PEST CONTROL COMMISSION OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
ACE PEST CONTROL, INC., APPELLEE; PEST CONTROL COMMISSION OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT, V. ERNEST CHARLES MOON, APPELLEE
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The Pest Control Commission appealed interlocutory orders enjoining it from proceeding with license suspension/revocation hearings against two pest control companies. The court reversed the injunctions, holding that courts should not prematurely interfere with administrative agencies' quasi-judicial functions before administrative remedies are exhausted.
The court reversed the interlocutory orders and held that administrative agencies empowered to hold hearings on license revocation or suspension should not be prevented by premature court intervention from performing their quasi-judicial duties. Courts should allow administrative remedies to be exhausted first; parties aggrieved by administrative actions may then resort to judicial review through the statutory procedures provided.
“Promiscuous intervention by the courts in the affairs of these administrative agencies except for most urgent reasons would inevitably result in the dethronement of the commissions and the substitution of the courts in their place and stead.”
Establishes the core principle that courts should not prematurely interfere with administrative agency operations
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe Pest Control Commission charged ACE Pest Control and Ernest Charles Moon with violations of Florida's pest control statutes, including improper pe…
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Appellant seeks review of interlocutory orders enjoining it from proceeding against the appellees in these consolidated cases.
Appellant is a state agency charged with the duty of administering the provisions of Chapter 482, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., which provides for the regulation and licensing of persons engaged in the performance of structural pest control. Among the powers conferred upon the commission is the revocation and suspension of licenses when violations of the statutes or rules enacted thereunder have occurred. Specific grounds for suspension and revocation are set out in Section 482.161. When any person is charged with a violation, the commission is required to serve the respondent with a notice of hearing and the charges, the latter being required to be set forth with sufficient specificity so as to advise the respondent as to the acts or conduct charged to him to the end that he be afforded a fair opportunity to defend in accordance with due process.
Pursuant to its authority, the commission charged the appellees with certain conduct violative of the statute and rules promulgated thereunder and served the said ap-pellees with notice of hearing on such charges. It is unnecessary to detail the nature of the conduct or acts attributed to the appellees at this time. Sufficeth to say that they related to the improper performance of pest control work and improper application of chemicals so as to cause illness of an occupant of a house where the chemicals were applied, among other charges.
Before the date on which the hearing on the charges was scheduled to be held, appellees filed a suit for declaratory decree and injunction by which they asked the court to render a declaration as to certain defects they contended existed in the proceedings which had been instituted against them by the commission and praying further for the entry of a temporary injunction pending final determination of all the issues raised in the complaint for declaratory decree. A temporary injunction was entered and the trial court denied motions to dissolve the complaint and this interlocutory appeal followed.
We agree with appellant’s contention that the temporary injunction appealed was erroneously entered by the court below. Our review of the record and briefs *894in this case convinces us that the issues raised are controlled by the holding of the Supreme Court in Odham v. Foremost Dairies, Inc., 128 So.2d 586 (Fla.1961), stating the rule in these cases to be as follows :
“ * * * Promiscuous intervention by the courts in the affairs of these administrative agencies except for most urgent reasons would inevitably result in the dethronement of the commissions and the substitution of the courts in their place and stead. The subject case is aptly illustrative of this point. The taking of testimony on the many issues presented by the complaint would merely be plowing in advance the ground that, under the law, should first be plowed by the Milk Commission. We must assume that these agencies will follow the mandates of the Constitution and the laws in the discharge of their duties. If they fail to do so, those aggrieved may resort to the courts for a review of such actions.”
Administrative agencies empowered by statute to hold hearings to determine whether there exist grounds for revoking or suspending licenses of persons engaged in professions and occupations which are so affected with the public interest as to require governmental regulation should not be stifled in the performance of their quasi-judicial duties to hold hearings by premature resort to courts of record before administrative remedies are exhausted. Most regulatory statutes provide methods for review of quasi-judicial orders. In the case at bar, Section 482.181, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., provides that the method of review shall be in the manner set forth in Chapter 120, Part III.
The orders appealed are reversed on authority of Odham v. Foremost Dairies, Inc., supra; Florida State Board of Medical Examiners v. James, 158 So.2d 574 (Fla.App.1963); Florida Board of Pharmacy v. Levin, 190 So.2d 768 (Fla.1966); and
this court s recent opinion m Meiklejohn v. American Distributors, Inc., 210 So.2d 259.
WIGGINTON, C. J., and CARROLL, DONALD K., J., concur.
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State of Fla. ex rel. Dep't OF Gen. Servs. v. Willis, 344 So. 2d 580 (Fla. 1st DCA 1977)…uninvoked administrative remedies are available. E. g., Florida Motel and Rest. Comm’n v. Marseilles Hotel Co., 84 So. 2d 567 (Fla.1956); Bowden v. Seaboard Air Line R. R. Co., 47 So. 2d 786 (Fla.1950); Pest Control Comm’n v. Ace Pest Control, Inc., 214 So. 2d 892 (Fla.1st DCA 1968); Florida [*587] State Board of Med. Exam. v. James, 158 So. 2d 574 (Fla.3d DCA 1964).6 In the present case Ginn and the other respondents in interest forthrightly seek coercive relief against the Department and make no pretense th…1 / 2
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The Sch. Bd. OF Leon Cnty. v. Mitchell, 346 So. 2d 562 (Fla. 1st DCA 1977)…on whatever to an order rendered by the agency in its conduct of a quasi-judicial proceeding which applies only to the issues in that proceeding, and affects only the parties thereto.” (See also Pest Control Com’n. of Fla. v. Ace Pest Control, Inc., 214 So. 2d 892 (Fla. 1st DCA 1968) and Bay National Bank and Trust Company v. Dickinson, 229 So. 2d 302 (Fla. 1st DCA 1969)) We now arrive at the 1974 revision of the APA which, inter alia, repealed Section 120.30. What was the intended effect of the 1974 revisio…
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State v. Falls Chase Special Taxing Dist., 424 So. 2d 787 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982)…1 So. 2d 209 (Fla. 1st DCA 1964); Marx v. Welch, 178 So. 2d 737 (Fla. 3d DCA 1965), cert. den., 188 So. 2d 313 (Fla.1966); Tampa Port Authority v. Deen, 179 So. 2d 416 (Fla. 2d DCA 1965); Pest Control Commission of Florida v. Ace Pest Control, Inc., 214 So. 2d 892 (Fla. 1st DCA 1968); Cole v. Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Co., 221 So. 2d 200 (Fla. 3d DCA 1969); Pushkin v. Lombard, 279 So. 2d 79 (Fla. 3d DCA 1973), cert. den., 284 So. 2d 396 (Fla.1973); Duval County School Board v. Armstrong, 336 So. 2…
Previewing 3 of 6 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Odham v. Foremost Dairies, Inc., 128 So. 2d 586 (Fla. 1961)
- Meiklejohn v. Am. Distribs., Inc., 210 So. 2d 259 (Fla. 1st DCA 1968)
- Fla. Bd. OF Pharmacy v. Levin, 190 So. 2d 768 (Fla. 1966)
- Fla. State Bd. OF Med. Exam'rs v. Charles Clarence James, Jr., M.D., 158 So. 2d 574 (Fla. 3d DCA 1963)