Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutSubmittal-Justin Wales-Citizens Standing PresentationSubmitted into the publi record f r ite (s on 11 Proposed Standing Amendment to the Citizens' Bill of ight Justin S. Wales, Esq. oaR \)‘f\f\Ak\ )\))\\A C'\'" A\A ‘1\\A-tl\-"\‘).A f), City Clerk Submitted into the publi on orb1 li ,it ) • The City Charter is the Constitution of the City and it's provisions must be followed if they are to be meaningful. •The suggested revisions attempt to make sure that City officials abide by the provisions of the Charter and rant Miami s citizens the right to enforce the grant provisions in a court of law. •The Charter Review and Reform Committee voted in favor of the amendment 9-2. earitorfields,corn City Clerk The 'roposal Does Four Things 1 Moves the City's existing Citizens' Bill of Rights to the beginning of the Charter. Adopts by reference the provisions of the County's Citizens' Bill of Rights that are already controlling on the City and changes the term "General" law to "Statutory" law to bring the rangua e in line with common and well -understood meaning of "general' law. 3. Adds the following enumerated right to the City's Bill of Rights: To Be Governed by the Rule of Law. The City of Miami Charter is the Constitution of the City of Miami and the City shall abide by all of its provisions 4. Amends the existing remedial provision of the City's Bill of Rights to express confer standing to Citizens to enforce its provisons. Remedies for violations. Citizens of the City shall have standing to bring legal actions to enforce the City Charter the Citizens' Bill of Rights, and the Miami -Dade County Citizens' Bill of Rights as applied to the City. Such actions shall be filed in Miami -Dade County Circuitp Court pursuant to its general equity jurisdiction and, if successful, the plaintiff shall be entited to recover costs, but not attorney's fees as fixed by the court. Anypublic official, or employee who is found bythe court to have willfullviolated this article shallpforthwith forfeit hior her office or employment. Submitted into the public record f r ite s on 1 � , . City Clerk Submitted into the public record fpr itejni()' on % 1 ) db i i h City Clerk What is Standing under FLO DA Law? • Standing is legal right of a party to demonstrate to a court the merits of an alleged wrongdoing. • Standing under federal law is extremely different than standing under Florida law. • Under federal law, standing is a rigid principle that effects the subject matter jurisdiction (ability) of a court to hear a matter. This is because federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. • Under Florida law, standing is merely a waivable affirmative defense that does not effect a court's jurisdiction to hear a case. This is because Florida circuit courts are plenary in nature. Submitted into the public record f ite (s)� on City Clerk What is Special Injury? • Special injury is a legal concept that originated in the law of nuisance and has been applied to suits in which a taxpayer, suing as a taxpayer, challenges the taxing and spending decisions of a political body. • The Courts has held that to sue in this capacity a plaintiff must allege that they are specially injured from the rest of the community. • This is to avoid suits regarding every decision that may impact someone's taxes. • Until the Solares opinion, it was never applied to an alleged violation of a City's foundational document because unlike a decision to tax constituents or expend public money, such decisions are not discretionary and are not political. • No "special injury" was needed prior to Solares because complying with the Charter is mandatory. W.CattOnftetds,com Submitted into the publi record f r ite (s on 11 Proposed Standing Amendment to the Citizens' Bill of ight Justin S. Wales, Esq. oaR \)‘f\f\Ak\ )\))\\A C'\'" A\A ‘1\\A-tl\-"\‘).A f), City Clerk Submitted into the publi on orb1 li ,it ) • The City Charter is the Constitution of the City and it's provisions must be followed if they are to be meaningful. •The suggested revisions attempt to make sure that City officials abide by the provisions of the Charter and rant Miami s citizens the right to enforce the grant provisions in a court of law. •The Charter Review and Reform Committee voted in favor of the amendment 9-2. earitorfields,corn City Clerk The 'roposal Does Four Things 1 Moves the City's existing Citizens' Bill of Rights to the beginning of the Charter. Adopts by reference the provisions of the County's Citizens' Bill of Rights that are already controlling on the City and changes the term "General" law to "Statutory" law to bring the rangua e in line with common and well -understood meaning of "general' law. 3. Adds the following enumerated right to the City's Bill of Rights: To Be Governed by the Rule of Law. The City of Miami Charter is the Constitution of the City of Miami and the City shall abide by all of its provisions 4. Amends the existing remedial provision of the City's Bill of Rights to express confer standing to Citizens to enforce its provisons. Remedies for violations. Citizens of the City shall have standing to bring legal actions to enforce the City Charter the Citizens' Bill of Rights, and the Miami -Dade County Citizens' Bill of Rights as applied to the City. Such actions shall be filed in Miami -Dade County Circuitp Court pursuant to its general equity jurisdiction and, if successful, the plaintiff shall be entited to recover costs, but not attorney's fees as fixed by the court. Anypublic official, or employee who is found bythe court to have willfullviolated this article shallpforthwith forfeit hior her office or employment. Submitted into the public record f r ite s on 1 � , . City Clerk Submitted into the public record fpr itejni()' on % 1 ) db i i h City Clerk What is Standing under FLO DA Law? • Standing is legal right of a party to demonstrate to a court the merits of an alleged wrongdoing. • Standing under federal law is extremely different than standing under Florida law. • Under federal law, standing is a rigid principle that effects the subject matter jurisdiction (ability) of a court to hear a matter. This is because federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. • Under Florida law, standing is merely a waivable affirmative defense that does not effect a court's jurisdiction to hear a case. This is because Florida circuit courts are plenary in nature. Submitted into the public record f ite (s)� on City Clerk What is Special Injury? • Special injury is a legal concept that originated in the law of nuisance and has been applied to suits in which a taxpayer, suing as a taxpayer, challenges the taxing and spending decisions of a political body. • The Courts has held that to sue in this capacity