ENVIRONMENTAL TURF, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA BOARD OF TRUSTEES, INSTITUTE OF FOOD & AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES, AN AGENCY OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, AND FLORIDA FOUNDATION SEED PRODUCERS, INC., A NOT-FOR-PROFIT CORPORATION CHARTERED BY THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEES
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
The court held that while documents prepared by a Direct Support Organization are exempt, other documents require an in-camera inspection to determine exemption.
Appellant sought disclosure of public records, but the trial court denied the request without inspecting the documents. Appellees claimed exemptions u…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Public Records Act cases and more on FLexlaw
Appellant challenges the trial court’s denial of its request for disclosure of public records. Appellees assert, here and below, that the requested documents were exempt from disclosure because they were *1013either (1) created and maintained by a direct-support organization (DSO), citing section 1004.28(5), Florida Statutes (2006); (2) compiled during university research, citing section 1004.22(2), Florida Statutes (2006); or (3) prepared in anticipation of litigation, citing section 119.071(l)(d)(l), Florida Statutes (2006).
The trial court denied relief based on these three asserted exemptions without inspecting the records at issue. We affirm the trial court’s ruling that the documents prepared by Florida Foundation Seed Producers, Inc. are exempt from disclosure because these documents were prepared and disseminated by a DSO. Section 1004.28(5) exempts all documents that are created by a DSO except for listed exceptions which are not present in this case. See Palm Beach Cmty. Coll. Found., Inc. v. WFTV, Inc., 611 So.2d 588 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993).
However, as to the remaining documents, an in-camera inspection is “generally the only way for a trial court to determine whether or not a claim of exemption applies.” Garrison v. Bailey, 4 So.3d 683, 684 (Fla. 1st DCA 2009) (citing Weeks v. Golden, 764 So.2d 633, 635 (Fla. 1st DCA 2000)); see also Lopez v. Singletary, 634 So.2d 1054, 1058 (Fla.1993) (remarking that “it is for a judge to determine, in an in camera inspection, whether particular documents must be disclosed”).
Accordingly, we REVERSE and REMAND for the trial court to conduct an in-camera inspection of the remaining records to determine if they are exempt from disclosure under the alleged exemptions to the Public Records Act.
BENTON, C.J., and VAN NORTWICK, J., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Althouse v. Palm Beach Cnty. Sheriff's Off., 89 So. 3d 288 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012)…t has been filed or when doubt exists as to whether a particular document must be disclosed, the proper procedure is to furnish the documents to the trial judge for an in camera inspection.”); see also Envtl. Turf. Inc. v. Univ. of Fla. Bd. of Trs., 83 So. 3d 1012 (Fla. 1st DCA 2012) (“[A]n in-camera inspection is ‘generally the only way for a trial court to determine whether or not a claim of exemption applies.’” (quoting Garrison v. Bailey, 4 So. 3d 683, 684 (Fla. 1st DCA 2009))). Usually, the trial court’…
-
Executive Off. of the Governor v. AHF MCO of Fla., Inc., 257 So. 3d 612 (Fla. 1st DCA 2018)…pedited appeal followed. As we have repeatedly stated, “an in-camera inspection is ‘generally the only way for a trial court to determine whether or not a claim of exemption applies.’” See, e. g., Envtl. Turf, Inc. v. Univ. of Fla. Bd. of Trs., 83 So. 3d 1012, 1013 (Fla. 1st DCA 2012) (reversing in part the trial court’s denial of a public records request based on its determination without inspection of the records that the asserted exemptions applied and remanding for an in-camera inspection to dete…
Authorities Cited
- Lopez v. Singletary, 634 So. 2d 1054 (Fla. 1993)
- Weeks v. Golden, 764 So. 2d 633 (Fla. 1st DCA 2000)
- Palm Beach Cmty. Coll. Found., Inc. v. WFTV, Inc., 611 So. 2d 588 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993)
- Garrison v. Bailey, 4 So. 3d 683 (Fla. 1st DCA 2009)