PETERSON v. DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES (2025)

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, ––– So.3d ––––, ––––, 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., ––– So.3d at ––––, 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.

Per Curiam.

Lewis, Winokur, and Tanenbaum, JJ., concur.