for now , countY court JurisDictionaL Limits remain unchangeD
Appellate Practice Section Chairs : Heather Fesnak - Akerman LLP & Tom Seider - Brannock & Humphries
Proposed legislation that would have increased the Florida county courts ’ jurisdictional limits failed to pass this legislative session . House Bill 7061 would have increased the current monetary limit for damages claims from $ 15,000 to $ 50,000 , marking the first change to this threshold since 1992 . Although different versions of the bill passed both the House and the Senate , both chambers could not come to terms on a final version of the legislation . Notably , the Senate amended the bill to reduce the proposed jurisdictional limit from $ 50,000 to $ 25,000 . The Senate also provided that appeals from county court judgments exceeding $ 15,000 would travel directly to the district courts of appeal instead of to the circuit courts in their appellate capacities . The amended bill returned to the House , which rejected the reduction to the jurisdictional limit and passed a second version restating the original $ 50,000 limit . The Senate did not pass the revised bill before the 2018 session came to an end .
Although no agreement was reached this session , the issues underlying these legislative efforts are likely to persist . The county courts ’ jurisdictional limit has changed three times since 1980 , with the most recent change in 1992 resulting in an increase from
although no agreement was reached this session , the issues underlying these legislative efforts are likely to persist .
$ 10,000 to the current $ 15,000 limit . Adjusted for inflation , the $ 15,000 limit established in 1992 would be over $ 26,000 at the end of 2017 . Many states with similar court structures already employ higher jurisdictional limits than Florida . Although the ramifications of any change to the jurisdictional limit may be difficult to predict , the need to revisit the limit becomes more pronounced each year given the effects of inflation .
From an appellate perspective , the proposed changes raise interesting procedural and strategic concerns for litigants who would challenge decisions from the county court . Subject to relatively limited exceptions , decisions from the county courts currently proceed to appellate panels of the circuit courts . Critics opposed to the proposed legislation this session have maintained that any reduction to the volume of cases pending on the circuit court trial dockets would quickly be filled with appeals from the county courts . One potential solution to this concern , as reflected in the Senate amendments this session , would be to permit certain decisions to move directly from the county court to the district courts of appeal . Other critics of the legislation have pointed to the relatively less predictable body of circuit court appellate decisions as compared to the district courts of appeal . It remains to be seen what efforts , if any , will be undertaken during the coming legislative session to modify the jurisdictional limits in light of these concerns .
Authors : Stacy Blank and Patrick Chidnese – Holland & Knight LLP
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