Chief’sColumn Appellate Division News

Welcome to the appellate division of the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court! We are in the process of implementing several important changes to the division in light of recent jurisdictional modifications enacted by the Florida Legislature.

On January 1, 2021, a significant event in Florida impacted most appeals that originated from the county courts. On that date, the state’s circuit courts lost jurisdiction over appeals from, and petitions for extraordinary writs related to, county court criminal and civil cases. The legislature repealed both (1) the portion of § 26.012, Florida Statutes, that provided circuit courts with general appellate jurisdiction over final judgments of county courts, and (2) all of § 924.08, Florida Statutes, which provided circuit courts with appellate jurisdiction over county court judgments in criminal cases.

These changes impacted the appeals of all kinds of cases, including misdemeanor criminal violations and civil matters such as those involving personal injury protection (PIP), landlord-tenant, auto glass, and property damage. Instead of these often hotly litigated cases being heard on appeal in the circuit courts, the changes to the statutes require those cases to be appealed directly to the appropriate district court of appeal. Further, interlocutory appeals and petitions for writ of certiorari (often related to discovery disputes) are now also properly appealed to the district courts of appeal. I anticipate that this new process will provide the county courts with much-needed consistency and precedent and may result in reduced litigation. Before these changes, to obtain district court of appeal review of a county court or other decision which was formerly appealable to the circuit court, a party would be required to file for “second tier appellate review” through a certiorari proceeding in which that court was restricted to a very narrow review, extremely limited in scope.

The circuit court retains jurisdiction over appeals from final administrative orders of local government code enforcement boards, as well as over reviews and appeals as otherwise expressly provided by law. This includes cases involving decisions finding dogs to be dangerous, voluntary binding arbitrations, and traffic infractions. The Second District Court of Appeal has clarified that the circuit court retains jurisdiction over appeals involving traffic infractions filed by both the State and defendants. See State of Florida v. Islam, 352 So. 3d 956, 957 (Fla. 2d DCA 2022) (“[I]f the circuit court has jurisdiction over a defendant’s appeal in these matters, then it follows that the circuit court has jurisdiction over a state’s appeal in these matters.”). Further, the circuit court retains jurisdiction to hear petitions for extraordinary writs that are not directed to the county court, such as petitions for writs of certiorari in driver’s license suspension cases.

The State of Florida, Office of the State Court Administrator, has prepared materials related to Florida’s appellate jurisdiction changes, including a comprehensive list of appellate case types staying in circuit court and a 19-page list of statutory provisions referencing extraordinary writs. The materials may be found at this web address: https://www.flcourts.gov/Know-Your-Court. That website also includes information on the recent jurisdictional changes for county court and links to videos discussing all of these changes. In the Ninth Circuit, we are working to facilitate the appellate jurisdictional changes by implementing a process for identifying cases that are still appropriate for appellate review in the circuit court with the goal of resolving appellate cases timely and efficiently. We are devising a new appellate case numbering system, and we expect that the new system will assist us in identifying appeals quickly and directing them to the appropriate judge or appellate panel for resolution.

We will continue to appoint circuit judges at random to “appellate panels” containing three judges, with one of the judges acting as the presiding judge. The presiding judge is responsible for issuing various orders during the life of the proceeding, including motions for extension of time, motions to consolidate, motions to strike, and motions to dismiss. All panel members will consider all dispositive motions, and final appellate decisions must be reviewed and approved by each panel member, or a member may dissent. The Ninth Circuit has an Administrative Order addressing the appellate process in our circuit that includes further information about how the court will handle your appeal, forms, and circuit-specific rules for attorneys and parties. See Administrative Order 2015-10-03, “Amended Order Governing Appellate Process, Ninth Judicial Circuit,” (Fla. 9th Cir. Ct. February 11, 2021). The order is available on the Ninth Circuit’s website at https://ninthcircuit.org/resources/admin-orders.

We welcome your input! If you have a suggestion to make our division run more smoothly, or if you have any questions or comments about the Appellate Division at the Ninth Judicial Circuit, please contact me through my judicial assistant, Jill Gay, at ctjajg1@ocnjcc.org.