Court Opinion

ID: 9836283
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-02 03:06:25.677715+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:45:15.350851
License: Public Domain

MAKAR, J.,
dissenting.
Filed in 2009, this case was initially set for trial in early 2014, but Morgan fired her attorney just before trial, resulting in delays, a rescheduled trial date, and the filing of two pro se answers. Thirteen calendar days before the third trial date, Morgan’s newly-hired attorney sought to file an amended answer, which the trial court denied. Affirmance is in order; no abuse of discretion is shown. Brown v. Montgomery Ward & Co., 252 So.2d 817, 819 (Fla. 1st DCA 1971) (“Under the circumstances of this case we cannot say that the trial court abused its discretion in denying appellant the right to file an amended complaint two weeks before the scheduled trial and after several years of pendency in the court.”); see also Levine v. United Co. Life Ins. Co., 659 So.2d 265, 266-67 (Fla.1995) (affirming denial of motion to amend answer filed two weeks before trial; holding that trial court “had not abused its discretion because the liberality typically associated with amendments to pleadings diminishes as the case progresses”).
After internal review of the bank’s motion for rehearing en banc, the majority opinion has been revised to ensure that it is constrained to its facts, so much so that it falls into a category of cases that are “limited to the present circumstances” and ought never be cited as precedent. See Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98, 109, 121 S.Ct. 525, 148 L.Ed.2d 388 (2000); see Chad Flanders, Please Don’t Cite This Case! The Precedential Value of Bush v. Gore, 116 Yale L.J. Pocket Part 141, 144 (2006) (“The Court has so far behaved as if Bush v. Gore does not exist, not yet having cited it (pro or con) in any case.”). Moreover, it remains an outlier in a sea of contrary caselaw (see Brown and Levine)-, absent some future case in this District that happens to be identical in every respect with this one, trial judges should refer to the bountiful precedent that appropriately applies principles of deference to their discretionary decisions whether to grant leave to amend and continue court proceedings.