District Court of Appeal of Florida

Adverse summary judgment on a claim that petitions for a Slots Initiative failed to comply with article XI, section 3, of the Florida Constitution is reversed where: 1) a failure to comply with mandatory constitutional prerequisites is not automatically cured once an election is held, when a lawsuit challenging compliance is brought prior to the election; and 2) a party who seeks to amend the Florida Constitution and those employed by that party are not exempt from actual compliance with mandatory constitutional prerequisites for amending the Constitution if they create the illusion of compliance through fraudulent activities, and the amendment is subsequently approved by the voters.

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/08/2006
• Published 08/09/2006

Judges

• PER CURIAM.

Court

• District Court of Appeal of Florida

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• John H. Pelzer of Ruden, McClosky, Smith, Schuster & Russell, P.A., Ft. Lauderdale;  Mark Herron, Thomas M. Findley, and Robert J. Telfer, III, of Messer, Caparello & Self, P.A., Tallahassee;  and Scott H. Marder, Ft. Lauderdale, for Appellants.


• For Appellees:
  
• Wilbur E. Brewton and Tana D. Storey of Roetzel & Andress, L.P.A., Tallahassee;  Jack M. Skelding, Jr., of Skelding & Cox. P.A., Tallahassee;  Ronald L. Book of Ronald L. Book, P.A., Aventura;  Marc W. Dunbar of Pennington Moore Wilkinson Bell & Dunbar, P.A., Tallahassee;  and Harold F.X. Purnell and Gary R. Rutledge of Rutledge, Ecenia, et al., Tallahassee;  Charlie Crist, Attorney General, James A. Peters, Special Counsel, Steven Todd Gold, Deputy Solicitor General, of Office of the Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellees.