Third District Court of Appeal

State of Florida 

Opinion filed August 4, 2021.

Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.

________________

No. 3D21-380

Lower Tribunal Nos. 20-AP-15-K & 20-TR-3597-A-K

________________

James Nelson o/b/o minor child, N.N.,

Appellant,

vs.

The State of Florida,

Appellee.

An Appeal from the County Court for Monroe County, Peary S. Fowler, 

Judge.

James Nelson, in proper person.

Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and Ivy R. Ginsberg, Assistant 

Attorney General, for appellee.

ON MOTION TO DISMISS APPEAL

Before SCALES, HENDON and BOKOR, JJ. 

PER CURIAM.
2

James Nelson, on behalf of his minor child, “N.N.,” appeals a county 

court order denying his motion to vacate N.N.’s plea of no contest to a civil 

traffic infraction.1 This appeal originated in the appellate division of the 

Monroe County Circuit Court by virtue of Nelson’s December 1, 2020 filing 

of a notice of appeal in the county court. Presumably believing that the 

jurisdictional change occasioned by the enactment of new legislation2

required the transfer of this appeal to the district court, the Monroe County 

Clerk of Courts transferred this appeal to this Court. The State now moves

to dismiss the instant appeal on the ground that appellate jurisdiction lies in 

the circuit court. We agree that we lack subject matter jurisdiction over the 

appeal, but, rather than dismiss the appeal, we treat the State’s motion to 

1 The county court judge accepted the no contest plea and withheld 

adjudication. 

2 Effective January 1, 2021, this Court’s subject matter jurisdiction was 

enlarged to include appeals from most orders of the county court. See Ch. 

20-61, § 3, Laws of Fla. (amending section 26.012(1) of the Florida Statutes 

and repealing section 924.08 of the Florida Statutes). Those appeals over 

which the district court gained jurisdiction that were then-pending in the 

circuit court were required to be transferred to the district courts. See State 

ex rel. Arnold v. Revels, 109 So. 2d 1, 3 (Fla. 1959) (“[W]hen the jurisdiction 

of a court depends upon a statute which is repealed or otherwise nullified, 

the jurisdiction falls even over pending causes, unless the repealing statute 

contains a saving clause.”); Fla. R. App. P. 9.040(b)(1) (“If a proceeding is 

commenced in an inappropriate court, that court shall transfer the cause to 

an appropriate court.”).
3

dismiss as a motion to transfer venue to the circuit court’s appellate division

and grant same. 

“If a person is found to have committed an infraction by the hearing 

official, he or she may appeal that finding to the circuit court.” § 318.16(1), 

Fla. Stat. (2021) (emphasis added). Chapter 318 defines “official” as “any 

judge authorized by law to preside over a court or hearing adjudicating traffic 

infractions.” § 318.13(4), Fla. Stat. (2021) (emphasis added). Thus, section 

318.16 vests the circuit court with appellate jurisdiction over a county court 

judge’s determination with respect to a civil traffic infraction. See § 26.012(1) 

Fla. Stat. (2021) (“Circuit courts shall have jurisdiction of . . . appeals as 

otherwise expressly provided by law.”).3 Jurisdiction to hear traffic infraction 

appeals was not transferred to the district courts by virtue of the enactment 

of section 3 of Chapter 20-61, Laws of Florida.

Appeal transferred.4

3 “Hearing officers” are also “empowered to accept pleas from and decide 

the guilt or innocence of any person, adult or juvenile, charged with any civil 

traffic infraction and shall be empowered to adjudicate or withhold 

adjudication of guilt in the same manner as a county court judge . . . .” §

318.32(1), Fla. Stat. (2021). The circuit court also has appellate jurisdiction 

over civil traffic determinations made by hearing officers. See § 318.33, Fla. 

Stat. (2021).

4 We express no opinion on the merits of the appeal.