CopyCited 8 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal
...complaint and decide if it wishes to become a party to the action. If it does, then
the State takes over primary responsibility for the action; but if it declines then “the
person who initiated the action has the right to conduct the action.” §§
68.083(2),
(3) and (6), and
68.084(1) and (3), Fla. Stat. The State may later be permitted to
intervene after initially declining to do so, but only “upon showing of good cause.”
§
68.084(3), Fla....
...Without formally
intervening in the cause, the Attorney General, on behalf of the State, filed a notice
of voluntary dismissal of the action on July 18, 2013. The State asserted in its
notice that it had the unilateral right to dismiss the action on authority of section
68.084(2) (a), notwithstanding any objections that Barati may have.
3
Barati thereafter moved to strike the notice of voluntary dismissal arguing
inter alia that dismissal did not occur...
...8
THOMAS, J. Dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. Because the Attorney General’s dismissal of this
action deprived the trial court of jurisdiction, we should grant the writ of
prohibition.
The action here was filed in 2009. Under section 68.084(2)(a), Florida
Statutes (2009), the Legislature has granted the Attorney General the sole power to
dismiss a qui tam action: “The department [of Legal Affairs] may voluntarily
dismiss the action notwithstanding the objections of t...
CopyCited 8 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal
...Without formally intervening in the cause, the
Attorney General, on behalf of the State, filed a notice of voluntary
dismissal of the action on July 18, 2013. The State asserted in its
notice that it had the unilateral right to dismiss the action on authority
of section 68.084(2) (a), notwithstanding any objections that Barati
may have.
Barati thereafter moved to strike the notice of voluntary dismissal
arguing inter alia that dismissal did not occur automatically, as the
State w...
...neral’s petition for writ of
prohibition, the lower court ruled that the “Attorney General had the authority to
4
file a voluntary dismissal notwithstanding any objections of the Relator pursuant to
Section 68.084(2), Florida Statutes.” By our holding today, we affirm that ruling.
Analysis
1....
...en consent to the dismissal and
its reasons for such consent.
....
(7) When a person files an action . . . no person other than the
department on behalf of the state may intervene . . . under this
act . . . .
68.084 Rights of the parties in civil actions.—
(1) If the department, on behalf of the state, proceeds with the
action, it has the primary responsibility for prosecuting the action, and
is not bound by any act of the person bringing the action....
...amended. See Ch. 2013-104, Laws
of Fla. The Legislature added language to this subsection, which provides: “The
department may ‘at any point’ voluntarily dismiss the action notwithstanding the
objections of the person initiating the action.” § 68.084(2)(a), Fla....
...false claims are filed, but to do so in recognition of the Attorney General’s
extensive control of qui tam litigation and the courts’ responsibility to review
settlements of such claims, regardless of whether the Attorney General participates
in the action. § 68.084(2)(b), Fla....
...the statute to
modify any substantive rights defined by the Legislature. Id.
The statute limits the relator’s rights, which are subject to the express
authority of the Attorney General to control and direct such litigation. §§
68.083,
68.084, Fla....
...Stat.
(2009).
Finally, the statute authorizes the court to allow the Attorney General to
intervene in a qui tam action after a relator has initiated the litigation, but only
upon a showing of “good cause” by the Attorney General. § 68.084(3), Fla. Stat.
(2009). This limitation to intervene is significant. But no such limitation is
imposed on the Attorney General to dismiss an intervenor’s action. § 68.084(2),
Fla....
...importantly, that under federal law, the relator is entitled to a hearing before the
government may dismiss an action in which it has declined to intervene. But the
Florida Legislature declined to provide such a procedure to the State qui tam
relator. Cf., § 68.084(2)(a) with 31 U.S.C....
...albeit an assignee with some
procedural prerogatives strictly defined by positive law and in no manner arising
out of a common law or constitutional substantive ground.
The Attorney General’s authority to dismiss a relator’s suit under section
68.084(2)(a), Florida Statutes, is substantive:
Substantive law has been defined as that part of the law which
creates, defines and regulates rights, or that part of the law which
courts are to administer....
...Here, the qui tam statute clearly
creates, defines and limits substantive rights possessed by the State to maintain a
qui tam suit in which damages may be obtained. Thus, the State’s authority to
terminate the action is substantive.
To the extent the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure might conflict with
section 68.084(2)(a) regarding the party status of the Attorney General, the Rules
of Civil Procedure must yield, as only the Florida Legislature can define
substantive law under Florida’s strict separation of powers requirement....
...30
jurisdiction when the Attorney General dismissed the action, properly recognizing
that the Attorney General “had the authority to file a voluntary dismissal
notwithstanding any objections of the Relator pursuant to Section 68.084(2),
Florida Statutes.”
AFFIRMED.
ROBERTS, C.J., and RAY, J., CONCUR.
31
CopyCited 2 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 2004 WL 221274
...t concluded only that the settlement had not been obtained through fraud. This was error. Initially, we observe that our review standard is de novo, because this appeal involves essentially an issue regarding the correct interpretation of a statute. Section 68.084(2)(b) is modeled after 31 U.S.C. § 3730(c)(2)(B), which also requires that a proposed settlement agreement be "fair, adequate, and reasonable under all the circumstances." We have uncovered no case law in Florida construing subsection 68.084(2)(b), nor have we found federal cases interpreting the parallel provision....
...See also Officers for Justice,
688 F.2d at 625 (suggesting eight factors). Because the court below, in its order of approval, appears to have considered only that the agreement was not tainted by fraud, it did not decide whether the criteria demanded by section
68.084(2)(b) had been satisfied....
...court may, in its discretion, conduct another hearing and consider additional evidence in making such determination. [5] REVERSED and REMANDED. BARFIELD and POLSTON, JJ., concur. NOTES [1] Sections
68.081-68.09, Fla. Stat. (2002). [2] Specifically, section
68.084(2)(b) provides, in part: "[N]othing in this act shall be construed to limit the authority of the department or the qui tam plaintiff to compromise a claim brought in a complaint filed under this act if the court determines, after a hea...
