Category: Volume 42

Due to the recent economic crisis’ harmful effect on Florida properties, local government code enforcement officials have concentrated their efforts toward addressing the foreclosure crisis head-on. In order to effectively maintain and stabilize neighborhoods, local government proceedings have attempted to decrease the damaging effects caused by social and economic harm of vacant and abandoned properties…

This Article analyzes the 2011 changes to Florida’s growth management legislation and the negative impact these changes present for urban sprawl in Florida. In June 2011, the legislature enacted the Community Planning Act, which makes significant changes to Florida’s previous growth management scheme. The Community Planning Act greatly reduces the State’s role in overseeing land…

Since the 1980s, Florida has experienced a condominium-conversion “craze,” during which developers converted huge numbers of apartment complexes to the condominium form of ownership. The resulting oversupply of condominiums is a major component in the Florida real estate market bubble and consequent economic downturn. Condominium conversions are linked to many social ills, including depleting affordable…

This Article examines the Supreme Court’s determination in Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc. v. Florida Department of Environmental Protection, 130 S. Ct. 2592 (2010), that the Florida Supreme Court’s upholding of Florida’s Beach and Shore Preservation Act did not constitute a “taking” of a landowner’s property, which would require just compensation under the Fifth Amendment of the…

Florida’s Save-Our-Homes Cap constitutionally limits the amount a homestead’s assessed value may increase each year and thus controls the taxable value of a homestead. However, when there is a change in the homestead’s ownership, the property is reassessed at its actual value without regard to the Save-Our-Homes Cap. Florida law provides that a change of…

The Florida Supreme Court’s 2012 decision in Telli v. Broward County upheld Broward County’s ability to impose a term limit on county commissioners. The Author argues that this decision granted local governments a constitutionally impermissible ability to create this disqualification from public offices in spite of longstanding precedent. The Author provides unique insight because he argued in…

In this Article, the Authors examine the efficacy of the current “onesize-fits-all” three-prong test that Florida’s district courts of appeal apply to non-final orders pending in circuit court cases. The Authors propose that courts instead apply a more functional approach that considers the legitimate and practical reasons for appellate court interference into ongoing trial court…

This Article reviews the current three-prong approach that Florida district courts of appeal apply in determining whether to grant interlocutory certiorari review of a non-final trial court order, and presents an alternative test for Florida district courts of appeal to apply when making such a determination. The Authors present the shortcomings of the current approach…

This Article responds to two recent Florida Bar Journal articles in which Judge Chris W. Altenbernd and Jamie Marcario argue for a new standard for deciding petitions for certiorari in Florida’s court system. With the stated goal of remedying the lack of predictability under the current status, Judge Altenbernd and Ms. Marcario propose functional language,…