Rehearing Rejected in FPL Irma Case

Article reposted with permission from The News Service of Florida.

A panel of the 3rd District Court of Appeal on Wednesday rejected a rehearing request in a lawsuit alleging Florida Power & Light did not meet obligations to help prevent power outages during Hurricane Irma. In a May 22 ruling, the panel of the Miami-based appeals court backed FPL’s arguments that the state Public Service Commission has authority to determine whether the utility met obligations during the 2017 hurricane. The panel reversed decisions that said customers could pursue a class-action lawsuit against FPL. It sent the case back to Miami-Dade County circuit court and ordered a judge to stay the lawsuit while “threshold issues” are resolved. Attorneys for customers in June asked for a rehearing — or possibly for the appeals court to send the dispute to the Florida Supreme Court. The panel, made up of Judges Norma Lindsey, Bronwyn Miller and Alexander Bokor, did not explain its decision Wednesday to reject the request.