title
Occupational license class action lawsuit. (Michael C. Addison and
Richard T. Petitt for themselves and all other similarly situated
persons vs. City of Tampa, Florida, individually and as representative
all other Municipalities similarly situated in case no.: 03-CA-05425. (NB)
recommendation
The City Commission receive an update on the case and authorize the City Attorney to expend up to an additional $5,000 in fees.
explanation
In 2003, several Florida attorneys filed an action in Hillsborough County alleging that occupational license taxes imposed upon attorneys in this state are unconstitutional. They argue that the taxes regulate the practice of law, which is the sole jurisdiction of the Florida Supreme Court. They sought to have all lawyers in the state joined in a Plaintiff class and all counties and cities that imposed an occupational license tax joined in a Defendant class.
The case has a long and litigious past. In short, the attorneys were successful in circuit court in Hillsborough County in getting the Plaintiffs and Defendants certified as classes. The circuit court also appointed an attorney in the Tampa City Attorney's Office to represent the defendant counties and cities, which number in excess of 200. The certification of all the lawyers as a class and the certification of the cities and counties as a class was upheld by the Second District in an interlocutory appeal and then remanded back to the circuit court. The case remains pending in Hillsborough County.
In 2008, this office was instrumental in putting a consortium (Gainesville, Pensacola, Tallahassee, Clearwater, Kissimmee, and the Florida League of Cities) to hire special counsel to represent their interest in the litigation. The cities desired to assert their home venue privilege (a city's privilege to be sued in its home county) or to "opt out" of the class certification, either of which would mean that they would not have to litigate their ordinan...
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