Island Harbor Beach Club, Ltd. v. Department of Natural Resources, s. BE-355

Decision Date10 October 1985
Docket NumberBE-352,Nos. BE-355,s. BE-355
Citation476 So.2d 1350,10 Fla. L. Weekly 2338
Parties10 Fla. L. Weekly 2338 ISLAND HARBOR BEACH CLUB, LTD., et al., Appellants, v. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES, Appellee. SUNSET REALTY CORPORATION, et al., Appellants, v. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES, Appellee.
CourtFlorida District Court of Appeals

Kenneth G. Oertel, of Oertel & Hoffman, P.A., Tallahassee, for appellant Island Harbor Beach Club, Ltd.

Carlos Alvarez and Carolyn S. Raepple, of Hopping, Boyd, Green & Sams, Tallahassee, for appellant Sunset Realty Corp.

David Guest, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, for appellee.

ZEHMER, Judge.

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has proposed an amendment to rule 16B-26.06, Florida Administrative Code, which would move the coastal construction control line in Charlotte County farther inland. Appellants have challenged the validity of the proposed amendment on several grounds. The final order entered by the Division of Administrative Hearings upheld the validity of the proposed amendment.

Appellants have raised six issues on appeal. One of the issues--and the only one we now reach--contends that the hearing officer erred in failing to rule upon each proposed finding of fact submitted by the appellant, contrary to section 120.59(2), Florida Statutes (1983). We agree and temporarily remand to the hearing officer to address each of the proposed findings for the reasons hereinafter discussed.

The proposed findings submitted to the hearing officer need not be set forth in detail. It is sufficient to say that many of the proposed findings relate to the location of the beach-dune system in Charlotte County, a factual issue which appellants contend is critical because the jurisdiction of DNR does not extend beyond the beach-dune system. These proposed findings of fact are material and relevant to issues raised by appellants and should have been addressed. The only reference to the proposed findings in the twenty-five page final order appears on page seventeen in the following language: "The parties' proposed findings of fact have been considered and have been adopted, in substance, except where unsupported by the weight of the evidence, immaterial, cumulative, or subordinate." (R. 277.)

Appellants contend that the final order should be set aside since the proposed findings have not been separately addressed by the hearing officer, citing Stuckey's of Eastman, Georgia v. Dept. of Transportation, 340 So.2d 119 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976); Forrester v. Career Service Commission, 361 So.2d 220 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978); Wong v. Career Service Commission, 371 So.2d 530 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979); Pelham v. Superintendent of School Board of Wakulla County, 436 So.2d 951 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983); Kinast v. Dept. of Professional Regulation, 458 So.2d 1159 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984). DNR, on the other hand, argues that section 120.59(2) does not require the hearing officer to rule separately on each proposed finding submitted in a rule challenge proceeding because the requirements of that statute are inapplicable to rule challenges, citing Florida Canners Ass'n v. State, Dept. of Citrus, 371 So.2d 503 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979), aff'd on other grounds sub nom. Coca-Cola Co. v. State, Dept. of Citrus, 406 So.2d 1079 (Fla.1982). Further, DNR argues, even if section 120.59(2) is applicable to rule challenge proceedings, the hearing officer has sufficiently addressed the proposed findings of fact because there is a recognized exception that the hearing officer is not required to make explicit rulings on subordinate, cumulative, immaterial, or unnecessary proposed facts, citing Forrester v. Career Service Commission, 361 So.2d 220.

First, we do not agree with DNR that section 120.59 is inapplicable to proposed rule challenge proceedings. Section 120.59 is applicable to any "final order in a proceeding which affects substantial interests." Section 120.54(4)(a) authorizes "any substantially affected person" to "seek an administrative determination of the invalidity of any proposed rule." Subsection (4)(d) requires that any petition to challenge a proposed rule under section 120.54 "shall be conducted in the same manner as provided in s. 120.57 except that the hearing officer's order shall be final agency action." Since subsection (4)(d) also provides that "the agency proposing the rule and the person requesting the hearing shall be adversary parties," the proceeding is truly an adversarial proceeding. Since the order under review affects substantial interests of the petitioning appellants, is the product of an adversarial proceeding, and constitutes a "final order," we hold that this proposed rule challenge proceeding is clearly subject to the requirements of section 120.59. After studying the decision in Florida Canners Ass'n v. State, Dept. of Citrus, 371 So.2d 503, we do not construe that decision as necessarily holding to the contrary. To the extent that the decision may be construed to so hold, we decline to follow it.

