Scott v. Lee County School Board, 012221 FLCA2, 2D19-3009

• Docket Nº: 2D19-3009
• Opinion Judge: SLEET, JUDGE.
• Party Name: RANDY A. SCOTT, Appellant, v. LEE COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD, Appellee.
• Attorney: Randy A. Scott, pro se. Laura K. Wendell and Richard B. Rosengarten of Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman, P.L., Coral Gables, for Appellee.
• Judge Panel: SILBERMAN and VILLANTI, JJ., Concur.
• Case Date: January 22, 2021
• Court: Florida Court of Appeals, Second District

RANDY A. SCOTT, Appellant,

v.

LEE COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD, Appellee.

No. 2D19-3009

Florida Court of Appeals, Second District

January 22, 2021

NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING MOTION AND, IF FILED, DETERMINED

Appeal from the Circuit Court for Lee County; Alane C. Laboda, Judge.

Randy A. Scott, pro se.

Laura K. Wendell and Richard B. Rosengarten of Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman, P.L., Coral Gables, for Appellee.

SLEET, JUDGE.

Randy Scott appeals the trial court's final order summarily denying his petition for writ of mandamus that was based on his request to the Lee County School Board for public records under section 119.07, Florida Statutes (2019). We affirm without prejudice to allow Scott to file a petition that attaches a copy of the public records request that he made.

On June 28, 2019, Scott filed his petition for writ of mandamus. In it, he alleged that Melissa Mickey is the legal custodian of public records for the Lee County School Board. He asserted that he made two requests to Mickey for records. On June 11, 2019, he submitted a request seeking "the vouchers for numbers 00786166, 00786168, 00786172 and 00786174 associated with payment number 0000072759." On June 20, 2019, he submitted a request seeking "1. the Lee County School Board incident report summoning the sheriffs [sic] officers to the finance advisory committee meeting on 6/19/2019 approximately 415 pm. 2. the call log of the employees [sic] telephone that made the call between 345pm and 415 pm same day. 3. preserve the video at the FAC hallway from 345pm until 445 pm same day." Scott alleged in the petition that the Lee County School Board failed to timely provide documents responsive to his request. There is nothing in our record to suggest that Scott attached anything, such as his request for the records, to the petition.

The trial court denied Scott's petition and stated that he had not demonstrated that he has a clear legal right of entitlement to the requested documents and therefore did not state a cause of action for which relief may be granted. Scott asserts on appeal that the trial court committed reversible error by denying his petition without issuing an alternative writ of mandamus for the Lee County School Board to show cause why the petition should not be granted.

"A party petitioning for a writ of mandamus must establish a clear legal right to performance of the act...