City of Miami v. City of Miami Firefighters' & Police Officers' Ret. Trust & Plan

• Decision Date: 06 June 2018
• Docket Number: No. 3D18–86,3D18–86
• Citation: 249 So.3d 709
• Parties: CITY OF MIAMI, Appellant, v. CITY OF MIAMI FIREFIGHTERS' AND POLICE OFFICERS' RETIREMENT TRUST & PLAN, et al., Appellees.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

249 So.3d 709

CITY OF MIAMI, Appellant,

v.CITY OF MIAMI FIREFIGHTERS' AND POLICE OFFICERS' RETIREMENT TRUST & PLAN, et al., Appellees.

No. 3D18–86

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

Opinion filed June 6, 2018.

Victoria Méndez, City Attorney, and John A. Greco, Deputy City Attorney, and Kerri L. McNulty and Kevin R. Jones, Assistant City Attorneys, for appellant.

Klausner, Kaufman, Jensen & Levinson, and Robert D. Klausner, Adam P. Levinson and Paul A. Daragjati (Plantation), for appellees.

Before ROTHENBERG, C.J., and EMAS and LINDSEY, JJ.

EMAS, J.

INTRODUCTION

The City of Miami ("the City") filed suit against the City of Miami Firefighters' & Police Officers' Retirement Trust & Plan ("the Trust") and the Board of Trustees of the City of Miami Firefighters' & Police Officers' Retirement Trust ("the Board"), seeking temporary and permanent injunctive relief.

In the instant appeal, the City seeks review of the trial court's order (1) denying the City's emergency motion for temporary injunctive relief; and (2) granting the Trust and the Board's motion for abatement and abating the proceedings below, pending exhaustion of the conflict resolution procedures in Chapter 164.

For the reasons that follow, we reverse the trial court's order denying the City's emergency motion for temporary injunctive relief, and affirm the trial court's order abating the proceedings.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On July 28, 2010, the City declared a "financial urgency," pursuant to section 447.4095, Florida Statutes (2010), and, on August 31, 2010, voted to unilaterally alter the terms of its collective bargaining agreement ("CBA") with Miami Lodge No. 20, Fraternal Order of Police ("the Union"). The City implemented this change to the CBA by amending its pension ordinance, resulting in reduced pension benefits for retired police officers ("the 2010 pension ordinance").

The Union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the Public Employees Relations Commission ("PERC") on September 21, 2010, contending that the City improperly modified the CBA without completing the impasse resolution process¹ required by the financial urgency statute. See § 447.403, Fla. Stat. (2010). The hearing officer found that the City had properly invoked the financial urgency statute and was not required to complete the impasse resolution procedures before implementing changes to the CBA. PERC adopted the hearing officer's recommendation in its final order dismissing the Union's charge.

The Union appealed to the First District Court of Appeal, which affirmed PERC's final order, finding PERC did not err in interpreting or applying section 447.4095. Headley v. City of Miami, 118 So.3d 885 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013).

The Union sought review from the Florida Supreme Court, and on March 2, 2017, the Florida Supreme Court issued its opinion, agreeing with the Union that a public employer may not modify a CBA in the event of a financial urgency unless it shows "that the funds are not available from any other possible reasonable source." Headley v. City of Miami, 215 So.3d 1, 8 (Fla. 2017). The Court also held that " section 447.4095 permits the unilateral implementation of changes to the CBA only after the parties have completed the impasse resolution proceedings and have failed to ratify the agreement." Id. at 9. The Court quashed the First District's decision and remanded "for proceedings consistent with this decision." Id. at 10. On remand, the First District issued an order remanding the case to PERC "for further proceedings consistent with the Florida Supreme Court's opinion."

On remand, PERC concluded that the City failed to comply with the impasse resolution procedures of section 447.403, and that it was not statutorily authorized to unilaterally modify the collective bargaining agreement. PERC further concluded that the City engaged in an unfair labor practice² when it adopted the 2010 pension ordinance, because the City unilaterally changed wages, pensions, health insurance and other monetary items for the police union employees prior to completing the impasse resolution procedures. The order remanded the cause to a hearing officer to recommend an appropriate remedy. On July 20, 2017, the hearing officer recommended that the City be directed to rescind its modifications to the wages, health care, and pension benefits of employees represented by the Union and that PERC direct the parties to return to the status quo ante as of September 29, 2010, the day prior to the adoption of the 2010 pension ordinance.

