Wilkinson v. Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission

The appellant challenges a summary final judgment which was entered for the appellee Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in a declaratory judgment action by which the appellant challenged an administrative rule. We conclude that the appealed order was properly entered upon a determination that the appellant could not obtain declaratory relief without exhausting his administrative remedies.

In his declaratory judgment complaint the appellant challenged the Lee County Manatee Protection Rule, as promulgated by the Commission at Florida Administrative Code Rule 68C-22.005. The appellant…