Fla. Fish & Wildlife Conservation Comm'n v. Daws
| Decision Date | 16 August 2018 |
| Docket Number | No. 1D16-4839,1D16-4839 |
| Citation | 256 So.3d 907 |
| Parties | FLORIDA FISH AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION COMMISSION, Appellant, v. William DAWS, Jr., Ouida Gershon, Bill I. Hines, Regina Hines, Hershal O. Holt, Karen A. Holt, Alan E. Joiner, Monica L. Joiner, Mary B. King, Sara King, Betty Tolbert, Ricky W. Tolbert, and Jerry Varnadore, Appellees. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Rebekah A. Davis of Dunlap & Shipman, P.A., Tallahassee; Tracey Hartman, Tallahassee; and John P. Joy and Jose E. Pagan of Walton Lantaff Schroeder & Carson LLP, Fort Lauderdale, for Appellant.
David A. Theriaque, S. Brent Spain, and Terrell K. Arline of Theriaque & Spain, Tallahassee, for Appellees.
ON MOTION FOR REHEARING AND MOTION FOR CERTIFICATION
We deny Appellees' motion for certification, but grant in part Appellees' motion for rehearing, withdraw our opinion dated April 10, 2018, and substitute the following opinion in its place.
* * *
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) appeals an order granting a temporary injunction requiring the FWC to stop deer hunters and their dogs from trespassing onto Appellees' private property. The FWC also appeals the denial of its motion for summary judgment.
We reverse the order in its entirety, dissolve the injunction, and remand for entry of final summary judgment in favor of the FWC.
The Blackwater Wildlife Management Area (Blackwater WMA) is located in the Blackwater State Forest and is composed of more than 200,000 acres of public land in Okaloosa and Santa Rosa counties. Interspersed within the Blackwater WMA are a number of private parcels of land, or inholdings, that abut or are completely surrounded by public lands.1 Over the years, the State acquired more and more land within the Blackwater State Forest, resulting in an increasing number of inholdings – including properties owned or leased by Appellees. See § 375.041, Fla. Stat.
The FWC regulates hunting on public lands in Florida, including the Blackwater WMA. The FWC determines the types of hunting that will be permitted, authorizes specific areas for hunting, schedules hunting seasons for different types of game, and issues hunting licenses and permits. The hunting at issue in this case, deer dog hunting, has been authorized in the Blackwater WMA since at least the 1950's. During the deer dog hunting season, hunters use dogs trained to flush deer out of thickets in the forest or dogs trained to follow deer trails through the forest. While in pursuit of deer, the dogs and hunters occasionally leave the public lands where the FWC has authorized hunting and trespass onto private property.
On multiple occasions, deer hunters and their dogs trespassed onto Appellees' private property; Appellees repeatedly complained to the FWC about these trespasses. Appellees also reported a number of criminal acts allegedly committed by the hunters including trespasses, threats to destroy Appellees' property, threats to Appellees' personal safety, several arson fires, and graffiti painted on Appellees' property.
In response to Appellees' complaints, the FWC took several actions to curtail the trespasses onto Appellees' property. The FWC limited the length of the deer dog hunting season to forty-four days per year, restricted the geographic area in which deer dog hunting was authorized within the Blackwater WMA, and installed fencing to separate the public lands from Appellees' private property. The FWC also adopted a responsible hunter rule, which authorized game wardens to respond to calls from private property owners when trespassing deer dog hunters or their dogs enter private property. And most recently, in 2016, the FWC required, as a condition of issuing licenses and permits for deer dog hunting, that hunters equip their dogs with corrective collars that allow the hunters to control the movements of their dogs by shocking remotely any dog that trespasses onto private property. Despite these efforts by the FWC, trespasses continued to occur. Appellees argue that the FWC is responsible for the trespasses, as it licenses and permits deer dog hunting in the Blackwater WMA and regulates hunting by rule, and they assert that the FWC must prevent further trespasses by hunters and their dogs onto Appellees' private property.
