Boone v. Division of Family Services, State Department of Health & Rehabilitative Services
Boone v. Division of Family Services, State Department of Health & Rehabilitative Services
Opinion of the Court
Appellant seeks reversal of a final judgment dismissing his petition for a declaratory judgment, which petition sought a determination of whether the appellee lawfully stopped payments of welfare assistance to him.
The sole question for our determination is whether appellant’s mode of review was one of declaratory judgment proceedings or one of certiorari proceedings. We agree with the trial court and hold that appellant’s only method of review was by cer-tiorari and not by an action for declaratory judgment.
“was intended to apply only to a rule or order promulgated by the agency in the exercise of its quasi-legislative authority having a general application and which uniformly affects the rights of the public .... This is to be distinguished from a ‘ruling’ which is an order rendered by the agency in the conduct of a quasi-judicial proceeding which applies only to the issues in that proceeding and affects only the parties thereto [as to which ruling there would be no right to a judicial declaration under Section 120.30, F.S.]” (Emphasis supplied). Jezek v. Vordemaier, 227 So.2d 69 (Fla.App. 4th, 1969).
Also see Meiklejohn v. American Distributors, Inc., 210 So.2d 259 (Fla.App. 1st, 1968); Polar Ice Cream & Creamery Co. v. Andrews, 146 So.2d 609 (Fla.App. 1st, 1962).
Clearly, the order sought to be reviewed herein was a “ruling” entered by a state agency in the exercise of its quasi-judicial authority, and not a “rule” as contemplated by F.S. § 120.30, F.S.A.
Accordingly, the final judgment dismissing appellant’s action for a declaratory judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.