Martinez v. Hernandez , 227 So. 3d 1257 ( 2017 )

Third District Court of Appeal
State of Florida
Opinion filed September 27, 2017.
Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.
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No. 3D17-1735
Lower Tribunal No. 17-12178
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Julio J. Martinez,
Appellant,
vs.
Carlos Hernandez, et al.,
Appellees.
An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, John
Schlesinger, Judge.
Jose M. Herrera, for appellant.
Abigail Price-Williams, Miami-Dade County Attorney, Oren Rosenthal and
Michael B. Valdes, Assistant County Attorneys; Lorena E. Bravo, City of Hialeah
City Attorney; Akerman LLP and Elizabeth M. Hernandez and Lorayne Perez;
Rasco Klock Perez Nieto and Joseph P. Klock, Jr.; Thomas A. Cobitz, for
appellees.
Before SALTER, EMAS and FERNANDEZ, JJ.
SALTER, J.
Julio J. Martinez (“Martinez”) appeals a final judgment in favor of: the City
of Hialeah (“City”); the City’s incumbent Mayor, Carlos Hernandez
(“Hernandez”); the City Clerk for the City of Hialeah, Marbelys L. Rubio-Fatjo;
and the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections, Christina White. The legal
issue raised by Martinez in his circuit court action was whether the City Charter’s
term limits for the Office of Mayor precluded incumbent Mayor Hernandez from
qualifying to run for a further term in the City’s upcoming November 7, 2017,
municipal election.
The trial court concluded that Martinez’s lawsuit was ripe,1 and that
Hernandez could permissibly qualify and seek election for a further term as Mayor
of the City. We affirm.
The trial court entered a thorough and well-reasoned order granting the
City’s motion for judgment on the pleadings. We merely address our standard of
review and summarize the trial court’s analysis for the benefit of those who may
again confront this interpretive question in other elections for term-limited offices.
Standard of Review
1 Martinez’s action for declaratory and injunctive relief was filed in May 2017,
before either he or incumbent Mayor Hernandez qualified to run for Mayor in the
upcoming election, as the qualifying period for filing for the office was July 10
through 31, 2017. The trial court determined that the matter was ripe for decision,
and no party challenges that conclusion here.
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The parties correctly acknowledge that this Court reviews an order granting
a motion for judgment on the pleadings de novo. See Walker v. Figarola, 59 So. 3d
188, 190 (Fla. 3d DCA 2011) (“A judgment on the pleadings may be granted only
if the moving party is clearly entitled to judgment as a matter of law . . . and our
standard of review is de novo.” (internal citation omitted)). Additionally, the
standard of appellate review with respect to the interpretation of a charter or
ordinance is de novo. See Kuvin v. City of Coral Gables, 62 So. 3d 625, 629 (Fla.
3d DCA 2010).
The rules of statutory construction are applicable to the interpretation of
municipal charters. See Spence-Jones v. Dunn, 118 So. 3d 261, 262 (Fla. 3d DCA
2013) (The plain meaning of the statute is always the starting point in statutory
interpretation.); and GTC, Inc. v. Edgar, 967 So. 2d 781, 785 (Fla. 2007) (“[W]hen
the language of the 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.”).
Analysis
The City’s ordinance regarding the term limits applicable to the office of
Mayor provides, in pertinent part:
Section 2.01. - Mayor.
...
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(b) Election and term of office. In the general election held in
November 2001 and in the general election held in November every
four years thereafter, a mayor shall be elected who shall serve for a
term of 4 years or until a successor shall be duly qualified to take
office.
(c) Vacancies.
(1) Permanent vacancy resulting from death, resignation, recall, court
order or other lawful action. If the office of the mayor becomes
permanently vacant by reason of death, resignation, recall or other
lawful action, such vacancy shall be filled with the person holding the
office of council president, who shall exercise all of the duties of the
office of mayor and shall perform the duties and assume the
responsibilities of that office and shall become mayor and serve out
only that portion of the former mayor’s term that precedes the next
regularly scheduled municipal election or state or federal general
election for which there is sufficient time to adopt a special election
ordinance establishing qualifying periods and related provisions, when
an election shall be held to fill the balance of the term, if any,
...
(d) Term limitations; effective date. No person shall be elected to
serve as mayor for more than 2 consecutive terms on and after
November 13, 1997.
