Wagner v. Orange County

• Decision Date: 15 June 2007
• Docket Number: No. 5D06-3311.,5D06-3311.
• Citation: 960 So.2d 785
• Parties: Stacie WAGNER, Appellant, v. ORANGE COUNTY, Florida, et al., Appellees.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

960 So.2d 785

Stacie WAGNER, Appellant, v. ORANGE COUNTY, Florida, et al., Appellees.

No. 5D06-3311.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

June 15, 2007.

Rehearing Denied July 31, 2007.

Dennis F. Wells, of Webb, Wells & Williams, P.A., Longwood, for Appellant.

Thomas B. Drage, County Attorney, and Joseph L. Passiatore, Senior Assistant County Attorney, Orange County Attorney's Office, Orlando, for Appellee, Orange County.

David B. Moffett, of Rissman, Barrett, Hurt, Donahue & McLain, P.A., Orlando, for Appellee, Rissman, et al.

PLEUS, C.J.

Stacie Wagner, plaintiff below, appeals from a final judgment which denied her action seeking access to records held by the defendants Orange County, Florida, and the County's outside law firm, Rissman, Barrett, Hurt, Donohue & McLain, P.A., (Rissman, Barrett). The issues on appeal concern the interpretation of exemptions to the Public Records law contained at subsection 768.28(16)(b), and subsection 119.071(1)(d), Florida Statutes.

Wagner obtained a final judgment against Orange County in the amount of $900,880 in connection with the death of her 11-year-old daughter who was struck and killed by an Orange County Fire/Rescue vehicle. The County paid Wagner $100,000 pursuant to section 768.28, Florida Statutes, and Wagner has pursued the remainder of the judgment through a claim bill filed in the Florida legislature.

Prior to submission of the claim bill, Wagner's attorneys submitted two public records requests to review the litigation file held by the County's Risk Management Division and further sought, by way of public records request, the files of Rissman, Barrett, the private law firm which had represented the County in the wrongful death litigation. Both the County and Rissman, Barrett claimed privilege and exemption from production.

The trial court ultimately sided with the defendants, ruling that: (1) risk management claim files maintained by the County are exempt from production pursuant to a public records request based on a statutory exemption set forth in subsection 768.28(16)(b), and (2) the County's outside counsel was not required to produce its litigation file because of the protections afforded by subsection 119.071(1)(d), and Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.280(b)(5).

The issues in this case involve matters of statutory construction which are questions of law subject to de novo review. Maggio v. Fla. Dep't of Labor & Employment Sec., 899 So.2d 1074 (Fla.2005).

Subsection 768.28(16)(b), Florida Statutes, provides:

Claims files maintained by any risk management program administered by the state, its agencies and its subdivisions are confidential and exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. 1 of the State Constitution until termination of all litigation and settlement of all claims arising out of the same incident, although portions of the claims files may remain exempt, as otherwise provided by law. Claims files records may be released to other governmental agencies upon written request and demonstration of need; such records held by the receiving agency remain confidential and exempt as provided for in this paragraph.

The operative phrase of the subsection is "until termination of all litigation and settlement of all claims arising out of the same incident." Wagner maintains that this language exempts disclosure only during the litigation process and does not expressly encompass the claim bill process. Wagner points out that the Florida Constitution provides that the public shall have full access to government records and that while exemptions may be enacted by a two-thirds vote of each house of the legislature, Article 1, section 24, Florida Constitution, statutory exemptions restricting access to records are to be narrowly construed. WFTV, Inc. v. Sch. Bd. of Seminole County, 874 So.2d 48, 53 (Fla. 5th DCA 2004); Times Publ'g Co. v. State, 827 So.2d 1040, 1042 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002); Seminole County v. Wood, 512 So.2d 1000 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987).

The County maintains that the phrase "settlement of all claims arising out of the same incident," clearly encompasses a legislative claim bill and that alternatively, even if the language of subsection 768.28(16)(b) is ambiguous, the legislative intent underlying the enactment dictates that claims files be exempt from public records disclosure at least during the pendency of a claim bill.

