CopyPublished | Supreme Court of Florida | 39 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 645, 2014 Fla. LEXIS 3180, 2014 WL 5365843
...FIREFIGHTERS & POLICE OFFICERS IN THE CITY OF TAMPA,
Respondent.
[October 23, 2014]
PER CURIAM.
In this case, we consider whether the prevailing party attorney’s fees
provisions in sections
175.061(5) and
185.05(5), Florida Statutes (2004), apply to
lawsuits brought to obtain benefits under a firefighter and police officer pension
plan established by local law....
...roceeds. Bd. of Trustees,
113 So. 3d at
67-68. The Second District certified the following question on which it passed as
one of great public importance:
ARE THE PREVAILING PARTY ATTORNEY’S FEES
PROVISIONS OF SECTIONS
175.061(5) AND
185.05(5),
FLORIDA STATUTES, APPLICABLE TO JUDICIAL
PROCEEDINGS TO ENFORCE CLAIMS UNDER LOCAL LAW[]
PLANS OR SPECIAL ACTS?
Id....
...Const.
We restate the certified question as follows because a firefighter or police
officer pension plan enacted by special act is a local law plan.
ARE THE PREVAILING PARTY ATTORNEY’S FEES
PROVISIONS OF SECTIONS
175.061(5) AND
185.05(5),
FLORIDA STATUTES, APPLICABLE TO JUDICIAL
PROCEEDINGS TO ENFORCE CLAIMS UNDER LOCAL
LAW PLANS?
For the reasons we explain, we answer the restated certified question in the
affirmative, quash the Second District’s decis...
...ocal law plan created by special
act of the Legislature, that plan exists within and is subject to the framework for
local law plans established in chapters 175 and 185. The prevailing party
attorney’s fees provisions of sections
175.061(5) and
185.05(5) are an integral part
of that statutory framework.
Section
175.061, Florida Statutes (2004), provides with respect to firefighter
pensions:
For any municipality, special fire control district, chapter plan, local
law mu...
...thereof, together with reasonable attorney’s fees.
(6) The provisions of this section may not be altered by a
participating municipality or special fire control district operating a
chapter plan or local law plan under this chapter.
Section
185.05, Florida Statutes (2004), sets out substantively identical provisions
regarding municipal police pensions.
With respect to firefighter pensions, section
175.032(11), Florida Statutes
(2004), defines “[l]ocal law plan” as...
...local
law plans by local ordinance or by special act of the Legislature and provide that
such local law plans may not grant lesser pension benefits than the minimum
benefits required by chapters 175 and 185, respectively. Section
175.061(5) and
185.05(5) state that the prevailing party is entitled to attorney’s fees in “any
judicial proceeding . . . brought under or pursuant to the provisions of” chapters
175 and 185, respectively.
Section
175.061(6) and section
185.05(7) contain prohibitions on the
alteration of any of the general governance provisions in those statutory sections.
Among those provisions that are subject to the prohibition on alteration are the
prevailing party attorney’s fees provisions of sections
175.061(5) and
185.05(5).
Those fees provisions thus are integral to the overall framework established by the
Legislature. Sections
175.061(5) and
185.05(7) point to a legislative design to
ensure the availability of the prevailing party attorney’s fees.
-8-
Parker sued the Board when it failed to pay benefits under the plan’s 13th
Check Program....
...party and allow it to consider the claim in a decision on whether to proceed.” Id. at
377-78 (citing Stockman v. Downs,
573 So. 2d 835, 837 (Fla. 1991)). Therefore,
Parker was not required to specify that he was seeking attorney’s fees under
sections
175.061(5) and
185.05(5), and his complaint pleaded a claim for
attorney’s fees with sufficient specificity.
III. CONCLUSION
We therefore conclude that Parker is entitled to prevailing party attorney’s
fees under sections
175.061(5) and
185.05(5)....
...Florida Statutes (2004).
Accordingly, I dissent.
