When a client has been affected by a government agency, the decision of whether to take the case to court or to an administrative hearing is important. The choice can impact the outcome for the client. In Florida, the law generally requires that a person must first try to resolve the issue through an administrative process before going to court. This means that if someone has a problem with a state agency, they have to first go through the agency’s procedures before they can go to a regular court. This is because the state’s Administrative Procedure Act provides many ways to challenge the actions of state agencies. So, before deciding where to file a case, it’s important to consider whether there is a duty to first try to resolve the issue through the agency’s procedures. This could impact the choice of forum for the case. The exhaustion of administrative remedies means that you usually have to try to fix a problem with a government agency before you can go to court. But there are some exceptions. You can go to court right away if the agency’s action wouldn’t help enough or if it’s really bad. If a government agency does something really bad or breaks the law, and there’s no way to fix it through the agency’s normal channels, you can go to court without going through the agency first. You can also go to court right away if you think a law is unconstitutional. But once you pick a way to handle the problem, you can’t switch to the other way later on. If a constitutional issue is mixed with an administrative rule issue, it can be heard in circuit court. If an agency acts without authority and exceeds its powers, you may not have to go through administrative procedures before going to court. But this exception only applies when the jurisdictional claim seems reasonable or depends on facts. You can’t file in both circuit court and an administrative body for the same issue at the same time. In the case of Silver Express v. The District Board of Trustees, the court ruled that a party can bring a Sunshine Law action in circuit court, even if the same issue could have been brought up in an administrative hearing. In this case, Miami-Dade Community College didn’t follow the Sunshine Law when selecting bidders for a project. Silver Express, who didn’t win the bid, wanted to add the Sunshine Law violation to their protest, but it was too late. They then filed a lawsuit in circuit court alleging the same violation. Even though they later dropped the claim in the administrative action, they still appealed the decision. The Third District Court of Appeal found that a community college violated the Sunshine Act, making their actions void. Despite the availability of an administrative remedy, a party can still pursue a public remedy in court. Even after a bid protest hearing, a bidder can still bring an action for a Sunshine Act violation. Judge Nesbitt disagreed, saying that if an administrative remedy is available, a party should not be able to bring a court action. It’s best not to waive any Sunshine Law claims in an administrative action. When a dispute is about a contract with a state agency, there are important cases shaping where to bring a legal action. In these court cases, the government’s road department and a construction company had a dispute over a contract for building roads. In the first case, the court said the construction company could take the government to regular court to settle the dispute because there was a law that allowed it. In the second case, the court said that even though the contract had a rule for dealing with disputes, the construction company could still go to regular court to fight the government’s decision. In the third case, the court said that when there’s a law that lets a company sue the government, they should go to regular court to solve the problem. The court also said that normally, the government can’t make decisions about its own contracts with companies. In a case involving the Department of Health & Rehabilitative Services and E.D.S. Federal Corp., the court had to decide where disputes about their contract should be resolved. The contract said that any disputes would be resolved using the agency’s rules, but a state law said that the contractor could sue in regular court. The court said that the contract’s rules were more important than the state law and that the contractor had to follow the contract’s rules for resolving disputes. If there’s a contract dispute with a government agency, you probably have to try to work it out with the agency first before going to court. But if the agency can’t give you a fair solution or the law is clearly unconstitutional, you can go straight to court. The type of court you go to depends on what the contract says or if there’s a law about it. These are references to court cases in Florida, and laws like Fla. Stat. ch 120. The cases involve disputes between different organizations and the government, and the outcomes of the cases. Some cases were appealed to a higher court, but others were not. These cases are used as examples to explain certain legal principles. In some cases, teachers and other people don’t have to go through all the normal steps to solve a problem with a government agency. In one case, a court said a teacher didn’t have to follow the usual steps because the agency wouldn’t give them a fair hearing. But in another case, a court said you still have to follow the usual steps, even if you think the agency’s rules are unconstitutional. It’s not enough to just say the rules are unfair – you still have to go through the normal process. These are citations of court cases and laws related to Florida’s legal system. They include cases where courts have made decisions about administrative issues and the limits of state agencies’ authority. One important point is that state agencies can’t make decisions about private contractual disputes. Overall, these citations show the legal framework that guides how government agencies and courts handle legal matters in Florida. A group of lawyers from the Greenberg law firm in Tallahassee wrote a column for the Administrative Law Section. They talked about cases where administrative hearings were not the right place to resolve contract disputes. The lawyers specialize in health care law. They mentioned specific cases and shared their backgrounds and roles in the firm. The column was submitted on behalf of the Administrative Law Section.
Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/choice-of-forum-in-administrative-and-circuit-courts-the-doctrine-of-exhaustion-of-administrative-r/
Leave a Reply