Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...enefits due from the Board of Trustees of the City of Dunedin Municipal Firefighters Retirement System, and further finding that appellants William M. Griffin and Patricia Griffin have no claim to those benefits. The first issue on appeal is whether section 175.181, Florida Statutes (1981), pre-empts the beneficiary designations of the City of Dunedin, Florida, ordinance number 80-42 (August 21, 1980). If section 175.181 does not expressly pre-empt ordinance *178 number 80-42, another issue arises: Whether section 175.181 conflicts with ordinance number 80-42? In October, 1980, Lt....

...The parties agreed, and the final judgment reflects, that if the death benefits were distributed according to ordinance number 80-42, appellee, William Griffin and Patricia Griffin would share equally in the death benefits. The trial court found, however, that the provisions of section 175.181, entitled "Beneficiaries," pre-empted the beneficiary designations of ordinance number 80-42. According to section 175.181(1), the firefighter could designate, in writing, the beneficiary of his choice. Accordingly, the trial court found that appellee was the sole beneficiary. Appellants argue that chapter 175, Florida Statutes (1981) authorizes municipalities to create their own retirement plans and that there is nothing providing that section 175.181 applies to municipalities which create their own retirement plans. Appellants maintain that section 175.181 does not expressly pre-empt ordinance number 80-42 as required by section 166.021(3)(c), Florida Statutes (1981) and, therefore, the ordinance should control. Appellee acknowledges that chapter 175 grants municipalities broad discretion in establishing their own retirement systems and death benefits. Appellee argues, however, that section 175.181 conflicts with the provisions of ordinance number 80-42, and in this situation, section 175.181 must prevail....

...Section 175.321, Florida Statutes (1981), expressly pre-empts municipal law as to sections 175.101-175.121 and sections 175.131-175.151. Section 175.321 also names several other sections of chapter 175 which do not apply to municipalities which have created their own retirement systems. Section 175.181 is not mentioned in either group. Therefore, we cannot find that section 175.181 pre-empts ordinance number 80-42....

...municipality may not enact legislation which directly conflicts with the state statute. Where a conflict arises, the state statute must prevail. Edwards v. State ; Board of County Commissioners of Dade County v. Wilson, 386 So.2d 556 (Fla. 1980). If section 175.181 does not refer exclusively to the beneficiary designations under the state plan, but includes municipal plans, we must determine whether section 175.181 and ordinance number 80-42 conflict. Section 175.181 refers to "the benefit, if any, payable in the event of his death," and "death benefits, if any." This phraseology includes refunds from contributions to the retirement system or pension fund, which are payable upon death, as well as specific death benefits such as life insurance payments....

...Where a municipality has adopted the state plan and purchased a life insurance or annuity contract to provide death benefits, the state plan provides that the beneficiaries shall be designated in accordance with section 175.081(9), Florida Statutes (1981). It appears that unless section 175.181 applies to municipalities which have created their own retirement systems, the reference to death benefits would be useless. For this reason, we find that section 175.181 refers to the designation of beneficiaries of death benefits under municipal plans, as well as beneficiaries under the state retirement system....

...Nonetheless, the ordinance was invalid because it conflicted with the statute by prohibiting conduct permitted by the statute. City of Miami Beach v. Rocio at 1071. Here, ordinance 80-42 dictates who shall be the firefighter's beneficiaries, while section 175.181 provides that the firefighter may designate his beneficiary. Under the ordinance, the firefighters do not have the option to choose their beneficiaries. That conduct is, in effect, prohibited by the ordinance, even though it is permitted by the statute. Therefore, we find that section 175.181 conflicts with ordinance number 80-42. In this situation, section 175.181 must prevail over ordinance number 80-42....

...its responsibility of insuring, through the application of statutory minimum standards, that local plans are managed, administered, operated and funded in such a manner as to maximize protection of pension trust funds. For example, Sections 175.171, 175.181, 175.191 and 175.231, Florida Statutes, upon which these proposed rules are based in part, establish minimum standards which clarify and define Section 175.351(1), and are thereby applicable to both chapter and local law funds......

