CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, ET AL., APPELLANTS,
v.
JOSEPH BUTCHER ET AL., 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.
City of Miami appeals a declaratory judgment and mandatory injunction requiring it to grant salary increases to Parks and Water & Sewers employees equal to those given to Sanitation workers, based on the City Charter requirement that compensation be uniform for like services. The court affirmed, holding that the trial court properly exercised declaratory judgment jurisdiction and correctly determined the employees performed substantially similar work.
The trial court had proper declaratory judgment jurisdiction, and there was no error in its determination that the plaintiffs and similarly situated employees performed work substantially similar to Sanitation Department employees and were therefore entitled to equal salary increases under City Charter Section 90.
[1] A circuit court has declaratory judgment jurisdiction when a person or class of persons demonstrates doubt about a right, status, privilege, power, or immunity and is ent…
[2] The imperative public interest in settling controversies regarding the disbursement of public funds can influence a court's discretion in granting declaratory relief.
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 City Manager shall fix the number and salaries or compensation of all other offices and employees. The salaries or compensation so fixed shall be uniform for like services . . .”
City Charter Section 90, the foundational provision requiring uniform compensation for like services
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceIn spring 1969, City of Miami Sanitation Department workers struck for higher pay. The City Manager responded by increasing Sanitation workers' salari…
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 Declaratory Judgment Jurisdiction cases and more on FLexlaw
NATHAN, Judge.
City of Miami, defendant in the trial court, appeals from an adverse final declaratory judgment and mandatory injunction entered after full trial on the merits.
In the spring of 1969, City of Miami Sanitation Department workers walked off the job demanding higher pay. In order to break the strike, the City Manager increased the salaries of those employees within the Department of Sanitation, engaged in collection of garbage, by 30 cents per hour. Section 90 of the Charter of the City of Miami states:
“The City Manager shall fix the number and salaries or compensation of all other offices and employees. The salaries or compensation so fixed shall be uniform for like services . . . ”
This action was filed in the circuit court against the City of Miami by five individual equipment operators or laborers employed by the City of Miami Parks Department and the Miami Department of Water & Sewers, on behalf of all laborers and equipment operators similarly, situated. The complaint alleged that failure to grant a similar raise to other city employees in the same job classifications doing the same type of work, was arbitrary, discriminatory, unreasonable and in violation of the City Charter, • Plaintiffs sought the following relief: (1) judgment declaring their rights under Section 90 of the City Charter with regard to the city’s failure to raise their salary to the same level as employees of the Department of Sanitation who performed “like services”, and (2) injunction for the City to immediately raise the. salaries of employees performing “like services,” and to require the City to immediately pay the back pay allegedly owed to these employees.
The Court determined that the jobs performed by the plaintiffs were “like” those for which raises had been granted employees of the Sanitation Department, and declared that the named plaintiffs and the employees they represented were entitled to immediate wage readjustment.
The City complained by this appeal that the trial court had no declaratory judgment jurisdiction because the dispute was mainly factual. This is without merit. A person or class of persons, as in the instant case, who shows that he is in doubt as to the existence or nonexistence of some right, status, privilege, power or immunity, and that he is entitled to have such doubt removed, is properly within the declaratory judgment jurisdiction of the circuit court, as contemplated by Fla.Stat. § 86.011, 6A F.S.A. See Ready v. Safeway Rock Co., 1946, 157 Fla. 27, 24 So. 2d 808. The court has wide latitude in granting declaratory relief. Considerations influencing the discretion of the court include the imperative public interest in settlement of controversies in the disbursement of public funds, which is a factor in the case sub judice. Cf. Overman v. State Board of Control, Fla.1952, 62 So. 2d 696. We find no abuse of the court’s' discretion, even though the relief sought by the declaratory judgment involved determination of factual matters.
From careful review of the testimony adduced at the trial, we find no error in the court’s determination of the factual question as to whether the services performed by plaintiffs and the employees they represent were “like services” to those performed by employees of the Sanitation Department.
For the reasons above stated, we affirm.
Affirmed.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Branca v. City OF Miramar, 602 So. 2d 1374 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992)…e City had standing to seek this declaratory judgment, because the circuit court is the proper tribunal to determine the constitutionality of ordinances and proposed ordi [*1376] nances.3 § 86.011, Fla.Stat.; see generally, City of Miami v. Butcher, 303 So. 2d 378 (Fla. 3d DCA 1974); West Palm Beach Assoc. of Firefighters v. Board of City Commissioners of the City of West Palm Beach, 448 So. 2d 1212 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984); Lamar-Orlando Outdoor Advertising v. City of Ormond Beach, 415 So. 2d 1312 (Fla. 5th DCA 1…
-
City OF Miami v. Butcher, 318 So. 2d 402 (Fla. 1975)…Certiorari denied. 303 So. 2d 378. ADKINS, C. J., and McCAIN, OVER-TON, and ENGLAND, JJ., concur. ROBERTS, J., dissents.…
Authorities Cited
- Ready v. Safeway Rock Co., 157 Fla. 27 (Fla. 1946)
- Overman v. State Bd. OF Control, 62 So. 2d 696 (Fla. 1952)