Physicians Healthcare Plans, Inc. v. Pfeifler, No. SC01-2062

• Decision Date: 01 May 2003
• Docket Number: No. SC01-2062, No. SC01-2079.
• Parties: PHYSICIANS HEALTHCARE PLANS, INC., et al., Petitioners, v. Raymond PFEIFLER, et ux., Respondents. Kurshid Kahn, M.D., et al., Petitioners, v. Raymond Pfeifler, et ux., Respondents.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

846 So.2d 1129

PHYSICIANS HEALTHCARE PLANS, INC., et al., Petitioners, v. Raymond PFEIFLER, et ux., Respondents.

Kurshid Kahn, M.D., et al., Petitioners, v. Raymond Pfeifler, et ux., Respondents.

Nos. SC01-2062, SC01-2079.

Supreme Court of Florida.

May 1, 2003.

Louise H. McMurray and Douglas M. McIntosh of McIntosh, Sawran, Peltz & Cartaya, Miami, FL, on behalf of Physicians Healthcare Plans, Inc.; F. Bryant Blevins of Marlow, Connell, Valerius, Abrams, Adler & Newman, Miami, FL, on behalf of Ronald S. Gup, M.A., etc.; Kevin P. O'Connor of O'Connor, Chimpoulis, Restani, Marreo & McAllister, P.A., Coral Gables, FL, on behalf of Ralph Greenwasser, Jr., D.O.; and Nancy W. Gregoire and Michael J. Rotundo of Bunnell, Woulfe, Kirschbaum, Keller, McIntyre & Gregoire, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, FL, on behalf of Khurshid Khan, M.D., et al., Petitioners.

Gary M. Farmer, Jr. of Gillespie, Goldman, Kronengold & Farmer, P.A., Fort

Lauderdale, FL; Charles J. Crist, Jr., Attorney General, and Charles M. Fahlbusch, Assistant Attorney General, Fort Lauderdale, FL; and Michael S. Freedland of The Law Offices of Freedland & Glassman, Weston, FL, for Respondents.

PER CURIAM.

Physicians Healthcare Plans, Inc., Dr. Kurshid Kahn, and others petition this Court for a writ of prohibition. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(7), Fla. Const.

The instant case arose from a 1998 medical malpractice action by Raymond and Cynthia Pfeifler against Physicians Healthcare Plans, Inc. (Physicians), Dr. Kurshid Kahn (Kahn), and others, which was set for trial on the senior judges' docket in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit. In July 2000, the codefendants filed a motion in circuit court to return the case to the elected circuit judge, arguing that the assignment to a senior judge violated both this Court's general guidelines and procedures for the assignment of senior judges and the Florida Constitution. The circuit court heard argument in November 2000, denied the motion, but certified the issue as being of great public importance and invited the codefendants to seek a writ of prohibition to resolve the issues presented.

Petitioners Physicians and Kahn have filed two separate petitions for writs of prohibition with this Court. Both petitions raise a number of challenges to the senior judges' docket in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit and ask this Court to prohibit the assignment of senior judges to preside over "long trial" medical malpractice and other "complex litigation" cases.¹ We have consolidated the cases as they present the same issues for the Court's resolution.

Before considering the challenges raised in the petitions, we find it necessary to explain the background relating to the assignment of senior judges. For the purposes of judicial administration, a "retired judge" is defined as a judge not engaged in the practice of law who has been a judicial officer of this state. See Fla. R. Jud. Admin. 2.030(a)(3)(B). Section 25.073(1), Florida Statutes (2001), also specifies that a retired judge may not have been defeated in seeking reelection or retention to his or her last judicial office. In 1990, Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.030(a)(3) was amended to provide that a retired judge serving on assignment to temporary judicial duty may be referred to by the honorary designation "senior judge." This designation had no effect on the responsibilities or conduct of the retired judge. See In re Amendment to Rules of Judicial Admin., 560 So.2d 786, 787 (Fla.1990)

.

This Court has exclusive jurisdiction to review judicial assignments based upon article V, section 2(a)-(b) of the Florida Constitution. Article V, section 2(a) gives this Court authority to adopt rules for the administrative supervision of all courts. Article V, section 2(b) gives the chief justice of this Court, as the chief administrative officer of the judicial system, "the power to assign justices or judges, including consenting retired justices or judges, to temporary duty in any court for which the judge is qualified and to delegate to a chief judge of a judicial circuit the power to assign judges for duty in that circuit." Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.050(b)(4) delegates the chief justice's assignment power to the chief judges of the judicial circuits to "assign any judge to temporary service for which the judge is qualified in any court in the same circuit." "When a chief judge exercises this delegated assignment authority, the judge is acting under the Chief Justice's constitutional power to make temporary judicial assignments to ensure the speedy, efficient, and proper administration of justice within the various circuits." Wild v. Dozier, 672 So.2d 16, 18 (Fla.1996). Because of the vital role temporary judicial assignments play in the administration of our court system, this Court must have exclusive jurisdiction to review such assignments under its article V, section 2(a) authority to oversee the administrative supervision of all courts. See id.