On September 27, 2017, the Board sent a letter to the City Manager, inviting the City to engage in discussion with the Board on the issues arising out of the Florida Supreme Court's decision and PERC's recent orders ("the Board's September 27 letter").

On October 18, 2017, PERC adopted the hearing officer's recommendations and determined that "[t]he appropriate remedy in this case requires the City to rescind the changes in wages and benefits that were legislatively imposed on September 30, reinstate the status quo ante as of September 29, 2010, and make the employees whole." PERC directed the clerk to open a back-pay case and schedule a hearing before a hearing officer for that purpose. Importantly, the PERC order specifically provided:

This is not an appealable final order because the amount of back pay remains for determination. When the amount of back pay is resolved, the Commission will issue a final order that will allow either party to appeal the merits of this order or the amount of back pay.

(Emphasis added.)

Following this October 18, 2017 nonfinal, nonappealable order from PERC, on November 2, 2017, the Board voted to "administer the System as if the Ordinance had never been adopted in 2010 ... correct all member records accordingly and add the liability to the City cost." It directed the Trust Administrator to "correct all members that were affected and provide benefits as if Ordinance 13202 had never been adopted." This "correction" of benefits did not calculate any back pay that was due, but restored the plan beneficiaries to the pension calculation that was utilized before the City's 2010 pension ordinance.

On December 22, 2017, the City filed suit against the Board and the Trust in circuit court, seeking to enjoin the Board's anticipated action in adjusting benefit payments and providing benefits under the pre–2010 pension ordinance. It also filed an emergency motion for temporary injunctive relief, asserting such adjusted payment of benefits would be in violation of the City's pension code, which had not been amended by the City, which no final court order had invalidated, and which the Board and the Trust had no authority to modify, rescind or ignore.

After an evidentiary hearing, the trial court entered an order denying the City's motion for temporary injunctive relief. The trial court also determined that, because the City failed to comply with the pre-suit conflict resolution procedures under Chapter 164, the circuit court proceedings must be abated pending compliance with those conflict resolution procedures. This appeal followed.³

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

Did the trial court err in denying the City's motion for a temporary injunction to prevent the Board from unilaterally adjusting payments and providing benefits as if the 2010 pension ordinance had never been adopted?

We apply a hybrid standard of review to the appeal of an order granting or denying a temporary injunction: "To the extent the trial court's order is based on factual findings, we will not reverse unless the trial court abused its discretion; however, any legal conclusions are subject to de novo review." Gainesville Woman Care, LLC v. State, 210 So.3d 1243, 1258 (Fla. 2017) (quoting Fla. High Sch. Athletic Ass'n v. Rosenberg, 117 So.3d 825, 826 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013) (additional citations omitted).

The Board's position is that the Headley decision "invalidated" the 2010 pension ordinance, rendering it void ab initio, and thus, the Board was required to restore the plan beneficiaries to the pre–2010 pension ordinance.

Thus framed, the initial question is whether, at this procedural posture, the 2010 pension ordinance is still valid in light of Headley. We conclude that it is. First and foremost, nowhere in Headley did the Florida Supreme Court invalidate or declare void the City's 2010 pension ordinance. Nor did the Court direct the First District or PERC to do so. Although Headley quashed the First District's opinion upholding PERC's determination that the City acted properly, the Headley court did not quash the 2010 pension ordinance. The Headley Court simply rejected the First District's determination that the City was entitled to unilaterally amend the pension ordinance without first completing the impasse resolution proceedings, and then showing that funds were not available from any other possible reasonable source. In other words, the Florida Supreme Court rejected PERC's and the First District's basis for determining that the City properly enacted the 2010 pension ordinance. The First District, on remand, simply remanded to PERC for proceedings consistent with the Supreme Court's opinion.

The Board further maintains it that had no choice but to administer the system and provide benefits as if the 2010 pension ordinance did not exist because PERC's subsequent order on remand from the First District Court of Appeal also rendered the 2010 pension ordinance void. Again, we disagree.

First, on remand, although PERC concluded that the 2010 pension ordinance was improvidently passed, PERC determined that the appropriate remedy is for the City to rescind the 2010 changes to the pension ordinance and to reinstate the pension ordinance in place before those unilateral changes were made:

The appropriate remedy in this case requires the City to rescind the changes in wages and benefits that were legislatively imposed on September 30, reinstate the status quo ante as of September 29,

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