TOMMY MORRIS, BONNIE LENGYEL, ALBERTA QUARTERMAN, ANTOINETTE CUFFIE, VERNA D. JOHNSON, HENRIETTA J. STEVENS, THEDA M. HUGHES, GRACE GLOVER, ETHYL SCHAFFNER, KALEEN S. WARD, AND LISALOTTE PATTERSON, APPELLANTS/INTERVENORS,
v.
LOUIS WHITEHEAD, III, AND DELORES A. WHITEHEAD, INDIVIDUALS, APPELLEES/PLAINTIFFS; THE HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF ST. PETERSBURG, A FLORIDA PUBLIC CORPORATION, JAMES R. GILLESPIE, COMMISSIONER, C. PATRICIA ALSUP, COMMISSIONER, THOMAS E. MCLEAN, COMMISSIONER, DAVID T. WELCH, COMMISSIONER, AND EDWARD WHITE, JR., SECRETARY AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, APPELLANTS/DEFENDANTS, V. LOUIS WHITEHEAD, III, AND DELORES A. WHITEHEAD, INDIVIDUALS, APPELLEES/PLAINTIFFS

Fla. 2d DCA | 1991-10-25
LEHAN and THREADGILL, JJ., concur.
588 So. 2d 1023 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1991)

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.

Synopsis

Appellants (the Housing Authority of St. Petersburg and individual residents) appealed a final judgment granting appellees access to certain public records held by the Housing Authority pursuant to Florida's public records law. The court affirmed the judgment while clarifying that records obtained from federal agencies and protected by federal confidentiality agreements are exempt from disclosure.


Holding

Appellees are entitled to access records held by the Housing Authority under Florida's public records law, except for records that occupy a confidential status because they were obtained from federal agencies where they held confidential status under federal law and the Housing Authority has agreed to maintain their confidentiality. Section 119.07(3)(a) exempts such federally-protected records from disclosure.


Headnotes

[1] Public housing authorities may enter into agreements with federal agencies to cooperate in housing projects, and such agreements may require the housing authority to main…

[2] Materials received by a public housing authority from a federal agency that are confidential under federal law remain confidential when held by the housing authority, if…

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

Key Quotes

“all public records which are presently provided by law to be confidential or which are prohibited from being inspected by the public are exempt from disclosure pursuant to chapter 119”

Establishes the statutory basis for exempting records from public disclosure under Florida law.

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Appellees (Louis and Delores Whitehead) petitioned for access to records in the possession of the Housing Authority of St. Petersburg under Florida's …

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.


Opinion of the Court
CAMPBELL, Acting Chief Judge.

CAMPBELL, Acting Chief Judge.

In these consolidated appeals, appellants seek review of the final judgment entered for appellees on appellees’ petition for declaratory action, writ of mandamus and injunctive relief. Appellees’ petition sought access pursuant to chapter 119, Florida Statutes (1989), to certain records, some of which are protected by federal law, in the possession of appellant, The Housing Authority of the City of St. Petersburg (S.P.H.A.). The final judgment found that, under the authority of chapter 119 and Forsberg v. The Housing Authority of The City of Miami Beach, 455 So. 2d 373 (Fla.1984), appellees were entitled to inspect and to copy the records they sought that were in the possession of S.P.H.A. We affirm.

We write in this case to resolve a lingering dispute between the parties as to whether appellees sought or are entitled to, or the final judgment authorized, access to records in S.P.H.A.’s possession that occupy a confidential status because of the fact that S.P.H.A. obtained them from federal agencies where they occupied a confidential status under federal law. Appellees conceded at oral argument that they do not seek such records, and we hold that access to such records is not authorized.

Section 119.07(3)(a), Florida Statutes (1989), provides that all public records which are presently provided by law to be confidential or which are prohibited from being inspected by the public are exempt from disclosure pursuant to chapter 119. Section 421.21(1), Florida Statutes (1989), provides that public housing authorities created pursuant to chapter 421 are authorized to cooperate with the federal government in the undertaking, construction, maintenance or operation of housing projects by such authorities and, in doing so, to enter into and comply with such agreements with the federal government or its agencies as may be necessary, convenient or desirable. When such an agreement has been entered into and provides that a housing authority will maintain the confidentiality of materials received from a federal agency that are by federal law confidential while in the possession of the federal agency, then those materials so received from a federal agency are by reason of section 119.07(3)(a) exempt from the disclosure provisions of chapter 119.

Subject to the clarification made in this opinion, the final judgment is affirmed.

LEHAN and THREADGILL, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw