Mary Cook v. Florida Department of Corrections

FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL STATE OF FLORIDA _____________________________ No. 1D20-2692 _____________________________ MARY COOK, Appellant, v. FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, Appellee. _____________________________ On appeal from the Circuit Court for Leon County. John C. Cooper, Judge. April 14, 2021 PER CURIAM. The trial court decided the merits of Appellant’s public- records claim without conducting a hearing. As Appellant argues and Appellee concedes, this was error. In an action to enforce the provisions of chapter 119, Florida law requires the trial court to hold a hearing before entering a final order. § 119.11(1), Fla. Stat. (2020); see also Kline v. Univ. of Fla., 200 So. 3d 271, 272 (Fla. 1st DCA 2016) (holding that the “plain language of section 119.11(1) requires the trial court to conduct a hearing on actions seeking to enforce the right to access public records under chapter 119. Absent waiver, an order issued without the statutorily- required hearing is premature.”). We reverse and remand for a hearing.  REVERSED and REMANDED. KELSEY, NORDBY, and LONG, JJ., concur. _____________________________ Not final until disposition of any timely and authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or 9.331. _____________________________ Mary Cook, pro se, Appellant. Lance Eric Neff, General Counsel, and Sean Jason Anderson, Assistant General Counsel, Tallahassee, for Appellee. 2