State Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles v. Sarnoff

An appeal from the Circuit Court for Leon County. Nikki Ann Clark, Judge. The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (Department) seeks review of the circuit court's non-final order granting class certification in a case seeking refund for moneys paid into the state treasury in which none of the named plaintiffs, appellees herein, complied with the provisions of the refund statute, section 215.26, Florida Statutes (1995). The issues presented for review are: (1) whether the ""direct file"" exception to the exhaustion of administrative remedies doctrine in refund claim class actions applies only to ""facial"" constitutional challenges; and (2) whether appellees' real challenge is to Florida Administrative Code Rule 15C-6.003, the rule promulgated by the Department to implement section 325.214, Florida Statutes.