a plaintiff must allege that they are specially injured from the rest of the community. • This is to avoid suits regarding every decision that may impact someone's taxes. • Until the Solares opinion, it was never applied to an alleged violation of a City's foundational document because unlike a decision to tax constituents or expend public money, such decisions are not discretionary and are not political. • No "special injury" was needed prior to Solares because complying with the Charter is mandatory. W.CattOnftetds,com Submitted into the public record fo ite s) O onc 1I ) t . City Clerk No Special Injury Needed to Allege Charter Violation • Bryan v. City of Miami, 51 So. 2d 300 (Fla. 1951) — Suit by citizen alleging city ballot violated Charter's language and title requirements. • City "contended that appellant has not shown such an interest in the subject matter of the litigation as will entitle him to prosecute." Court held "We find no merit to these contentions and do not discuss them further. • Ratner v. Miami Beach, 288 So. 2d 520 (Fla. 3d DCA 1974) — Citing Bryan, Court held that a citizen plaintiff with no special injury was a "proper plaintiff' to challenge a conveyance of city property that deviated from the referendum required by the charter for a transfer of city -owned land. • Glatstein v. Miami, 399 So. 2d 1005 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981) — Entertained challenge to agreements which deviated from city's competitive bid process mandated by the Charter for an amusement park on Watson Island. Submitted into the public c_ri record fo ite s) on City Clerk No Special Injury Needed to Allege Charter Violation ® Kelner v. City of Miami, 252 So. 2d 870 (Fla. 3d DCA 1971) — City resident had standing to challenge a project because variances and permits were issued without notice or public hearing as required by charter. The Court rejected the City's standing challenge, holding: ® "The rule or ground presented by the appellees in moving to dismiss has no application where a person affected seeks to challenge such action of the city on the ground that the action was illegal or that the proceedings before the city council which resulted in such action were conducted contrary to the provisions of the charter such as failure of the city to give notice required by its charter, as alleged here." Rhodes v. Homestead, 248 So. 2d 674 (Fla. 3d DCA 1971) — Held that no special injury was required "where the person affected seeks to challenge such action of the city on the ground that the action was illegal, or that the proceedings of the city board or council which resulted in such actions were conducted contrary to provisions of the charter." Submitted into the public cAlb record fo ite (i a on City Clerk Addressing the City Attorney's Legal Arguments: • Argument: The City cannot expressly confer standing under the Third District Court of Appeals' Solares and Winn -Dixie opinions. • Response: Solares and Winn -Dixie have absolutely NOTHING to do with the power of a City to confer standing to its citizens through an express provision of its Charter. • Solares concerned a challenge to a City lease extension. Solares was suing in her capacity as a taxpayer and alleged that standing was implied onto her due to the allegation that the City violated its own charter. Under Florida law citizens do not need "special injury" to challenge a violation of the Constitution, and Solares' argument was because the City Charter is the Constitution of the City, special injury is not required. • This was consistent with over 60 years of law that found Citizens to have implicit standing to challenge Charter violations. • The Third District Court of Appeals disagreed and held, for the first time, that a City Charter does not, on its own, rise to the level of a Constitution. There was no discussion of whether the City can grant standing. • The CityAttorney argues that Winn -Dixie Stores v. Ferris, 408 So. 2d 650 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982) ands for the proposition that circuit court jurisdiction cannot be created by ordinance. But that case (which isn t even binding on this jurisdiction) merely held that Circuit Court Sjurisdiction cannot be created by ordinance where it is preempted by a provision of the tate constitution. Here we are not trying to create an ordinance and there are no preemption issues. ,.10ww.ca anfiekis.c_ Submitted into the public record f �it�e (s) on City Clerk Addressing the City Attorney's Legal Argument • No case has ever held that a City cannot confer standing to its citizens. In fact, only one case has ever addressed the ability of a municipality to grant standing. This is because standing is regularly granted by legislation without regard to "Special Injury" • Fla. Wildlife Fed'n v. Dep't of Environmental Regulation, 390 So. 2d 64 (Fla. 1980) (holding that a showing of special injury is not required where legislation expressly confers standing). • Krantzler v. Bd. of Cnty. Commissioners, 354 So. 2d 126 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978) — County citizen brought suit alleging violation of remedial provision of County's Citizens' Bill of Rights that expressly confers standing on citizens to enforce its provision. Third DCA rejected County's argument that those wishing to sue under the County's Citizens' Bill of Rights must demonstrate a special injury: • "If a tax paying citizen of Dade County could not contest alleged violations of this Bill in a court of equity...the stated purpose of the Bill would be ignored." Submitted into the public record fob ite(s) on City Clerk Addressing the City Attorney's Policy Argument • This Commission is charged with determining the City's policy. Not the City Attorney's Office. • Argument: Granting Citizens' Standing will Subject the City to a deluge of lawsuit from citizens unsatisfied with the Commission's political decision. • Response: There is nothing to support this claim. • Prior to Solares "special injury' was not needed to challenge a Charter violation and in around 60 years there were only around 10 cases we could find in which a citizen challenged. • The County has had an express standing provision in its Bill of Rights for upwards of 40-years and Krantzler is the only case prior to 2015 in which standing was based on its grant. • This suggests that providing standing acts as a deterrent to illegal behavior. • There are tools available to City to guard against frivolous lawsuits including grievances and "57.105" sanctions. • The proposal does not provide for attorney's fees, so there is not a concern this will create a cottage industry for lawyers to sue the City. • This does not authorize an action for damages, so there will be no windfall for a successful plaintiff.