Ellison v. Reid, VV-27
| Decision Date | 08 April 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. VV-27,VV-27 |
| Citation | 397 So.2d 352 |
| Parties | Ernest ELLISON, Auditor General of the State of Florida, Appellant, v. David L. REID, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
John L. Berry and Jackson D. Ingram, Tallahassee, for appellant.
James R. Rich, and J. Elliott Messer and James C. Hauser, of Thompson, Messer, Rhodes, Vickers & Hart, Tallahassee, for appellee.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and Frank A. Vickory, Asst. Atty. Gen., amicus curiae.
Auditor General appeals a final summary judgment holding appellee property appraiser properly expended public funds for payment of attorney fees incurred by him in successfully defending charges of official misconduct before the Florida Ethics Commission. We affirm.
In January 1975, a former employee of the Palm Beach County Property Appraisers Office filed a complaint against appellee property appraiser with the Florida Ethics Commission, alleging appellee improperly gave examination papers to his employees while attending a training program sponsored by the Department of Revenue pursuant to Section 195.002, Florida Statutes (1973). Additionally, the complaint alleged appellee plagiarized an appraisal report in order to obtain a professional property appraiser's designation.
When the complaint was filed, there were no administrative rules or procedures governing the Ethics Commission. We issued a writ of prohibition against the Commission hearing the complaint in the absence of established rules of procedure. After the Commission promulgated the rules and procedures, it held a hearing on the merits and found no probable cause to believe appellee had used his position to obtain test answers or had plagiarized an appraisal report in order to obtain a professional property appraiser's designation.
Between June 1975 and March 1977, appellee incurred $16,798.97 in attorney's fees for successfully defending the charges before the Commission. Appellee included this expenditure in his budget for approval by the Department of Revenue pursuant to Section 195.087, Florida Statutes (1975), and, prior to the payment of these fees, the Department of Revenue approved appellee's budget. However, the Auditor General determined the expenditure was improper because it did not serve a public purpose for appellee to spend public funds for private counsel in his successful defense of charges before the Commission. Appellee then filed a complaint in Circuit Court seeking a declaratory judgment concerning the Auditor General's findings.
The Circuit Court, by final summary judgment, determined appellee was acting in his official capacity and was engaged in the performance of his duties at the time the alleged...
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