Supreme Court of Florida
In re Amends. To Fla. Rules of Gen. Prac. & Jud. Admin.
Supreme Court of Florida, 3/21/24
No. SC2023-0837, 2024 WL 1202717
Per Curiam
Topics: Rule Amendments
Quick Take: There are several amendments to the Rules of General Practice and Judicial
Administration. Judges are required to report all matters to the chief judge that have been held under advisement for more than 60 days. Parties can file a motion to call attention to matters that have been pending for that long, and a new form was published for this.
A new standard of 30 months for the life of a complex civil case now exists, and less complex ones are to take only 18 months from service to final disposition. Appeals are supposed to be resolved within 180 days from oral argument or the filing of the Reply Brief in non-OA cases.
And parties are now required to file notices of inactive status for any case that has been stayed.
Other minor changes were made.
Full Take: There are several amendments to the Rules of General Practice and Judicial
Administration.
Rule 2.215(f), Duty to Rule within a Reasonable Time, now requires a judge to maintain a log of all matters, not just cases, held under advisement and to notify the chief judge each month of all matters that have been held under advisement for more than 60 days.
Rule 2.215 now includes new subdivision (f)(2). Now, a “party may file with the clerk a notice using form 2.604 that a matter has been held under advisement or is ready for disposition and remains pending without judicial action for more than 60 days. The party must serve a copy of the notice on the presiding judge.”
Rule 2.250(a) (Time Standards) is amended to add a time standard of 30 months for complex casescalculated from date of service of initial process on the last defendant or 120 days after commencement of the action as provided in Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.050, whichever occurs first, to final disposition. Non-complex cases are given 18 months. Supreme Court and District Court of Appeal cases are given 180 days from oral argument or submission of the case (filing of the Reply Brief) if there is no oral argument.
Rule 2.250(b) (Reporting of Cases) is amended to require the chief judge of each circuit to serve on the chief justice and the state court administrator an annual report listing all active civil cases that have been pending three or more years.
New rule 2.546 requires the parties in all types of proceedings to notify a court of a case's change in status when a stay is required by law or requested but not required. Where a stay is required, Rule 2.546(a) states:
(1) Notice of Inactive Status. A party must promptly file a notice to place a case on inactive status when the party knows a case pending in a trial court is required to be stayed, including when a court has imposed a stay or when a stay is imposed by operation of bankruptcy law. The case is treated as inactive on filing the notice unless the court orders otherwise.
(2) Notice of Active Status. A party must promptly file a notice to remove a case’s inactive status after learning of an event that makes inactive status unnecessary. The case is treated as active on filing the notice unless the court orders otherwise.
If a stay is optional and merely requested, Rule 2.546(b) states:
(1) Motion to Place on Inactive Status. A party may move to place a case on inactive status for bona fide reasons. Unless the parties stipulate that a pending appellate ruling in an entirely separate case is dispositive of a material issue in the case, the case will not be placed on inactive status absent extraordinary circumstances.
(2) Motion to Place on Active Status. A party must promptly move to restore a case to active status when circumstances make inactive status unnecessary.
(3) Service; Order on Change of Status. The filer must serve a copy of the motion and a proposed order on the presiding trial judge at the time the motion is filed. The court must promptly issue an order granting or denying the motion. An order granting the motion to change the case status must contain the reason for the change in case status. On issuance of an order changing the case status, the clerk must promptly adjust the status in the docket.
(c) Deadlines Tolled. All deadlines in a case management order issued under rule 1.200 or rule 1.201 will be tolled from the date a case is placed on inactive status until the date the case is restored to active status.