This Court has long recognized the necessity of assigning retired judges and justices to judicial service in Florida courts. See In re Assignments of Justices & Judges, 222 So.2d 22 (Fla.1969)

. As we have explained, "unless retired justices and judges are assigned to ... other courts, long delays in the discharge of case loads of some of the trial courts will result." Id. at 23. Thus, retired judges have provided valuable service to Florida's judicial system for many years by assisting with increased caseloads and providing relief to active judges when they are ill or disqualified. See In re Rules Governing Assignment to Duty of Retired Justices & Judges, 239 So.2d 254 (Fla.1970). "Were it not for the availability of this resource, the delays in scheduling hearings and trials... would be much greater." In re Certification of Judicial Manpower, 592 So.2d 241, 246 (Fla.1992). Furthermore, "[t]he use of retired judges is the most cost effective and flexible program we have to address calendaring problems and emergencies as they arise." In re Certification of Judicial Manpower, 576 So.2d 1303, 1307 (Fla.1991). We have repeatedly noted that the services of retired judges "are available at much less expense than full-time judges." In re Certification of Need for Additional Judges, 669 So.2d 1037, 1039 (Fla.1996). Senior judges currently perform the work of approximately thirty-five full-time judges, at a cost of about $2.9 million, a small fraction of the cost of that number of full-time judges. See Comm. On Appointment and Assignment of Senior Judges, Report and Recommendations of the Committee On Appointment and Assignment of Senior Judges, 4 (Feb. 22, 2002) (on file with Clerk, Fla. Sup. Ct.).

It is against this background that we address the petitioners' challenges to the assignment of senior judges. The petitioners claim that the use of senior judges violates the suffrage rights of voters; the assignment of cases to the senior judges' docket in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit constitutes an improper permanent assignment and violates the constitutional prohibition against the creation of special court divisions; the assignment of a retired judge who resides in another judicial circuit violates the constitutional judicial qualifications; the assignment of complex cases to the senior judge docket results in delay which constitutes an unconstitutional restraint on access to courts; judges younger than seventy years of age and those who are not eligible for retirement benefits under the state retirement system do not meet the constitutional definition of a retired judge; and senior judges may not be appointed for matters of convenience.²

The petitioners argue that the use of senior judges violates their suffrage rights. See Art. V, § 10(b) Fla. Const. (providing for election of circuit court and county court judges unless a majority of the voters in the jurisdiction approve a local option to select judges by merit selection and retention); id. § 11(b) (providing that when a vacancy occurs on a circuit or county court where the judges are elected by the voters the governor shall appoint a judge to fill the vacancy but an election shall be held to fill the judicial office at the end of the appointed term). The petitioners contend that voters are being deprived of the right to have their cases tried by judges who are accountable to the public because senior judges are not elected to judicial office. However, constitutional provisions must be read in pari materia "to form [a] congruous whole so as not to render any language superfluous." Department of Envtl. Prot. v. Millender, 666 So.2d 882, 886 (Fla.1996). The Florida Constitution specifically grants the chief justice power to assign retired justices or judges to temporary duty in any court for which they are qualified and the authority to delegate this power to the chief judge of a judicial circuit. See art. V, § 2(b), Fla. Const. Thus, where appointments fall within the parameters outlined in this provision, the Florida Constitution obviously permits appointment of nonelected judges and does not consider this to be a violation of suffrage rights.

Next the petitioners contend that the use of senior judges in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit constitutes an improper permanent assignment, which violates the chief justice's constitutional authority to assign retired judges to "temporary duty." Art. V, § 2(b). Based upon our previous cases, we can glean some basic constitutional parameters relating to the temporal nature of judicial assignments. A county judge cannot be assigned to perform solely circuit court work, and vice versa, unless the assignment is for a relatively short time. See Payret v. Adams, 500 So.2d 136 (Fla.1986)

; Crusoe v. Rowls, 472 So.2d 1163 (Fla.1985). However, a judge may be assigned to hear other court work on a temporary, regular basis as long as the assignment is directed to a specified class of cases, is used to maximize...