Campus Communications, Inc. v. Earnhardt
| Decision Date | 12 July 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 5D01-2419.,5D01-2419. |
| Citation | 821 So.2d 388 |
| Parties | CAMPUS COMMUNICATIONS, INC., Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. Teresa EARNHARDT, and the Estate of Dale Earnhardt, by and through its Personal Representative, Teresa Earnhardt, for and on behalf of the Estate and for the Survivors, et al., Appellees/Cross-Appellants. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Thomas R. Julin & D. Patricia Wallace of Hunton & Williams, Miami, for Appellant/Cross-Appellee.
Charles T. Canady, General Counsel, and Simone Marstiller, Assistant General Counsel, Executive Office of the Governor, Tallahassee, Amicus Curiae, for Governor Jeb Bush.
Jonathan D. Kaney, Jr. and Daniel R. Bischof of Cobb, Cole & Bell, Daytona Beach, Amici Curiae, for Florida Society of
Newspaper Editors, First Amendment Foundation, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and Student Press Law Center.
E. Thom Rumberger and Ernest H. Eubanks, Jr. of Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell, P.A., Orlando, and Parker D. Thomson and Carol A. Licko of Hogan & Hartson, LLP, Miami, and Jon L. Mills and Timothy McLendon, Gainesville, and Dickson M. Lupo and Judson Graves of Alston & Bird, LLP, Charlotte, NC, for Appellees/Cross-Appellants Teresa Earnhardt and the Estate of Dale Earnhardt, by and through its Personal Representative, Teresa Earnhardt, for and on behalf of the Estate and for the Survivors.
Thomas E. Warner, Solicitor General, and T. Kent Wetherell, II, Deputy Solicitor General, Office of the Solicitor General, Tallahassee, for Appellee/Cross-Appellant State of Florida.
Daniel D. Eckert, County Attorney, Deland, for Appellee/Cross-Appellant County of Volusia, Office of the Medical Examiner.
Campus Communications, Inc. (Campus) appeals the final judgment finding Chapter 2001-1, codified at section 406.135, Florida Statutes (2001), constitutional and retroactively applicable to the request made by Campus to view and copy the autopsy photographs of R. Dale Earnhardt.1 We affirm.
Mr. Earnhardt was a famous and very successful race car driver who became involved in a fatal crash during the Daytona 500 race on February 18, 2001. He was taken to Halifax Medical Center where, sadly, life-saving efforts were unsuccessful. Mr. Earnhardt was pronounced dead on that same date.
An autopsy was performed on February 19, 2001, by an assistant to the Volusia County Medical Examiner in accordance with Florida law governing accidental deaths.2 In performing the autopsy, thirty-three photographs were taken which, according to the uncontradicted testimony of the medical examiner, were not of "diagnostic quality" and were taken solely as a back-up to the dictation system utilized by the medical examiner to record his findings for inclusion in a written autopsy report.
The written autopsy report, post-crash photographs of Mr. Earnhardt's car, a toxicology report and a sketch showing the markings on Mr. Earnhardt's body were promptly made available to the public. The autopsy photographs, however, were not released because on February 22, 2001, Mrs. Earnhardt sought and obtained an ex parte injunction precluding the medical examiner from releasing them. This injunction was obtained before any request for access to the photographs was made.
On February 23, 2001, the Orlando Sentinel newspaper requested the autopsy photographs. Michael Uribe, who operates a for-profit website on which he publishes celebrity autopsy photographs, also made a request for the photographs. Mr. Uribe had previously published the autopsy photographs of Neil Bonnett and Rodney Orr, both of whom were race car drivers killed in crashes at the Daytona International Speedway. Both requests were denied pursuant to the injunction.
The medical examiner, the Earnhardts and the newspaper interests represented by the Orlando Sentinel subsequently entered into a mediation agreement whereby they agreed that the photographs would be examined by an expert in biomechanics who would issue a report and, thereafter, the photographs would be permanently sealed. Neither Campus nor Mr. Uribe participated in the mediated settlement and on the same day the agreement was reached, Campus made its request for the photographs.