Analysis of this issue requires background on the nature of legislative claim bills. A claim bill is not an action at law, but rather is a legislative measure that directs the Chief Financial Officer of Florida, or if appropriate, a unit of local government, to pay a specific sum of money to a claimant to satisfy an equitable or moral obligation. Such obligations usually arise from the negligence of officers or employees of the State or local governmental agency. Legislative claim bills are utilized either after procurement of a judgment in an action at law or as a mechanism to avoid an action at law altogether. City of Miami v. Valdez, 847 So.2d 1005 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003). The amount awarded is based on the legislature's concept of fair treatment of a person who has been injured or damaged but who is without a complete judicial remedy or who is not otherwise compensable. Kahn, Legislative Claim Bills, Fla. B. Journal (April 1988). A claim bill is not obtainable by right upon the claimant's proof of entitlement, but rather is granted strictly as a matter of legislative grace. United Servs. Auto Ass'n v. Phillips, 740 So.2d 1205 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999). A claim bill must be presented to the legislature within four years "after the cause for relief accrued" and if a legislative relief act results, no additional claim for relief may be submitted to the legislature. § 11.065, Fla. Stat.

The legislature has set a cap on tort recovery from a governmental entity, in an action at law, at $100,000 per person and $200,000 per accident. § 768.28(5), Fla. Stat. Although an "excess" judgment may be entered, the statutory caps make it impossible, absent a special claim bill passed by the legislature, for a claimant to collect more than the caps provide. Breaux v. City of Miami Beach, 899 So.2d 1059 (Fla.2005).

The beneficiary of a claim bill recovers by virtue of its enactment, regardless of whether the governmental tortfeasor purchased liability insurance for the purpose of paying an excess judgment. Phillips. However, where the governmental tortfeasor has liability insurance in excess of $100,000, and the claimant receives compensation in excess of that statutory cap through a claim bill, the claim bill is paid with funds of the insured, not general revenue. Fla. Mun. Ins. Trust v. Village of Golf, 850 So.2d 544 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003). In other words, enactment of a claim bill may conceivably implicate available insurance in excess of the $100,000 cap contained in the statutory waiver of sovereign immunity.

Once a legislative claim bill is formally introduced, a special masters' hearing, quasi-judicial in nature, is conducted.¹ See Kahn, at 26. This hearing may at times resemble a trial during which the claimant offers testimony as well as documentary and physical evidence necessary to establish the claim. Trial records may be substituted for witness testimony. Witnesses who testify are sworn and subject to cross examination. Kahn, at 26. The responding agency may contest the claim and present its defense following the customary order of proof² and the special master is ultimately tasked with the responsibility of preparing a written report containing an advisory recommendation to the Legislature. Kahn, at 26-27.

It is evident from this background that a legislative claim bill is truly a claim for relief and as such is included in the phrase "settlement of all claims arising out of the same incident." The absence of the term "bill" after the word "claims" does not remove claim bill proceedings from the ambit of the exemption from disclosure. A claim bill is by its very nature a "claim," though it is one pursued not in the courts, but rather in the legislature. Nothing in subsection 768.28(16)(b) acts to limit "claims" to judicial proceedings. The legislature encompassed more than just judicial proceedings by including the phrase "and settlement of all claims arising out of the same incident" which clearly expands the meaning of the provision beyond just the "termination of all litigation." As the County points out:

When the language of a statute is clear and unambiguous and conveys a clear and definite meaning, there is no occasion for resorting to the rules of statutory interpretation and construction; the statute must be given its plain and obvious meaning.

Campus Commc'n, Inc. v. Earnhardt, 821 So.2d 388 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002). See also Critical Intervention Serv., Inc. v. City of Clearwater, 908 So.2d 1195 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005) (in construing exemption in public records statute relating to identity of security system permit holders, court emphasized "one of the most fundamental rules of statutory construction is that a court must give a statutory term its plain and ordinary meaning").

This conclusion that claim bills are within the scope of the exemption from disclosure contained in subsection 768.28(16)(b) fully comports with the legislative intent underlying the exemption. The legislature, in enacting the exemption for risk management files, explained:

[T]he public good served by not so exempting is far outweighed by the public harm that would result from such disclosure. If such records and meetings were not exempt, claimants would have unfettered access to, for example, the State's evidence, negotiation strategies, and claim evaluation and settlement considerations; thus, the amount of the awards and settlements paid out by the State, its agencies and subdivisions, and ultimately the taxpayer, would increase dramatically.

Furthermore, release of such information to the public serves no...