PERSONAL INJURY CORNER
Big Changes Are Coming
TED BABBITT
The Florida Supreme Court requested the Work Group on Improved Resolution of Civil Cases to give them a report containing massive changes in the Rules of Civil Procedure involving discovery and eventual trial . That report has now been presented to the Supreme Court and the Court has given the Bar until June 1 to make any comments . The handwriting is on the wall that these proposed changes will be adopted by the Supreme Court and will make huge changes in the way that civil cases are handled in the State of Florida .
The undersigned author was a part of a task force appointed by The Florida Supreme Court to review complex litigation . That task force consisted of a Florida Supreme Court Justice , a number of District Court Judges , attorneys , and business people . After taking testimony , that commission was responsible for drafting RCP 1.201 which purported to ease delays in the handling of complex cases . Unfortunately , that Rule was met with opposition by Circuit Court Judges who felt it infringed upon their handling of their own dockets and it has been sparingly used . Now , The Florida Supreme Court , has readopted RCP 1.201 and greatly strengthened a requirement that it be used in civil cases that meet its definitional requirements .
The assumption of The Florida Supreme Court in ordering this workshop report and presumably adopting the suggestions made in that report are that effective case management requires early judicial intervention , setting deadlines soon after the case is filed , including trial dates , and making sure that both judges and the parties adhere to that schedule .
The report requires that trial judges “ Take charge of all cases at an early stage in the litigation and … control the progress of the case thereafter until the case is determined .”
The proposed case management rules require that early in the case a determination be made by the trial judge as to which of three tracks a case will be required to follow ; whether the case is a complex case and therefore subject to Rule 1.201 , a streamlined case , or a general case . Those practicing in Federal Court in the Southern District will be familiar with this kind of concept . It is required that the Court assign a case to an appropriate track within 120 days of case filing or within 30 days after service of the first defendant , whichever comes first . The parties are required to meet and confer within 30 days of the initial service of the complaint on the first defendant , setting deadlines in 7 categories including : discovery , dispositive motions , and anticipated trial readiness . Either the parties will provide the court with the proposed case management order or the judge will enter one himself / herself . Deadlines will be set and modifications of those deadlines are intended to be very limited . A notice of non-availability cannot be used to circumvent a deadline or a trial date .
The problem of making sure that a case is “ at issue ” is essentially eliminated and instead a trial date is expected to be set at the initial case management conference and if a party or the court determines that an earlier date is appropriate , the judge may well shorten the time for trial .
A procedure is set up for a “ pretrial coordination court ” to handle mass tort lawsuits of all kinds and providing that a special judge be assigned to that division to handle all discovery and motions and in certain circumstances even the trial . There is a procedure set up similar to Federal District Courts where cases can be tried on a bellwether basis .
Proposals for sanctions for discovery violations are greatly consolidated and strengthened . Sanctions ranging from a simple reprimand to dismissal , default , referral to the Florida Bar , or contempt are included ; and attorney ’ s fees are fairly automatic .
There is a requirement for initial fact disclosure within 45 days of service of the complaint , including all basic information , contact information of the persons likely
PBCBA BAR BULLETIN 12 to have relevant information , copies of relevant documents , a computation of damages , copies of insurance policies and answers to applicable standard interrogatory forms found in the Civil Rules . There is a duty to supplement all discovery and a specific rule on standards for conduct in depositions . Misuse or abuse of discovery for tactical advantage or delay is prohibited and sanctions are greatly strengthened for such conduct .
Motion practice is completely revised including requirements to meet and confer prior to filing any motion . A detailed procedure for scheduling motion hearings and a rule is proposed that a judge has a duty to decide motions within 60 days . The failure to prosecute rule is shortened and what constitutes an act to prevent the running of the 6 month time period is considerably tightened .
Continuance of non-trial events , as well as motions to continue a trial , are extremely limited , requiring “ extraordinary unforeseen circumstances ” to continue a trial . Conflicts may no longer be used as a basis for continuance and orders granting a trial continuance must state the factual basis for that continuance .
There is no doubt that these proposed rules will be a sea change in the way cases are handled in Florida . This synopsis is not intended to be exhaustive . The report is 185 pages long and the court has yet to adopt any of its recommendations , but the handwriting is on the wall that there are going to be big changes in the way cases are handled in Florida and we all need to get ready .