Court Opinion

ID: 9880704
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-28 15:04:30.199252+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:54:22.111560
License: Public Domain

Supreme Court of Florida
                            ____________

                          No. SC2023-1114
                            ____________

    IN RE: AMENDMENTS TO FLORIDA RULE OF GENERAL
      PRACTICE AND JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION 2.215.

                        September 28, 2023

PER CURIAM.

     In November 2021, the Court established the Workgroup on

Judicial Practices in the Trial Courts within the Judicial

Management Council, explaining that “Florida’s judicial branch is

committed to the continual improvement of its services and the

administration of justice.” In re Workgroup on Judicial Practices in

the Trial Courts, Fla. Admin. Order No. AOSC21-57 (Nov. 9, 2021).

The Workgroup’s charge included reviewing and developing

recommendations for this Court on “the implementation of

procedures and other instructions by judges for practice within

their individual courtrooms and [determining] whether such

instructions are sufficiently accessible, understandable, and

consistent with rules of court procedure and law.” Id. The Court is
grateful for the Workgroup’s hard work and its report and

recommendations.

     One of the Workgroup’s recommendations was that this Court

adopt amendments to Florida Rule of General Practice and Judicial

Administration 2.215 (Trial Court Administration). 1 The

Workgroup’s proposed amendments were intended to provide

litigants with transparent and ready access to the procedures and

other instructions of judges for practice within individual

courtrooms. We adopt the amendments as proposed.

     We amend rule 2.215 to require that individual judge and

divisional practices and procedures, as well as local rules and

administrative orders, be located on each circuit’s website. We

further amend the rule to prohibit the practice of requiring

attorneys or parties to communicate with the court solely by written

letter. Finally, we amend rule 2.215 to provide that each circuit

should have a continuing review process in place to ensure that

individual judge and divisional practices and procedures are

     1. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 2(a), Fla. Const.; see
also Fla. R. Gen. Prac. & Jud. Admin. 2.140(d).

                                 -2-
accessible on the circuit’s website and are consistent with

established law and rules of procedure.

     We hereby amend the Florida Rules of General Practice and

Judicial Administration as reflected in the appendix to this opinion.

New language is indicated by underscoring; deletions are indicated

by struck-through type. The amendments are effective January 1,

2024, at 12:01 a.m. Because the amendments were not published

for comment previously, interested persons have 75 days from the

date of this opinion in which to file comments with the Court.2

     It is so ordered.

MUÑIZ, C.J., and CANADY, LABARGA, COURIEL, GROSSHANS,
FRANCIS, and SASSO, JJ., concur.

THE FILING OF A MOTION FOR REHEARING SHALL NOT ALTER
THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THESE AMENDMENTS.

       2. All comments must be filed with the Court on or before
December 12, 2023, as well as a separate request for oral argument
if the person filing the comment wishes to participate in oral
argument, which may be scheduled in this case. If filed by an
attorney in good standing with The Florida Bar, the comment must
be electronically filed via the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal (Portal).
If filed by a nonlawyer or a lawyer not licensed to practice in
Florida, the comment may be, but is not required to be, filed via the
Portal. Any person unable to submit a comment electronically must
mail or hand-deliver the originally signed comment to the Florida
Supreme Court, Office of the Clerk, 500 South Duval Street,
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1927.

                                 -3-
Original Proceeding – Florida Rules of General Practice and Judicial
Administration

                                -4-
                              Appendix

RULE 2.215. TRIAL COURT ADMINISTRATION

     (a)-(d) [No Change]

     (e) Local Rules and Administrative Orders.

           (1) Local court rules as defined in rule 2.120 may be
proposed by a majority of the circuit and county judges in the
circuit. The judges shallmust notify the local bar within the circuit
of the proposal, after which they shallmust permit a representative
of the local bar, and may permit any other interested person, to be
heard orally or in writing on the proposal before submitting it to the
supreme court for approval. When a proposed local rule is
submitted to the supreme court for approval, the following
procedure shall apply:

               (A) Local court rule proposals shallmust be
submitted to the supreme court in January of each year. The
supreme court may accept emergency proposals submitted at other
times.

                (B) Not later than February 15 of each year, the
clerk of the supreme court shallmust submit all local court rule
proposals to the Supreme Court Local Rules Advisory Committee
created by rule 2.140. At the same time, the clerk of the supreme
court shallmust send copies of the proposed rules to the
appropriate committees of The Florida Bar. The Florida Bar
committees, any interested local bar associations, and any other
interested person shallmust submit any comments or responses
that they wish to make to the Supreme Court Local Rules Advisory
Committee on or before March 15 of the year.

               (C) The Supreme Court Local Rules Advisory
Committee shallmust meet on or before April 15 to consider the
proposals and any comments submitted by interested parties. The
committee shallmust transmit its recommendations to the supreme

                                 -5-
court concerning each proposal, with the reasons for its
recommendations, within 15 days after its meeting.