...(Emphasis added.) The Department's Answer Brief states, at page 21, that section 175.321, as it read during the period 1963-1986, *860 made the following sections of chapter 175 inapplicable to local law plans: sections 175.061, 175.071, 175.041, 175.091, 175.162, 175.181, 175.191, 175.251, 175.261, 175.291, and 175.301....

...is not applicable to local law plans and that rule 4-54.035 is invalid for exceeding the Department's delegated legislative authority. Rule 4-54.036 Rule 4-54.036 deals with the designation of beneficiaries and has the stated purpose of implementing section 175.181, stating simply that section 175.181 "is applicable to all firefighters regardless of whether the firefighter participates in a Chapter Fund or Local Law Fund." The City's plans have designation of beneficiary provisions that are inconsistent with section 175.181. The City contends that section 175.181 is not made expressly applicable to local law plans and thus is applicable only to chapter plans....

...tion of section 175.021 and also cites the second district's decision in Board of Trustees of the City of Dunedin Municipal Firefighters Retirement System v. Dulje, 453 So.2d 177 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984). The City acknowledges that in Dulje the court held section 175.181 applicable to local law plans and does not quarrel with the logic of the decision based upon the facts stated in the court's opinion. Instead, it argues that here, unlike Dulje wherein the court found there was no death benefit under the chapter plan statutory provisions to which the language "the death benefit, if any" in section 175.181 could apply, the parties have stipulated that in fact there are ascertainable chapter plan death benefits to which such words apply, and points to sections 175.162.(3) and 175.201. Thus, the City argues, the rationale of that case is inapplicable to this case because the operative facts are different, and in the absence of an express provision for the application of section 175.181 to local law plans, the proposed rule attempting to do so constitutes an invalid exercise of delegated legislative authority. The Department admits that section 175.181 was inapplicable to local law plans prior to 1986 (see rule 4-54.045, p....

...rd prong of the Department's test and construction by implication of the 1986 amendment to section 175.021. Nor does the decision in Dulje support the validity of proposed rule 4-54.036 in this instance. In that case the court specifically held that section 175.181 did not preempt the municipality's power to legislate on the subject of beneficiary designations. Its decision invalidating the provision for beneficiary designation in the City of Dunedin's plan was predicated upon a perceived conflict between the city ordinance in question and the provisions of section 175.181 based upon the conclusion that such section would be meaningless unless made applicable to the local law plan, stating that the chapter 175 provision for chapter plans "does not provide for specific death benefits" while local law plans may so provide under section 175.351(6)....

...art of the benefits as provided for by this act... ." It is apparent that the court's decision was made without consideration of either the fact, now stipulated in this case, that chapter plans do have ascertainable death benefit provisions to which section 175.181 applies, or the effect of sections 175.162(3) and 175.201, which explicitly recognize that death benefits are payable to designated beneficiaries under chapter plans or the explicit provisions of section 175.321 discussed at pages 858-859, supra. The absence of statutory language expressly making section 175.181 applicable to local law plans is entirely consistent with manifest statutory intent to make its provisions applicable only to chapter plans. Dulje is not, therefore, controlling precedent requiring the application of section 175.181 to all local law plans, so there is no conflict with the provisions of the City's plans. We hold the Department's rule broadly applying section 175.181 to all firefighters participating in local law plans is invalid as exceeding the Department's delegated legislative authority....

...Ass’n v. J.P. Morgan Mortg. Acquis. Corp., 51 So.3d 1176, 1179 (Fla. 2d DCA 2010). Chapters 175 and 185 relate generally to firefighter and police pensions in Florida including such issues as requirements for retirement, § 175.162; beneficiaries, § 175.181; and disability retirement, § 175.191....