Next we address DNR's argument that it is not necessary to rule on each proposed finding. Apparently there has been considerable, widespread misunderstanding concerning the purpose of section 120.59(2) and the necessity for relating specific rulings to each proposed finding of fact. Section 120.59(2) states:

Findings of fact, if set forth in a manner which is no more than mere tracking of the statutory language, shall be accompanied by a concise and explicit statement of the underlying facts of record which support the findings. If, in accordance with agency rules, a party submitted proposed findings of fact or filed any written application or other request in connection with the proceeding, the order shall include a ruling upon each proposed finding and a brief statement of the grounds for denying the application or request. [Emphasis added.]

For nearly ten years, section 120.57(1) and section 120.59(2) have been construed as securing to all parties:

[T]he right to raise pertinent factual issues for administrative determination, to submit proposed findings on those issues, to receive an explicit ruling on the matters thus submitted and to preserve them for judicial review. While the Department of Transportation has not provided by rule for submission of proposed findings of fact, see Fla. Admin.Code Rule 14-6, we do not consider that § 120.59(2), above quoted, compromises a party's statutory right by making it depend on the existence of agency rules repeating the statutory mandate. Rather, § 120.59(2) is more reasonably to be regarded as requiring explicit agency rulings on all findings proposed by a party and on such other applications or requests in connection with the proceedings as are permitted by agency rule but not by statute.

Stuckey's of Eastman, Georgia v. Dept. of Transportation, 340 So.2d 119, 120. In Forrester v. Career Service Commission, 361 So.2d 220, the court recognized the party's right to receive a ruling on each pertinent proposed finding of fact, but stated:

However, in so holding we stress that an agency head is not required to make explicit rulings on subordinate, cumulative, immaterial or unnecessary proposed facts. Those proposed findings which fall in such a category may be rejected by a simple statement that they are immaterial or irrelevant.

361 So.2d at 221. Subsequent decisions of this court have repeated that the necessity for explicit rulings on each proposed fact is obviated if such findings are found to be subordinate, cumulative, immaterial, or...

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  • Life Care Centers of America, Inc. v. Sawgrass Care Center, Inc.
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • November 21, 1996
    ...(1983) 1 to require "explicit agency rulings on all findings proposed by a party." Island Harbor Beach Club, Ltd. v. Department of Natural Resources, 476 So.2d 1350, 1352 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985). At issue in Island Harbor was a hearing officer's final order denying a petition to invalidate a pr......
  • Baptist Hosp., Inc. v. State, Dept. of Health and Rehabilitative Services, BK-459
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    ...also Morris v. Department of Professional Regulation, 474 So.2d 841 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985). In Island Harbor Beach Club Ltd. v. Department of Natural Resources, 476 So.2d 1350 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985), this court observed that "a broad ruling [upon proposed findings] ... without more, makes it nece......
  • Island Harbor Beach Club, Ltd. v. Department of Natural Resources
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • September 10, 1986
    ...hearing officer with directions to make rulings upon each of the proposed findings of fact. Island Harbor Beach Club, Ltd. v. Department of Natural Resources, 476 So.2d 1350 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985). Upon remand the parties submitted further arguments on the proposed findings of fact at hearing,......
  • Iturralde v. Department of Professional Regulation, BH-75
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    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • March 6, 1986
    ...subordinate, cumulative, immaterial or unnecessary and the agency designates them as such. See Island Harbor Beach Club, Ltd. v. Dept. of Natural Resources, 476 So.2d 1350 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985); Kinast v. Dept. of Professional Regulation, 458 So.2d 1159 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984); Pelham v. Superint......
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