[Emphasis provided].
Hernandez became Mayor of Hialeah in May 2011 when the then-serving
Mayor, Julio Robaina, permanently resigned the office. Hernandez was then
serving as president of the City Council, and thus became Mayor to “serve out only
that portion of the former mayor’s term that preceded the next regularly scheduled
municipal election...for which there is sufficient time to adopt a special election
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ordinance establishing qualifying periods and related provisions, when an election
shall be held to fill the balance of the term, if any,” as provided in section 2.01(c).
The City Council then adopted Ordinance No. 11-39, scheduling a special
election for November 15, 2011, to fill the permanent vacancy for the balance of
the prior Mayor’s term (about two years rather than a four-year term). Hernandez
ran and was elected in that special election.
In the next general election for the office of Mayor (and a four-year term) in
November 2013, Hernandez also ran and was elected Mayor. Martinez’s
complaint boils down to a legal argument that “2 consecutive terms” in section
2.01(d) of the ordinance includes a partial term of less than four years (which
section 2.01(c) refers to initially as “the former mayor’s term”). To express it
another way, two uninterrupted, consecutive mayoral terms would comprise eight
years of service, but if Hernandez is qualified and elected again in November 2017
(and if he serves that full four-year term), he will have served about ten and one-
half years as Mayor. But if it is determined that his service as Mayor for the
balance of former Mayor Robaina’s term counts as Hernandez’s “term” and he is
disqualified on that basis, he will only have been allowed to serve about six and
one-half years.
The trial court correctly applied two legal principles to this scenario in
rejecting Martinez’s argument that the partial, remaining term of a resigned Mayor
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should be counted against the successor as if it is a full term for purposes of section
2.01(d). First, as a matter of statutory interpretation and plain meaning, the text of
section 2.01(b) expressly provides for elections every four years to select a Mayor
for a four-year term. The unusual circumstances resulting in a particular four-year
term not being fully served affect the “former mayor’s term,” implying that
whatever part of that term remains is not counted as a full “term” attributable to the
successor. This common-sense conclusion also was reached in the two closest
reported cases in Florida: Ervin v. Collins, 85 So. 2d 852 (Fla. 1956) (concluding
that the Governor, who had been elected in a special election to fill a portion of an
unexpired term, could not be considered ineligible to run for re-election for a full
term); and Vieira v. Slaughter, 318 So. 2d 490 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975) (holding that a
two-year, nine-month transitional term, followed by a full four-year term, did not
constitute a term of office within the meaning of a charter provision prohibiting a
mayor who has served for two consecutive terms from running for a third term).
Second, the trial court properly relied on an interpretive canon applicable to
Florida election cases. See Ruiz v. Farias, 43 So. 3d 124, 127 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010)
(“The law requires that we resolve doubts about qualification of a political
candidate in favor of the candidate.”). The Florida Supreme Court has recently
underscored the basis for that rule of construction: “the right to be a candidate for
public office is a valuable one and no one should be denied this right unless the
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Constitution or an applicable valid law expressly declares him to be ineligible.”
Wright v. City of Miami Gardens, 200 So. 3d 765, 775 (Fla. 2016). The Hialeah
ordinance at issue in this case does not “expressly” characterize a successor’s
partial term (filling a vacancy in the office of Mayor) as a “term” for purposes of
the term limitations in section 2.01(d).
Martinez’s final argument is that section 166.021(4), Florida Statutes
(2017), precludes the City from (in effect) modifying the term limitation provision
of the City ordinance “without approval by referendum of the electors.” Martinez
asserts that it would be necessary for the ordinance to be amended by the voters to
clarify that a partial term, served to fill a vacancy, is not a “term” for purposes of
section 2.01(d).
This argument is unavailing, because, as already noted, we have concluded
that the ordinance and term limitation provisions are clear enough as they presently
exist. Martinez remains free, of course, to support an amendment to section 2.01
for consideration by the voters of Hialeah at a later date to effectuate his own
position that a partial term to fill a vacancy is a “term” for purposes of section
2.01(d).
For all these reasons, the final judgment in favor of the appellees is affirmed.2
2 We granted Martinez’s motion to expedite briefing and consideration of this
case. We deny his pending request for oral argument, as we do not find it
necessary to our resolution of the legal issues presented in the parties’ written
submissions.
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