Oceania Joint Venture v. Ocean View of Miami, Ltd.

Oceania Joint Venture (Oceania) (plaintiff) appealed an adverse zoning decision from the Dade County Board of County Commissioners (board), an administrative agency, to the Appellate Division of the Dade County Circuit Court (Dade County Appellate Division), which is part of Florida’s Eleventh Judicial Circuit. Oceania only named Ocean View of Miami, Ltd. (OVM) (defendant) on the appeal; the board was not named on the zoning appeal. OVM moved to dismiss Oceania’s appeal for failure to name an indispensable party. Although the Eleventh Judicial Circuit’s Local Rule 1 stated that appeals from administrative-agency orders must be heard by a three-judge panel, the Dade County Appellate Division dismissed Oceania’s appeal after review by only one judge. Oceania petitioned for a rehearing and was denied. Oceania then filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the District Court of Appeal to review the dismissal order. On appeal to the district court, Oceania only asked the district court to rule on whether the board was an indispensable party; Oceania did not raise the issue of the local-rule violation. The district court denied Oceania’s certiorari petition. Oceania then filed a motion for reinstatement of its appeal before the Dade County Appellate Division; in that filing, Oceania raised the issue of the local-rule violation for the first time. A three-judge panel dismissed Oceania’s reinstatement motion as untimely. Oceania again appealed to the District Court of Appeal.