TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity and Deloitte Consulting LLP are fighting a request by plaintiffs' attorneys for an extension of time to file a revised class-action lawsuit related to problems in the state unemployment-compensation system.
Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper on Sept. 30 dismissed the lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of people who had trouble obtaining unemployment benefits amid the coronavirus pandemic.
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But Cooper gave plaintiffs' attorneys 30 days to file an amended complaint, which would refuel the legal fight.
On the deadline last Friday, plaintiffs' attorneys requested a two-week extension to file an amended complaint, pointing in part to needing “additional time to research certain issues raised by the defendants.”
But in documents filed Tuesday, attorneys for the Department of Economic Opportunity and Deloitte argued that Cooper should reject an extension, effectively scuttling the case. The state cited a June 22 hearing that went into detail about issues in the lawsuit.
“The bare assertion by plaintiffs' counsel of a need for two additional weeks of research time -- beyond the 30 days provided by the court’s order and the four months since the June 22 hearing -- provides an insufficient basis for disregarding the court’s clear directive to file a timely … amended complaint or face dismissal of the case with prejudice,” department attorneys wrote.
The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit in April after hundreds of thousands of coronavirus-caused unemployment claims overwhelmed the state’s online CONNECT system.
The Department of Economic Opportunity runs the unemployment system, while Deloitte was a contractor that helped put CONNECT in place in 2013.
The lawsuit made a series of allegations, including negligence and breach of fiduciary duty.
Cooper in the Sept. 30 order did not detail reasons for the dismissal, saying only that he “grants the motion to dismiss on the grounds argued by the defendants.”
During the June hearing, Department of Economic Opportunity attorney Daniel Nordby contended, in part, that the lawsuit should be dismissed because of the constitutional separation of powers between judges and the executive branch. He said decisions by the department “involve a great deal of discretion” that cannot be second-guessed by judges under the separation of powers.