Churches' Challenge to Orlando Large Group Feeding Ordinance Rejected, and Civil Procedure Issue

By FindLaw Staff on July 07, 2010 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

First Vagabonds Church of God v. City of Orlando, No. 08-16788, involved an action claiming that the City of Orlando's Large Group Feeding Ordinance, as applied to First Vagabonds Church of God and Orlando Food Not Bombs, violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments, and the Florida Religious Freedom Restoration Act.  The court of appeals partially affirmed partial judgment for defendants, on the grounds that the City could rationally conclude that it could more effectively regulate vendors' conduct in parks directly through the contracts or licenses.  However, the court reversed in part, on the grounds that 1) the feedings presented at most an ambiguous situation to an objective reasonable observer; the expressive nature of the conduct was not "overwhelmingly apparent"; and 2) the Ordinance was a neutral law of general applicability that serves a rational basis.

MD Edgar Borrero v. United Healthcare of N.Y., Inc., No. 08-15264, concerned an action alleging that defendant health insurer breached its contracts with plaintiff physicians by not paying them the full contracted rate for services rendered to insureds, in violation of common and statutory law.  The court of appeals reversed the dismissal of the action, on the ground that plaintiffs' claims were not subject to claim preclusion because they arose from a nucleus of operative fact distinct from those resolved in a prior litigation.

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