                 (D) The supreme court shallmust consider the
recommendations of the committee and may resubmit the proposals
with modifications to the committee for editorial comment only. The
supreme court may set a hearing on any proposals, or consider
them on the recommendations and comments as submitted. If a
hearing is set, notice shallmust be given to the chief judge of the
circuit from which the proposals originated, the executive director
of The Florida Bar, the chair of the Rules of General Practice and
Judicial Administration Committee of The Florida Bar, any local bar
associations, and any interested persons who made comments on
the specific proposals to be considered. The supreme court
shallmust act on the proposals promptly after the recommendations
are received or heard.

                 (E) If a local court rule is approved by the supreme
court, it shallwill become effective on the date set by that court.

                  (F) A copy of all local court rules approved by the
supreme court shallmust be indexed and recorded by the clerk of
the circuit court in each county of the circuit where the rules are
effective. A set of the recorded copies shallmust be readily available
for inspection as a public record, and copies shallmust be provided
to any requesting party for the cost of duplication. The chief judge
of the circuit maymust provide for the publicationsh of the rules on
the circuit’s website. The clerk of the supreme court shallmust
furnish copies of each approved local court rule to the executive
director of The Florida Bar.

            (2) Any judge or member of The Florida Bar who believes
that an administrative order promulgated under subdivision (b)(2)
of this rule is a court rule or a local rule as defined in rule 2.120,
rather than an administrative order, may apply to the Supreme
Court Local Rules Advisory Committee for a decision on the
question. The decisions of the committee concerning the
determination of the question shallmust be reported to the supreme
court, and the court shallmust follow the procedure set forth in
                                 -6-
subdivision (D) above in considering the recommendation of the
committee.

           (3) All administrative orders of a general and continuing
nature, and all others designated by the chief judge, shallmust be
indexed and recorded by the clerk of the circuit court in each
county where the orders are effective. A set of the recorded copies
shallmust be readily available for inspection as a public record, and
copies shallmust be provided to any requesting party for the cost of
duplication. The chief judge of the circuit must publish all
administrative orders of a general and continuing nature on the
circuit’s website. The chief judge shallmust, on an annual basis,
direct a review of all local administrative orders to ensure that the
set of copies maintained by the clerk remains current and does not
conflict with supreme court or local rules.

          (4) All local court rules entered pursuant to this section
shallmust be numbered sequentially for each respective judicial
circuit.

      (f) Individual and Divisional Practices and Procedures.
Every judge who establishes practices or procedures that apply only
when appearing before that specific judge must publish those
practices and procedures on the circuit’s website. Each division of
court that establishes practices and procedures that apply in that
division of court must publish those practices and procedures on
the circuit’s website. No judge or division may establish a practice
or procedure that requires attorneys or parties to communicate with
the court solely by written letter. Neither a division nor a judge may
establish practices or procedures that contradict established law or
rule of procedure. The chief judge of each circuit should establish
procedures to ensure compliance with the subdivision.

     (fg) Duty to Rule within a Reasonable Time. Every judge has
a duty to rule upon and announce an order or judgment on every
matter submitted to that judge within a reasonable time. Each
judge shallmust maintain a log of cases under advisement and
inform the chief judge of the circuit at the end of each calendar

                                 -7-
month of each case that has been held under advisement for more
than 60 days.

     (gh) Duty to Expedite Priority Cases. Every judge has a duty
to expedite priority cases to the extent reasonably possible. Priority
cases are those cases that have been assigned a priority status or
assigned an expedited disposition schedule by statute, rule of
procedure, case law, or otherwise. Particular attention shallmust be
given to all juvenile dependency and termination of parental rights
cases, cases involving families and children in need of services,
challenges involving elections and proposed constitutional
amendments, and capital postconviction cases. As part of an effort
to make capital postconviction cases a priority, the chief judge shall
have the discretion to create a postconviction division to handle
capital postconviction, as well as non-capital postconviction cases,
and may assign one or more judges to that division.

      (hi) Neglect of Duty. The failure of any judge, clerk,
prosecutor, public defender, attorney, court reporter, or other
officer of the court to comply with an order or directive of the chief
judge shall beis considered neglect of duty and shallmust be
reported by the chief judge to the chief justice of the supreme court.
The chief justice may report the neglect of duty by a judge to the
Judicial Qualifications Commission, and neglect of duty by other
officials to the governor of Florida or other appropriate person or
body.

      (ij) Status Conference after Compilation of Record in
Death Case. In any proceeding in which a defendant has been
sentenced to death, the circuit judge assigned to the case shallmust
take such action as may be necessary to ensure that a complete
record on appeal has been properly prepared. To that end, the judge
shallmust convene a status conference with all counsel of record as
soon as possible after the record has been prepared pursuant to
rule of appellate procedure 9.200(d) but before the record has been
transmitted. The purpose of the status conference shall beis to
ensure that the record is complete.

                         Committee Notes
                                 -8-
             [No Change]

          Court Commentary

             [No Change]

Criminal Court Steering Committee Note

             [No Change]

                 -9-