In 2016, Appellees filed a two-count complaint seeking to prevent the FWC from issuing deer dog hunting licenses and permits in the Blackwater WMA. They alleged that the FWC's decision to allow deer dog hunting on state-owned land directly led to the trespasses on their privately-owned land by hunters and their dogs. Appellees contended that these trespasses were so serious that they rose to the level of an inverse condemnation because Appellees were deprived of their right to exclude people from their private property ("takings claim"). Appellees further contended that the trespasses constituted a nuisance because the trespasses deprived Appellees of their right to the quiet enjoyment of their property. To support this contention, Appellees complained that the trespassing dogs were disruptive and potentially dangerous to livestock; it was unsafe for Appellees to go into their yards during deer dog season; fences did not stop the trespasses; and the trespasses prevented Appellees from hunting on their own property ("nuisance claims"). Appellees also sought an injunction requiring the FWC to abate the nuisance of the trespasses by hunters and their dogs onto their private property.
The FWC moved for summary judgment on the takings claims and nuisance claims. The FWC argued that because Appellees failed to plead the required elements of a takings claim, no constitutional claims had been stated against the FWC and its sovereign immunity had not been waived. The FWC argued that the doctrines of separation of powers and sovereign immunity barred the nuisance claims because the FWC owed no duty to Appellees to prevent trespasses on their property and because the FWC's decision to authorize deer dog hunting in the Blackwater WMA was a discretionary decision, not subject to challenge in the courts. Finally, with regard to Appellees' request for an injunction, the FWC contended that the injunction was overbroad and impossible to comply with.
The trial court conducted an evidentiary hearing on Appellees' request for an injunction and the FWC's motion for summary judgment. The trial court denied the summary judgment motion, rejecting the FWC's sovereign immunity arguments as a matter of law. With regard to Appellees' request for an injunction, Appellees conceded that the court could not order the FWC to stop issuing deer dog hunting licenses and permits or to redraw the map of the areas where deer dog hunting was authorized. However, Appellees argued that the court could enter an injunction ordering the FWC to stop further trespasses onto Appellees' property by the hunters and their dogs and that the FWC could take whatever steps it deemed necessary to achieve that goal. The court entered the injunction, ordering the FWC "to abate the nuisance of the deer hunting dogs from trespassing onto the property of the plaintiffs, and of the deer dogs and their hunters from interfering with the plaintiffs' right to the quiet enjoyment of their private property."
The FWC appealed, and the trial court's order was automatically stayed, preventing the injunction from going into effect. See Fla. R. App. P. 9.310(b)(2). Appellees moved to vacate the automatic stay of the injunction in an effort to prevent trespasses by hunters and their dogs onto Appellees' property during the 2017-2018 hunting season. During the hearing on the motion to vacate the automatic stay, Appellees testified to trespasses on their property during the 2016 hunting season – testimony identical in character to that offered during the hearing on the original injunction. The trial court entered an order vacating the automatic stay, and while acknowledging that "it would be overreaching for the Court to direct the FWC not to physically release the licenses and permits for the upcoming hunting season," the court nonetheless concluded that the "FWC is on notice its actions in issuing licenses and permits constitute a nuisance and contribute to the interference with the plaintiffs' right to the quiet enjoyment of their private property, and there is no other way to protect those constitutional rights at this juncture than to vacate the stay." This Court reinstated the automatic stay by order issued October 6, 2017.
We agree with the FWC that the order on appeal should be reversed for three reasons. First, the FWC was entitled to summary judgment on Appellees' takings claims on sovereign immunity grounds because Appellees did not plead the required elements to allege valid constitutional claims. Second, the FWC was entitled to summary judgment on the nuisance claims on sovereign immunity grounds because the FWC owed no duty to Appellees and because the authorization of deer dog hunting in the Blackwater WMA was a discretionary function of the FWC. Third, the trial court erred in entering the injunction because the injunction violated the separation of powers doctrine and was overly broad.
Sovereign immunity "protects the state from burdensome interference from the performance of its governmental functions and preserves its control over state funds, property and instrumentalities." Davis v. State, Dep't of Corr. , 460 So.2d 452, 461 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984) (citation omitted). "In Florida, sovereign immunity is the rule rather than the exception." Pan-Am Tobacco Corp. v. Dep't of Corr. , 471 So.2d 4, 5 (Fla. 1984). There are two general exceptions to this doctrine. First, sovereign immunity will not bar a claim against the State based on violations of the state or federal constitution. Dep't of Revenue v. Kuhnlein , 646 So.2d 717, 721 (Fla. 1994) (...
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