PROPERTY RIGHTS PROTECTION GROUP, INC., A NONPROFIT FLORIDA CORPORATION; H. THOMAS LEWIS, INDIVIDUALLY; ST. PETERSBURG AUTOMOBILE MUSEUM, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION; AND THELMA A. ROBINSON, INDIVIDUALLY, AND JOHN DOTY, INDIVIDUALLY, APPELLANTS,
v.
CITY OF TAMPA, A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION; CITY OF TAMPA MUNICIPAL CODE ENFORCEMENT BOARD; AND HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA, APPELLEES
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Property owners and a nonprofit advocacy group challenged the constitutionality of Florida's Code Enforcement Board statutes and related municipal/county ordinances, claiming the liens imposed against their properties violated due process. The trial court dismissed the case and issued a broad declaratory order finding all challenged statutes constitutional, but the appellate court reversed, finding the trial court erred in making premature constitutional determinations without allowing further amendment of the complaint.
The trial court properly dismissed the complaint but erred in refusing to allow further amendment. The broad declaratory order finding all challenged statutes constitutional on their face and as applied must be reversed because the trial court made premature constitutional determinations. On remand, the trial court should consider severing claims and determining which claims are frivolous or warrant evidentiary hearing.
[1] A trial court may exercise its discretion to sever aspects of a multiparty proceeding to narrow and simplify issues.
[2] A trial court's broad declaratory order that declares statutes and ordinances constitutional on their face and as applied, and finds plaintiffs estopped from litigating t…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Although the trial court properly dismissed this complaint, we conclude that it should have given the plaintiffs the right to file another amended complaint.”
The core holding that while dismissal was proper, the trial court erred in denying leave to amend before making broad constitutional findings.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceH. Thomas Lewis, St. Petersburg Automobile Museum, Inc., Thelma Robinson, and John Doty own property subject to liens imposed by municipal or county c…
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ALTENBERND, Judge.
The plaintiffs appeal an order dismissing their amended complaint with prejudice. Although the trial court properly dismissed this complaint, we conclude that it should have given the plaintiffs the right to file another amended complaint. On remand, the trial court may exercise its discretion to sever aspects of this multiparty proceeding in an effort to narrow and simplify the issues.
H. Thomas Lewis, St. Petersburg Automobile Museum, Inc. (SPAM), and Thelma Robinson are all owners of real property within the city limits of the City of Tampa. They allege that the City’s Code Enforcement Board has filed liens against their property as a result of noncompliance with the City’s building code.
John Doty owns property in unincorporated Hillsborough County and his noncompli-anee with the County’s building code has resulted in a similar lien by the County’s Code Enforcement Board. Property Rights Protection Group, Inc., is a nonprofit corporation whose 229 members all claim that they have liens against their property similar to the liens imposed by either the City or the County against the other named plaintiffs.
The amended complaint sues both the City and the County and their respective code enforcement boards. The amended complaint is thirty-six pages long and contains eleven counts. The exhibits to this complaint add another one hundred pages of sworn .and unsworn information. In the complaint, the plaintiffs contend that all of chapter 162 and specifically sections 162.09 and 162.12, Florida Statutes (1989), as well as the related City and County ordinances, are unconstitutional on their face and as applied because of various violations of due process. They also argue that the specific liens against Lewis, SPAM, Robinson, and Doty were imposed without proper notice. Lewis and SPAM seek to discharge specific liens.
On motions to dismiss, the trial court entered an order expressly declaring that all of chapter 162 and the related ordinances were constitutional on their face and as applied to these plaintiffs. The order purports to make findings of fact that all of the plaintiffs are estopped from litigating these issues. Although we agree that there is substantially more bath water than baby in the amended complaint, we conclude that this broad declaratory order must be reversed.
On remand, the trial court should consider severing the claims against the City from those against the County. Likewise, because the allegations concerning each plaintiffs lien and adequacy of each plaintiffs notice are distinct, it may be appropriate to isolate each claim. See Fla.R.Civ.P. 1.250, 1.270. If the various parties and claims were separated, the trial court could better determine whether any of the claims are frivolous and which claims, if any, warrant an evidentiary hearing.
Reversed and remanded.
HALL, A.C.J., and FARMER, GARY M., Associate Judge, concur.
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Ribaya v. The Bd. of Trs. of the City Pension Fund for Firefighters & Police Officers in the City of Tampa, 162 So. 3d 348 (Fla. 2d DCA 2015)…the trial court essentially enters a declaratory judgment as to one or more significant, disputed issues while describing the judgment as an order of dismissal, the role of discretion is limited.5 See Prop. Rights Prot. Grp., Inc. v. City of Tampa, 627 So. 2d 61 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993) (reversing order of dismissal with prejudice that expressly declared statute and related ordinances to be unconstitutional on their face and as applied to plaintiffs); see also Phantom of Clearwater, Inc. v. Pinellas Cnty., 894 So…