To reflect the facts presented by this case, I would rephrase the certified
question as follows:
ARE THE PREVAILING PARTY ATTORNEY’S FEES
PROVISIONS OF SECTIONS
175.061(5) AND
185.05(5),
FLORIDA STATUTES, APPLICABLE TO JUDICIAL
PROCEEDINGS TO ENFORCE CLAIMS FOR BENEFITS UNDER
A LOCAL LAW PLAN THAT ARE NOT REQUIRED BENEFITS
UNDER CHAPTERS 175 AND 185, FLORIDA STATUTES?
I would answer this rephrased question in the negative and approve the decision
reached by the Second District.
The prevailing party attorney’s fee provisions in section
175.061(5), Florida
Statutes (2004), and section
185.05(5), Florida Statutes (2004), cover only
proceedings “brought under or pursuant to the provisions of” chapters 175 and 185.
The claim at issue here—a claim exclusively based on the “13th Check Program”
provided for in Tampa...
...all proceedings brought regarding benefits
under firefighter and police officer pension plans. Instead, the Legislature adopted
- 12 -
the more narrowly focused fee provisions of sections
175.061(5) and
185.05(5)....
0 red0 yellow3 green0 procedural
CopyAgo (Fla. Att'y Gen. 1999).
Published | Florida Attorney General Reports
...quired to do so by Article II , section 5 (b), Florida Constitution. The City of Coral Springs City Code provides for the Coral Springs Police Officers' Pension Plan. 1 This pension plan is administered by a board of five trustees in accordance with section 185.05 , Florida Statutes....
CopyPublished | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal | 2003 Fla. App. LEXIS 2573
...ch would offset the amount Mamak was ordered to pay, leaving Mamak liable for a balance of $27,300.24. Both the Board and Mamak appealed. The Board asserts several issues on appeal but we limit our discussion to only one: whether section 185.40 (now section 185.05(5)) is applicable to proceedings before the Board....
...We also reverse the amount of the judgment against Mamak. This cause is remanded to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. REVERSED and REMANDED. POLEN, C.J., and KLEIN, J., concur. . This section was repealed in 1999 and added to section 185.05(5), Florida Statutes (1999)....
CopyPublished | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal | 2010 Fla. App. LEXIS 18309, 2010 WL 4861747
...alf of police officers, or police officers and firefighters where included, and any investment income derived from such contributions. All such moneys shall be transferred into the newly established retirement plan, as directed by the board." [e.s.] § 185.05(1)(b)3, Fla....
...In April 1999, the Division notified the City and the board of trustees of the combined plan that, to continue to receive benefits under the new law, an election of police officers must be held to detach police officers from the combined plan into a plan covering police officers only. The notice cited § 185.05(1)(b)3....
...und the combined plan. On review of the recommended order, the Division rejected only finding of fact number 6, [2] essentially objecting only to the use of the term "forfeited" to describe the consequence of failing to hold the election provided by § 185.05(1)(b)3....
...eral employees shall hold an election of the police officers, or police officers and firefighters if included, to determine whether a plan is to be established for police officers only, or for police officers and firefighters where included." [e.s.] § 185.05(1)(b)3....
...And it is indisputable that, after the 1999 legislation became effective, all municipalities with combined local law pension plans including the City of Wilton Manors were required to have their police officers vote on whether the police pension should be separated from the combined local law plan. § 185.05(1)(b)3....
...o interpret and administer the laws respecting the distribution of premium tax revenues only to eligible local law retirement plans, the Division stands in the same shoes as PERC did in Dade County Police Benevolent. The Division's interpretation of § 185.05(1)(b)3....
...NOTES [1] No one disputes that the City of Wilton Manors combined plan is a "local law plan" as that term is defined in §
185.02(10), Fla. Stat. (2009), and used throughout chapter 185. [2] "The Division interpreted (and continues to understand) [§
185.05(1)(b)3] as requiring municipalities, such as the City, whose combined local law plans as of July 1, 1999, covered both general employees and police officers (or police officers and firefighters) only, i.e....
