CITY OF SUNNY ISLES BEACH, ETC., PETITIONER,
v.
PUBLIX SUPER MARKETS, INC., ETC., RESPONDENT
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The City of Sunny Isles Beach sought a writ of prohibition to prevent the circuit court from exercising jurisdiction over a declaratory judgment action filed by Publix Super Markets challenging the city's denial of a site plan application. The court granted the petition, holding that the circuit court lacked jurisdiction because Publix failed to exhaust administrative remedies before pursuing the declaratory judgment action.
The circuit court lacks jurisdiction to consider the declaratory judgment action because Publix failed to exhaust its administrative remedies before filing suit, and the adverse final administrative decision is already pending review through the appropriate certiorari process in the circuit court appellate division.
[1] A party generally cannot resort to the courts for a decision until administrative remedies are exhausted.
[2] A circuit court exceeds its jurisdiction by considering a matter in a declaratory judgment action that is also pending review in the circuit court's appellate division.
Previewing 2 of 3 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“it is the law of this state, for good and salutary reasons relating to both respect for the administrative process and judicial efficiency, that, with rare exception relating usually to matters not cognizable in the circuit court, a party cannot resort to the courts for a decision until administrative remedies are exhausted.”
Establishes the fundamental principle that administrative remedies must be exhausted before judicial review, subject only to rare exceptions.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligencePublix Super Markets filed a declaratory judgment action in circuit court challenging the City of Sunny Isles Beach's denial of a site plan applicatio…
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SHEPHERD, J.
The petitioner, City of Sunny Isles Beach, seeks a writ of prohibition to prevent or stay the improper exercise of jurisdiction by the circuit court in a declaratory judgment action presently pending in Miami-Dade Circuit Court Case No. 07-1659 CA 15, Publix Super Markets, Inc., v. City of Sunny Isles Beach. We grant the petition.
The petitioner alleges the trial court is acting in excess of its jurisdiction by reviewing an opinion of the City Attorney of the City of Sunny Isles Beach concerning whether submerged lands within an adjacent platted lot owned by Publix can be included for purposes of determining density and intensity of land use under section 265-5 of the City of Sunny Isles Beach Code of Ordinances. There is presently pending in the circuit court appellate division Publix’s later filed petition for certiorari review of the City’s decision to deny an application for approval of a site plan that includes consideration of the land in question. As in District Board, of Trustees of Broward Community College v. Caldwell, 959 So. 2d 767 (Fla. 4th DCA 2007), City of Coral Gables v. Fortun, 785 So. 2d 741 (Fla. 3d DCA 2001), University of Miami v. Klein, 603 So. 2d 651 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992), State ex rel. Department of General Services v. Willis, 344 So. 2d 580 (Fla. 1st DCA 1977), and numerous other cases, it is the law of this state, for good and salutary reasons relating to both respect for the administrative process and judicial efficiency, that, with rare exception relating usually to matters not cognizable in the circuit court, a party cannot resort to the courts for a decision until administrative remedies are exhausted.
Publix filed the declaratory judgment action upon an early disappointment in its administrative efforts to gain City approval for its combined grocery and residential venture on the City’s shores. Setting aside the more interesting question whether an opinion of a city attorney is a “decision” subject to certiorari review, see Bloomfield v. Mayo, 119 So. 2d 417, 421 (Fla. 1st DCA 1960) (stating that “certiorari is limited only to review of judicial or quasi-judicial orders of administrative boards, bodies or officers”), Publix had not exhausted its administrative remedies before filing its declaratory judgment action. The adverse final administrative decision rendered by the City on Publix’s proposed site plan, including the opinion of the city attorney as affirmed by the City council, is presently pending review in the circuit court appellate division. By considering an element of that decision in a parallel declaratory judgment action, the circuit court has exceeded its jurisdiction.
Petition granted.
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Fla. Dep't of Health v. TropiFlora, LLC, 265 So. 3d 673 (Fla. 1st DCA 2019)…t DCA 1997) (affirming denial of temporary injunction “[b]ecause adequate administrative remedies are in place,” without questioning trial court’s subject- matter jurisdiction); but see City of Sunny Isles Beach v. Publix Super Markets, Inc., 996 So. 2d 238, 239 (Fla. 3d DCA 2008) (granting writ of prohibition because respondent “had not exhausted its administrative remedies before filing its declaratory judgment action”). Likewise, the writ of prohibition “is very narrow in scope and operation a…
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City OF Sunny Isles Beach v. Publix Super Mkts., Inc., 88 So. 3d 224 (Fla. 3d DCA 2011)…a writ of prohibition preventing the circuit court’s consideration of Publix’s request for a declaratory judgment regarding the City’s interpretation of one of its land development ordinances. City of Sunny Isles Beach v. Publix Super Markets Inc., 996 So. 2d 238 (Fla. 3d DCA 2008). We have also previously addressed the circuit court’s order quashing the decision of the City Commission (the “Commission”) that Publix’s application was null and void, which we vacated and remanded because of a departure from th…
Authorities Cited
- State of Fla. ex rel. Dep't OF Gen. Servs. v. Willis, 344 So. 2d 580 (Fla. 1st DCA 1977)
- Bloomfield v. Mayo, 119 So. 2d 417 (Fla. 1st DCA 1960)
- Univ. OF Miami v. The Honorable Herbert M. Klein, 603 So. 2d 651 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992)
- Browning v. State, 959 So. 2d 767 (Fla. 1st DCA 2007)
- City OF Coral Gables & Margaret P. Pass v. Fortun, 785 So. 2d 741 (Fla. 3d DCA 2001)