On March 29, 2001, the Florida Legislature enacted section 406.135, which was signed by Governor Bush and became effective on that same date. Upon passage of the statute, the Earnhardts amended their request to include permanent injunctive relief under the statute. Campus filed a cross-claim against the medical examiner seeking an order under the Public Records Act requiring the medical examiner to allow inspection and copying of the photographs. Trial subsequently commenced, evidence and testimony were presented, and the trial court rendered its decision finding the statute constitutional and retroactively applicable to the requests made by Campus and Mr. Uribe.
The issues we are confronted with in the instant proceedings are 1) whether section 406.135 is overly broad and therefore unconstitutional; 2) whether the statute should be applied retroactively; and 3) whether the trial court erred in finding that Campus failed to establish good cause under the statute to allow inspection and copying of the photographs. We will proceed to address each issue in the order presented.
We begin our analysis with the generally accepted principle that "all laws are presumed constitutional" and "[t]he burden rests on the party challenging the law to show that it is invalid." Chicago Title Ins. Co. v. Butler, 770 So.2d 1210, 1214 (Fla.2000) (citations omitted). If any doubt exists as to the validity of a law, it must be resolved in favor of constitutionality where reasonably possible. L.B. v. State, 700 So.2d 370 (Fla.1997); Department of Law Enforcement v. Real Prop., 588 So.2d 957, 961 (Fla.1991).
Both the Florida Constitution and the Public Records Act allow for the creation of exemptions to the Act by the Legislature, provided the newly enacted exemption 1) serves an identifiable public purpose and 2) is no broader than necessary to meet that public purpose. Art. I, § 24(c), Fla. Const.; § 119.15(4)(b), Fla. Stat. (2001). As to the first requirement, the Legislature must specifically state the public necessity which justifies the exemption. Art. 1, § 24(c), Fla. Const. In order to fulfill these constitutional and statutory requirements, the Legislature made the following findings:
The Legislature finds that it is a public necessity that photographs and video and audio recordings of an autopsy be made confidential and exempt from the requirements of section 119.07(1), Florida Statutes, and Section 24(a) of Article I of the State Constitution. The Legislature finds that photographs or video or audio recordings of an autopsy depict or describe the deceased in graphic and often disturbing fashion. Such photographs or video or audio recordings may depict or describe the deceased nude, bruised, bloodied, broken, with bullet or other wounds, cut open, dismembered, or decapitated. As such, photographs or video or audio recordings of an autopsy are highly sensitive depictions or descriptions of the deceased which, if heard, viewed, copied or publicized, could result in trauma, sorrow, humiliation, or emotional injury to the immediate family of the deceased, as well as injury to the memory of the deceased. The Legislature notes that the existence of the World Wide Web and the proliferation of personal computers throughout the world encourages and promotes the wide dissemination of photographs and video and audio recordings 24 hours a day and that widespread unauthorized dissemination of autopsy photographs and video and audio recordings would subject the immediate family of the deceased to continuous injury. The Legislature further notes that there continue to be other types of available information, such as the autopsy report, which are less intrusive and injurious to the immediate family members of the deceased and which continue to provide for public oversight. The Legislature further finds that the exemption provided in this act should be given retroactive application because it is remedial in nature.
Ch.2001-1, § 2, at 2, Laws of Fla.
We will address the specificity requirement first.
As to the requirement that the exemption serve an identifiable public purpose, the Legislature must "state with specificity the public necessity justifying the exemption." Art. I, § 24(c), Fla. Const. We find that chapter 2001-1, Laws of Florida, clearly satisfies this requirement. The legislative findings detail the graphic and often gruesome nature of such autopsy photographs and the trauma and emotional injury the immediate family of the deceased would likely suffer if these records were disclosed and disseminated to the public. The Legislature also recognizes the potential for exacerbation of such injury in light of the ever increasing use of the Internet and the proliferation of personal computers. These findings are supported by the evidence and testimony introduced in the proceedings before the trial court.
We need not address the specificity requirement any further because Campus does not forcefully challenge the Legislature's statement of public necessity. Rather, Campus focuses on the argument that the exemption is overly broad.
Campus contends that section 406.135 is unconstitutional because it is broader than necessary to meet the statute's public purpose. Specifically, Campus argues that the finding made by the Legislature that some photographs "may" show gruesome scenes and that trauma "could" result from publication of the autopsy photographs is explicit recognition that photographs are not always gruesome and that trauma does not always result from their viewing. Therefore, Campus asserts, the Legislature exempted more...
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