Not
final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.
Appeal
from the Circuit Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit,
Broward County; Sandra Perlman, Judge; L.T. Case No.
CACE16-002723.
Alyssa
M. Reiter and Jordan S. Cohen of Wicker Smith O'Hara
McCoy & Ford, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for appellant.
Daniel
L. Wallach and Allen M. Levine of Becker & Poliakoff,
P.A., Fort Lauderdale, and Mark J. Stempler of Becker &
Poliakoff, P.A., West Palm Beach, for appellees.
MAY,
J.
Business
competition and a battle between government transparency and
entrepreneurial confidentiality lay the foundation for this
appeal. Uber, the intervenor in a suit over a public records
request, appeals an order that required Broward County to
produce redacted reports in response to a broader request for
records. Uber argues the trial court erred in granting a
rehearing and ordering Broward County to produce redacted
Uber reports to Yellow Cab.[1] We disagree and affirm the order.
Uber
and Broward County entered into a license agreement governing
Uber's services at the airport and Port Everglades.
Article 2.6.4 of the agreement addressed Uber's monthly
self-reporting requirements. Article 9.4 required Broward
County to maintain the confidentiality of Uber's trade
secret information and assert its exempt status in response
to a public records request.
Uber's
monthly reports contained both aggregate and granular data.
The aggregate data is the number of pickups and drop-offs at
the airport and seaport, "multiplied by the fee in each
of those zones." The granular data is information on
every pickup and drop-off, including a time stamp, the
longitude and latitude, and the first three characters of the
driver's license plate which identifies the individual.
Uber marked the reports as containing trade secret
information, exempt from the Public Records Act.
Yellow
Cab made a public records request to Broward County for:
"All reports or documents reflecting
pick-ups by Rasier-DC, LLC or Uber at the [airport], and the
sums of money paid or owing to [the county] for those trips,
beginning in October, 2015 and through the present."
(Emphasis added). The county responded that any reports
marked trade secret would not be disclosed without Uber's
authorization, pursuant to the license agreement, and
produced a redacted set.
Yellow
Cab then filed a complaint against Broward County for
violating Florida's Public Records Act, seeking
un-redacted monthly reports on Uber's pickups at the
airport. Uber then moved to intervene as the owner of the
trade secret information and real party in interest. The
trial court granted the motion to intervene.
After
an evidentiary hearing, the court ordered that Broward County
had complied with the public records request and reserved
ruling as to whether the requested records were trade
secrets. The court later found the information was protected
trade secrets and exempt from disclosure under Florida's
Public Records Act.
Yellow
Cab moved for rehearing, arguing the trial court had
overlooked that the request was limited to the amount of
money paid to the county and the number of
pickups.[2] The trial court conducted an in
camera inspection of the un-redacted documents, and
found
that the aggregate number of pick-ups and the sum of money
paid by [Uber] to the County as a usage fee at the [airport]
does not constitute trade secret information such that it
would be exempt from public disclosure. The remaining
information in the reports, however, including the longitude
and latitude and the specific dates and times of pick-ups and
drop-offs, and the first three characters of license plates
of ...