Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...Because the district court did not address this issue, we decline to address it on appeal. 5 The DPR is a department within the executive branch of Florida empowered to license and regulate the practice of various professions within the state. See Fla. Stat. 455.201....

...4th DCA 2000)(even where trial court's stated reasons are erroneous, appellate court will affirm if the result is correct but for the wrong reason). These statutes express legislative sentiments that the public is best served by physician referrals uninfluenced by financial considerations. Section 455.201, Florida Statutes (1991) provided: (2) The Legislature further believes that such professions shall be regulated only for the preservation of the health, safety, and welfare of the public under the police powers of the state....

...*259 (b) Neither the department nor any board may create a regulation that has an unreasonable effect on job creation or job retention in the state or that places unreasonable restrictions on the ability of individuals who seek to practice or who are practicing a profession or occupation to find employment. See also § 455.201, Fla....

...The parties have cited no case law or legislative history directly bearing on this issue, and our independent research has failed to reveal any. But see Cole Vision Corp. v. Dep't of Bus. & Prof'l Regulation, 688 So.2d 404 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997) (addressing the merits of a rule challenge brought pursuant to section 455.201(4) by a substantially affected person other than the Secretary of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation without discussing standing)....

...icensed health care professionals, the primary objective of whom is the diagnosis and treatment of the human body. Contrary to the arguments of appellants, sections 463.014(1)(a) and (1)(b) do not conflict with sections 463.014(1)(c), 484.006(2) and 455.201(4)....

...concerns opticians, not optical establishments. We agree with the Board that the assertion that opticians, optical establishments and optometrists can practice "jointly" on shared premises, and yet independently, is logically inconsistent. Finally, section 455.201(4), Florida Statutes (1993), provides in pertinent part: No board, nor the department, shall take any action which tends to create or maintain an economic condition that unreasonably restricts competition, except as specifically provided by law. Sections 463.014(1)(a) and (b) do not conflict with section 455.201(4). As found by the hearing officer, sections 463.014(1)(a) and (b), by expressly restricting the circumstances and business relationships in which an optometrist can practice, are legislatively created restraints of trade that do not violate section 455.201(4)....

...s arrangements to the public, which are truthful. We find no error in the hearing officer's conclusions. The appellants' final argument is that rule 59V-3.008 restricts competition in the marketplace for eyewear and eye care services in violation of section 455.201(4). Section 455.201(4), Florida Statutes (1993), provides in pertinent part: "No board, nor the department, shall take any action which tends to create or maintain an economic condition that unreasonably restricts competition, except as specifically prov...

...n practice optometry, are provisions which amount to legislatively-created and sanctioned restraints of trade." And as the hearing officer further correctly concluded, because the rule is "specifically provided by law," it therefore does not violate section 455.201(4). Finally, we note that the appellants failed to present preponderant, material evidence that the rule tends to create an economic condition that unreasonably restricts competition in violation of section 455.201(4)....

...To hold otherwise would allow the specialty contractor exception to swallow the rule and permit unlicensed individuals to undertake significant construction projects in Florida simply by classifying themselves as "specialty contractors". Florida law does not permit this. See Fla. Stat. §§ 455.201 & 489.101....

...n. Thus, this Court must proceed under Kluger and determine whether: (1) the Legislature has shown an overpowering public necessity for the abolishment of this claim, and (2) there is any alternative method of meeting such public necessity. Sections 455.201 and 489.101, Florida Statutes, set forth the legislative intent for the regulation of the construction industry (and other professions in the state of Florida). Section 455.201 provides: (1) It is the intent of the Legislature that persons desiring to engage in any lawful profession regulated by the department shall be entitled to do so as a matter of right if otherwise qualified....

...(c) Less restrictive means of regulation are not available. Fla. Stat. § 489.101 provides, "[t]he Legislature deems it necessary in the interest of the public health, safety, and welfare to regulate the construction industry." [13] There is no Florida case discussing whether the language in sections 455.201 and 489.101 are sufficient to satisfy the Kluger requirement that the Legislature must show an overpowering public necessity for the abolishment of a cause of action (here, equitable claims by an unlicensed contractor)....

...While the Legislature made no additional contemporaneous legislative findings with the passage of the 1993 and 2003 amendments to § 489.128(1) proscribing equitable claims by unlicensed contractors, this Court finds persuasive the argument that §§ 455.201 and 489.101, when read together, satisfy the "overpowering public necessity" prong of Kluger. Sections 455.201 and 489.101 codify the Legislature's purpose in regulating professions in the State of Florida (of which the construction industry is one) and iterate that the Legislature finds it necessary in the interests of public health, safety and welfare to regulate the construction industry....

...t unlicensed contracting could have on the citizens of Florida. Though this Court *1354 knows of no "magic words" that meet the "overpowering public necessity" test in Kluger, the undersigned finds that the legislative pronouncements in Fla. Stat. §§ 455.201 and 489.101 are sufficient....

...nlicensed contractor (and not the owner) who seeks to enforce the contract (in law or in equity) is barred from doing so. See Laws 2003, c.2003-257, § 1. [10] Such a reading of § 489.128(1) furthers the prescribed legislative intent set forth in §§ 455.201 and 489.101, that regulation of the construction industry is necessary to protect the health, safety and welfare of Florida's citizens....

...powers independent of the head of the DPR and the Governor.6 Moreover, as with other state agencies, 5 The DPR is a department within the executive branch of Florida empowered to license and regulate the practice of various professions within the state. See Fla. Stat. § 455.201. 6 The Tribe provides a long list of powers Florida has delegated to the Florida Commission in order to show that the state views the Commission as an independent entity and not a state agency....

...Commission because the Commission may promulgate regulations and may 5 The DPR is a department within the executive branch of Florida empowered to license and regulate the practice of various professions within the state. See Fla. Stat. § 455.201. 6 The Tribe provides a long list of powers Florida has delegated to the Florida Commission in order to show that the state views the Commission as an independent entity and not a state agency. For example, the Florida Commission has the power to enact rules to regulate pugilistic exhibitions, see Fla....

...as to these proposed rule amendments is that they do not encompass, and the record does not show, the necessary reasonable relationship to the protection of public health and safety, which is the sole permissible purpose for those regulations under section 455.201, 5 Florida Statutes, and section 468.507, supra....

...468.501-468.518 and chapter 455.... . Subparagraph (j) lists as a ground for disciplinary action against nutrition counselors: (j) Treating or undertaking to treat human ailments by means other than by ... nutrition practice, as defined in ss. 468.501-468.518. . Sec. 455.201(2), Florida Statutes, provides "professions shall be regulated only for the preservation of the health, safety, and welfare of the public under the police powers of the state...." . See Sec. 455.201(3), Florida Statutes (Supp....

...While this procedure is done by an unknown number of Association members, it is not considered by the medical profession to be an acceptable assessment. .Argument is directed to the potential for financial harm from use of "unproven” treatment, but we find no evidence substantiating such an impact. Section 455.201(2)(a) provides: (2) The Legislature further believes that such professions shall be regulated only for the preservation of the health, safely, and welfare of the public under the police powers of the state....