ENVIROGENICS SYSTEMS COMPANY, A DELAWARE CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
CITY OF CAPE CORAL, FLORIDA, A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, APPELLEE; WATER SERVICES OF AMERICA, INC., A WISCONSIN CORPORATION, APPELLANT, V. CITY OF CAPE CORAL, FLORIDA, A MUNICIPALITY OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA; ENVIROGENICS SYSTEMS COMPANY, A CALIFORNIA CORPORATION; HYDRANAUTICS WATER SYSTEMS, INC., A CALIFORNIA CORPORATION, APPELLEES
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The court interpreted Florida's contractor licensing exemption statute to determine whether reverse osmosis water treatment system contractors must be licensed as general contractors. The court held that the exemption for 'utilities and services incidental thereto' applies only to work incidental to bridges, roads, streets, highways, or railroads—not to all utility work generally.
The exemption in section 489.103(1) for 'utilities and services incidental thereto' applies only to work incidental to bridges, roads, streets, highways, or railroads, not to all utility construction work. Therefore, the City properly rejected the appellants' bids for failure to obtain general contractor licensing.
[1] Statutory exemptions for contractors are strictly construed.
[2] The phrase "utilities and services incidental thereto" in a contractor licensing exemption modifies the preceding list of infrastructure projects, not all utilities and s…
Previewing 2 of 4 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“the phrase "or utilities and services incidental thereto" modifies the subject matter of the first part of the exemption, that is, "work on bridges, roads, streets, highways, rail-roads"”
Establishes the court's grammatical interpretation that the utilities exemption is limited to utilities work related to the listed infrastructure categories.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceEnvirogenics Systems Company and Water Services of America submitted construction bids to the City of Cape Coral for a reverse osmosis water treatment…
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CAMPBELL, Judge.
This appeal raises a question of statutory construction. The trial court, in a final declaratory judgment, determined that appellee did not act improperly when it rejected appellants’ construction bids on a reverse osmosis water treatment system. Neither appellant was licensed as a general contractor under chapter 489, Florida Statutes (1983), and for that reason appellee disqualified appellants’ bids. Appellants argue that they are exempt from licensing by section 489.103(1), which provides that chapter 489 does not apply to “[cjontrac-tors in work on bridges, roads, streets, highways, railroads, or utilities and services incidental thereto.”
Appellee argues that appellants misinterpret the exemption provided in section 489.-103(1) for “utilities and services incidental thereto.” Appellee maintains that the exemption does not apply to all utilities and services incidental thereto, but only to work on utilities and services incidental to work on bridges, roads, streets, highways or railroads. The trial judge agreed with appellee, and we affirm.
It is clear to us that the phrase “or utilities and services incidental thereto” modifies the subject matter of the first part of the exemption, that is, “work on bridges, roads, streets, highways, rail-roads_” Even if the grammatical construction of section 489.103(1) was not in itself enough to convince us of the correctness of the trial judge ruling, the addition of section 489.103(5) to the statute confirms our conclusion.
Section 489.103 is titled “Exemptions.” It provides, in pertinent parts:
This act does not apply to:
(1) Contractors in work on bridges, roads, streets, highways, railroads, or utilities and services incidental thereto.
(5) Public utilities on construction, maintenance and development work performed by their employees, which work is incidental to their business.
If section 489.103(1) were meant to be construed as appellants urge, to exempt all utilities, it would not have been necessary to include section 489.103(5), which exempts public utilities in regard to construction, maintenance and development work performed by their own employees. Moreover, section 489.103(5) clearly implies that while public utilities are exempt for work performed by their own employees, they are not exempt when the work is performed by individuals other than their own employees. To interpret section 489.103(5) otherwise would imply that the legislature enacted a meaningless provision.
In reaching this conclusion, we also realize that we are, or may be, in conflict with Wood-Hopkins Contracting Co. v. Roger J. Au & Son, Inc., 354 So. 2d 446 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978). While it appears from Wood-Hopkins that the court there was not squarely presented with this question, the opinion does espouse the interpretation urged by appellants here.
Affirmed.
SCHEB, A.C.J., and SCHOONOVER, JJ., concur.
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Cited By
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City OF Cape Coral v. Water Servs. OF Am., Inc., 567 So. 2d 510 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990)…Envirogenics were subject to the licensing requirements of chapter 489 and that the City therefore had no liability to WSA or Envirogenics for rejecting their bids. This court affirmed that judgment in Envirogenics Systems Co. v. City of Cape Coral, 510 So. 2d 934 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987). The Florida Supreme Court then reversed and quashed this court’s decision in Envirogenics Systems Co. v. City of Cape Coral, 529 So. 2d 279 (Fla.1988). On remand, the trial court proceeded with the previously severed count in whi…
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Envirogenics Sys. Co. v. City OF Cape Coral, 529 So. 2d 279 (Fla. 1988)…GRIMES, Justice. We review Envirogenics Systems Co. v. City of Cape Coral, 510 So. 2d 934 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987), because of conflict with Wood-Hopkins Contracting Co. v. Roger J. Au & Son, Inc., 354 So. 2d 446 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978). We have jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(3) of the Florida Constitution. This case involves th…
Authorities Cited
- Wood-Hopkins Contracting Co. v. Roger J. AU & SON, Inc., 354 So. 2d 446 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978)