Court Opinion

ID: 9379366
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-03-15 15:03:53.115269+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:15:40.011790
License: Public Domain

Third District Court of Appeal
                               State of Florida

                        Opinion filed March 15, 2023.
       Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.

                            ________________

                              No. 3D22-745
                        Lower Tribunal No. 14-5962
                           ________________

                               Mario Oliva,
                                  Appellant,

                                     vs.

                                Ivon Oliva,
                                  Appellee.

     An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, George A.
Sarduy, Judge.

     Klein Law Group, P.A., Eric N. Klein and Kunal A. Mirchandani (Boca
Raton), for appellant.

    Ortega Tauler & Associates, Elena Ortega Tauler and Raquel E.
Tomas, for appellee.

Before LOGUE, GORDO and LOBREE, JJ.

     GORDO, J.
     Mario Oliva (“the Father”) appeals a trial court order denying his

motion to vacate. The Father’s motion sought to vacate the trial court’s

order adopting a general magistrate’s report because the Father was not

afforded a hearing on his timely filed exceptions. We have jurisdiction. Fla.

R. App. P. 9.130(a)(3)(C)(iii)(a).   Because the Father was entitled to a

hearing pursuant to Florida Family Law Rule of Procedure 12.490(f), we

reverse and remand for a hearing on the Father’s timely filed exceptions.

             FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

     In 2021, the trial court referred Ivon Oliva’s (“the Mother”)

supplemental petition for determination and enforcement of child support

and timesharing to a hearing officer pursuant to Florida Family Law Rule of

Procedure 12.491. Following a hearing, the hearing officer, who was also

a general magistrate1, issued a four-page order titled “Report and

Recommendation of General Magistrate” with factual findings and

conclusions of law adjudicating the Mother’s entitlement to child support.

The report included language indicating that either party could file

1
  Pursuant to In Re: Delineation of Matters to be Referred to General
Masters/Hearing Officers for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida, Fla.
Admin. Order No. AO02-30-A1 (Mar. 25, 2004), “General Masters/Hearing
Officers shall hear only those matters specifically set forth in Rules 12.490
and 12.491 of the Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure.” This order thus
establishes that a general magistrate may serve as a hearing officer and
must simply follow the requirements of the applicable Florida Family Law
rule.

                                      2
exceptions to the report within fifteen days pursuant to Florida Rule of Civil

Procedure 1.490(h). 2

      The Father timely filed exceptions to the report. A month later, the

trial court entered an order ratifying and adopting the general magistrate’s

report and recommendations without conducting a hearing on the Father’s

exceptions.   The Father then filed a motion to vacate arguing the trial

court’s order adopting the report was improper because it had not ruled on

his exceptions. The trial court denied the motion to vacate and refused to

rule on the Father’s exceptions, finding they were irrelevant because the

report was entered by a hearing officer. 3 This appeal followed.

                            LEGAL ANALYSIS

      “An appellate court reviews a trial court’s ruling on a general

magistrate’s report de novo.” Orth v. Orth, 338 So. 3d 363, 370 (Fla. 3d

DCA 2022) (citing Coriat v. Coriat, 306 So. 3d 356, 358 (Fla. 3d DCA

2020)).   Pursuant to Florida Family Law Rule of Procedure 12.490(f),

2
  Rule 1.490(h) is the civil procedure counterpart of Florida Family Law
Rule of Procedure 12.490(f). Both “contain substantially the same
language providing for a hearing on exceptions to a master’s report and
recommendation.” Knorr v. Knorr, 751 So. 2d 64, 65–66 (Fla. 2d DCA
1999)
3
  Pursuant to Florida Family Law Rule of Procedure 12.491(f) a party may
only seek relief from a hearing officer’s report by “filing a motion to vacate
within 10 days from the date of entry.” Exceptions to a hearing officer’s
report are irrelevant.

                                      3
“parties may file exceptions to the [general magistrate’s] report within 10

days from the time it is served on them. . . . If exceptions are filed, they

must be heard on reasonable notice by either party or the court.” Fla.

Fam. L. R. P. 12.490(f) (emphasis added).

      It is well established Florida law that if a party timely files exceptions

to a general magistrate’s report, “a hearing on a party’s exceptions . . . is

mandatory.” Polo v. Hernandez, 338 So. 3d 386, 387–88 (Fla. 3d DCA

2022); see also Simmons v. Simmons, 16 So. 3d 878, 878–79 (Fla. 5th

DCA 2009); Yoxsimer v. Yoxsimer, 918 So. 2d 997, 998–99 (Fla. 2d DCA

2006) (holding that rule 12.490(f) requires a mandatory hearing on timely

filed exceptions to a magistrate’s report).           This mandatory hearing

requirement is meant to protect the due process rights of the parties and

their “right to be ultimately heard by the judge in the case.” Kay v. Kay, 430

So. 2d 532, 533 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983); see also Berkheimer v. Berkheimer,

466 So. 2d 1219, 1220 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985) (“The rule was designed to

safeguard the due process rights of the parties.”).

      While the trial court initially referred the matter to a hearing officer, it

is clear from the record that the hearing officer sat as a general magistrate

                                        4
and issued a general magistrate’s report pursuant to rule 12.490.4 Once

the trial court adopted the findings and recommendations of the general

magistrate’s report, it was bound by rule 12.490. Moreover, its adoption of

the report meant it adopted the report’s language regarding exceptions to

which the Father was allowed to rely on. This notice necessarily involves

due process concerns.        To adopt and ratify a general magistrate’s

recommendation and report and all its findings including notice that one

may file exceptions within fifteen days and later move the goal post and call

the report a hearing officer’s report falls short of due process concerns. It

is undisputed that the Father timely filed exceptions to the general

magistrate’s report pursuant to rule 12.490(f). Hence, it was error for the

trial court to decline to hold a hearing on them.

      We therefore reverse the trial court’s April 5, 2022, order denying the

Father’s motion to vacate the March 3, 2022, order ratifying the general

magistrate’s report, and instruct the trial court to vacate the order ratifying

the general magistrate’s report and hold an appropriate hearing on the

merits of the Father’s exceptions.

      Reversed and remanded with instructions.

4
  We do not endeavor to determine here whether the trial court should have
stricken the general magistrate’s report for exceeding the authority given to
it by rule 12.491 and the referral order. The trial court chose not to do so
and is thus bound by the requirements of rule 12.490.

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