CITY OF TAMPA, A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, ET AL.,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, EX REL. W. E. EVANS
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.
The City of Tampa challenged a special legislative act requiring it to pension police officer W. E. Evans for service-related disability injuries. The Florida Supreme Court held that legislative findings of fact in pension statutes are not conclusive but may be contested in court, and if any rational basis exists for the findings, they must be upheld.
Legislative findings of fact in pension statutes are not conclusive and may be contested in court. However, if the court finds any rational basis for the facts found by the Legislature, those findings will be upheld. The burden is on the contesting party (the City) to demonstrate the findings lack rational basis.
“The Legislature has power to grant pensions as a gratuity for public service rendered. In so doing it is essential that a finding be made that the services were rendered as a prerequisite to the grant.”
Establishes that while the Legislature may grant pensions, it must make a factual finding that services were rendered as a prerequisite.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceW. E. Evans entered Tampa's police service in 1895 and served for more than 25 years, though not continuously. He suffered a broken leg in the line of…
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.
Chapter 21596, Special Laws of Florida, 1941, directed that the City of Tampa retire appellee from the police department and place his name on the pension list. As a predicate to this grant, the legislative act found that:
“Whereas, W. E. Evans entered the police service of the City of Tampa, Florida, in the year 1895, and has served for more than twenty-five (25) years as such police officer of said city, but not continuously; and
“Whereas, W. E. Evans, in the line of duty received injuries from which he now suffers and will continue to suffer during his natural life, same being a broken leg;”
The City declined to comply with the act and mandamus was brought. The defense interposed by the City is that the legislative finding of fact was an encroachment on the function of the judiciary and, therfore, void; and, too, the legislative finding of fact was untrue.
The circuit judge took testimony and found a rational basis for the legislative finding of fact and awarded a peremptory writ. From that judgment the city appeals.
The Legislature has power to grant pensions as a gratuity for public service rendered. In so doing it is essential that a finding be made that the services were rendered as a prerequisite to the grant. When the grant has been made it shall be liberally construed in favor of the grantee. See State ex rel. Holton v. City of Tampa, 119 Fla. 556, 159 So. 292; State ex rel. Hawkins v. Amos, 97 Fla. 675, 122 So. 8; Northern Inv. Corp. v. City of Cocoa, 118 Fla. 405, 158 So. 889; State ex rel. Givens v. Holland, 147 Fla. 396, 2 So. 2nd 735.
The legislative findings of fact are not conclusive and may be contested in the court. In such contest the burden is on the contesting party which is the city in this case. If the court finds any rational basis for the existence of the facts found by the Legislature they will be upheld. See L. Maxcy, Inc., v. Mayo, et al., 103 Fla. 552, 130 So. 121; Borden’s Farm Products Company v. Tan Eyck, 297 U. S. 251, *17956 Sup. Ct. 453, 80 L. Ed. 669; United States v. Carolene Products Company, 304 U.S. 144, 58 Sup. Ct. 778, 82 L. Ed. 1234; South Carolina State Highway Department v. Barnwell Brothers, 303 U. S. 177, 58 Sup. Ct. 510, 82 L. Ed. 734; Clark v. Paul Gray, 306 U. S. 583, 59 Sup. Ct. 744, 83 L. Ed. 1001.
The trial judge considered the evidence consistent with these cases and found adversely to the city. From our consideration of the record, we fail to find error in his judgment.
Affirmed.
BUFORD, C. J., TERRELL and CHAPMAN, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Moore v. Ina S. Thompson, 126 So. 2d 543 (Fla. 1960)…[*553] status of title and liens on motor vehicles, of obtaining insurance coverage, and of securing mechanical servicing and safety checks. The burden is upon the appellant to overturn or disprove these findings of fact. See City of Tampa v. State, 155 Fla. 177, 19 So. 2d 697; Miami Home Milk Producers Ass’n v. Milk Control Board, 124 Fla. 797, 169 So. 541. It is equally well settled that every presumption is in favor of the constitutional validity of a legislative Act, Gaulden v. Kirk, Fla.1950, 47 So. 2d…
-
Greene v. Florida M. Gray and Katharine H. Lewis, 87 So. 2d 504 (Fla. 1956)…to the doctrine that pensions or retirement pay for civilian services is a legitimate state expense which the legislature is authorized to grant. In re Advisory Opinion to the Governor, 98 Fla. 843, 124 So. 728; City of Tampa v. State ex rel. Evans, 155 Fla. 177, 19 So. 2d 697; State ex rel. Watson v. Lee, 157 Fla. 62, 24 So. 2d 798, 163 A.L.R. 862. In the last cited case we were confronted with the state plan for county officers and employees’ retirement and among other things we held that such acts are g…
-
DOE v. Shands Teaching Hosp. & Clinics, Inc., 614 So. 2d 1170 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993)…Inc., 476 So. 2d 657, 659 (Fla.1985), appeal dismissed, 475 U.S. 1114, 106 S.Ct. 1626, 90 L.Ed.2d 174 (1986). . Florida courts have similarly subjected underlying legislative findings to judicial scrutiny. See City of Tampa v. State ex rel. Evans, 155 Fla. 177, 178, 19 So. 2d 697, 697 (1944) ("[L]egislative findings of fact are not conclusive and may be contested in the court. In such contest the burden is on the contesting party_”) See also University of Miami v. Echarte, 585 So. 2d 293 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991…
Previewing 3 of 5 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- United States v. Carolene Prods. Co., 304 U.S. 144 (U.S. 1938)
- Clark v. Paul Gray, Inc., 306 U.S. 583 (U.S. 1939)
- S.C. State Hwy. Dep't v. Barnwell Bros., Inc., 303 U.S. 177 (U.S. 1938)
- L. Maxcy, Inc. v. Mayo, 103 Fla. 552 (Fla. 1931)
- Borden's Farm Prods. Co., Inc. v. Ten Eyck, 297 U.S. 251 (U.S. 1936)
- State v. City of Tampa, 119 Fla. 556 (Fla. 1934)
- State of Fla. ex rel. Eugene Hawkins v. Amos, 97 Fla. 675 (Fla. 1929)
- N. Inv. Corp. v. City of Cocoa, 118 Fla. 405 (Fla. 1935)
- State of Fla. ex rel. Darwin Branch Givens v. Spessard L. Holland, 147 Fla. 396 (Fla. 1941)