
passed by the Board.
13
However, we agree with the Board that despite any failure to pass a
resolution, abatement was nevertheless required under section 164.1041(1), which
provides: “If a governmental entity files suit against another governmental entity,
court proceedings on the suit shall be abated, by order of the court, until the
procedural options of this act have been exhausted.”...
...trial court to abate the proceedings until
the parties exhaust the procedural options of Chapter 164, even if dispute
resolution procedures were not initiated prior to filing suit.
The City appears to conflate the two provisions of sections
164.1041(1)
(mandatory abatement) and
164.1052(1) (initiation of conflict resolution
procedures)....
...and the trial court cannot order abatement of the proceedings. We do not agree,
and conclude that, where a governmental entity files suit against another
governmental entity and the procedural options under chapter 164 have not yet
been exhausted, the plain language of section 164.1041(1) requires the trial court
to abate the action regardless of whether either party has initiated the conflict
resolution procedures....
...But that is not what the statute plainly
states: “If a governmental entity files suit against another governmental
entity, court proceedings on the suit shall be abated, by order of the court,
until the procedural options of this act have been exhausted.” §164.1041(1)
(emphasis added).
Although the City may be correct that the conflict resolution procedures
cannot begin until either the Board or the City passes a resolution, this does not
mean that the court proceeding should continue until that happens....
