Florida District Courts of Appeal, 2025

Shayonne Peterson v. Florida Department of Children and Families

Shayonne Peterson v. Florida Department of Children and Families
Florida District Courts of Appeal · Decided September 24, 2025

Shayonne Peterson v. Florida Department of Children and Families

Opinion

FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL STATE OF FLORIDA _____________________________ No. 1D2024-1568 _____________________________ SHAYONNE PETERSON, Appellant, v. FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES, Appellee. _____________________________

On appeal from the Department of Children and Families.

June Jones, Hearing Officer.

September 24, 2025

PER CURIAM.

This appeal involves an order issued by a hearing officer from within the Department of Children and Families. The order dismissed Shayonne Peterson’s administrative appeal as untimely filed, the appeal having been filed beyond the ninety-day period established by the Department for challenging a written notification of case action due to an overpayment of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. There is no statutory authorization for our direct review of the hearing officer’s order issued in connection with this federal program, so we lack appellate jurisdiction in this case. Cf. Ninja Acad., Inc. v. Fla. Dep’t of Agric. & Consumer Servs., Div. of Food, Nutrition, & Wellness, No. 1D2022-1139, 2025 WL 2233403, at *1–2 (Fla. 1st DCA Aug.

6, 2025) (determining there was no general law authorizing review of a hearing officer’s order issued under a federal program and holding that an agency’s administrative rule cannot supply the basis for vesting jurisdiction in the district court).

We in turn treat this appeal as a petition for writ of certiorari and transfer the case to the Circuit Court of the Second Judicial Circuit. See Fla. R. App. P. 9.040(b)(1), (c); Ninja Acad., Inc., 2025 WL 2233403, at *2–3 (treating the appeal as a certiorari petition and transferring it to the circuit court in the absence of a “statutorily authorized pathway . . . to obtain first-tier review of the hearing officer’s order in the district court”).

TRANSFERRED.

LEWIS, WINOKUR, and TANENBAUM, JJ., concur.

_____________________________ Not final until disposition of any timely and authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or 9.331. _____________________________

Shayonne Peterson, pro se, Appellant.

Andrew McGinley, General Counsel, Department of Children and Families, Tallahassee, for Appellee.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.