Florida Supreme Court Decisions 2021

Justia Opinion Summary: In this considering the provisions of a personal injury protection (PIP) insurance policy permit permitting the insurer to limit reimbursement payments in accordance with a statutory schedule of maximum charges the…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that when a defendant voluntarily chooses to allocate at a sentencing hearing, the sentencing court is permitted to consider the defendant's freely offered statements, including those indicating…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court sanctioned Petitioner after dismissing his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, holding that Petitioner failed to show cause why he should not be barred from filing any further pro se requests for…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court approved the stipulation entered into by Palm Beach County Judge Marni Bryson and the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC) that Judge Bryson be publicly reprimanded, suspended without pay…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that the wrongful death action at issue in this case was covered by the Legislature's 1999 amendment of Fla. Stat. 768.73. In 1999, the Legislature amended section 768.73 to presumptively preclude…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court approved the holding of the Second District Court of Appeal in this case, which involved an appeal of a conviction for driving as a habitual traffic offender (HTO) while one's driver's license is…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court approved the decision of the First District Court of Appeal in this case, holding that Fla. Stat. 942.051(3), which prohibits raising an unpreserved claim of error on direct appeal absent a showing of…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's conviction of first-degree murder and sentence of death, holding that Defendant's arguments on appeal were unavailing. Specifically, the Supreme Court held that the trial court did…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the circuit court summarily denying Appellant's third successive motion for postconviction relief, filed under Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.851, holding that there was no error. Appellant…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the postconviction court denying Defendant's petition for postconviction relief as to the guilt phase of his trial and denied his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, holding…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court granted the petition of The Florida Bar to enjoin Respondents, TIKD Services, LLC and Christopher Riley (collectively TIKD) from engaging in the unauthorized practice of law, holding that TIKD was…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court answered in the negative a question certified to it by the Fourth District Court of Appeal, holding that it is not a departure from the essential requirements of law to permit discovery regarding the…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court answered in the negative a question certified to it by the Fourth District Court of Appeal, holding that it is not a departure from the essential requirements of law to permit discovery regarding the…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court approved the holding of the First District Court of Appeal concluding that a defendant convicted by a jury verdict after raising a self-defense claim is not entitled to a new immunity hearing if the…

Justia Opinion Summary: In this action filed by Samuel Levy seeking to compel his former wife, Einath Levy, to comply with the parties' property settlement and support agreement (PSA), the Supreme Court quashed the decision of the Third…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court quashed in part the decision of the Fourth District Court of Appeal affirming the trial court's dismissal of Appellant's mandamus and certiorari claims and reversing as to Plaintiffs' claims for…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court quashed the decision of the Fifth District Court of Appeal concluding that the circuit court lacked jurisdiction to impose a sexual predator designation on an offender who qualified under the Florida…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's judgments of conviction of first-degree murder and sentences of death, holding that there was no prejudicial error in the proceedings below. Defendant was convicted and sentenced…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that, for purposes of calculating whether a plaintiff has met the threshold amount of difference between an offer of judgment and the judgment entered for purposes of Fla. Stat. 768.79, post-offer…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court approved the decision of the Second District Court of Appeal invalidating the decision of a property appraiser assessing back taxes after discovering his purported clerical error in undervaluing and…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court approved the decision of the First District Court of Appeal affirming Defendant's conviction of of three counts of sexual battery and one count of lewd or lascivious exhibition, holding that the…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the postconviction court denying Gary Hilton's motion to vacate his conviction of first-degree murder and sentence of death and denied Hilton's petition for a writ of habeas…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the court of appeal that invited error precluded review of Defendant's claim on appeal that a jury charge was coercive, holding that the court of appeal did not err. Defendant…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the trial court denying Defendant's claims that he was intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for the death penalty and that he was entitled to relief under Hurst v.…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's judgment of conviction of first-degree murder and sentence of death, holding that Defendant failed to demonstrate error on the part of the trial court. Specifically, the Supreme…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the trial court summarily dismissing Defendant's successive motion for postconviction relief, holding that the trial court did not err. Defendant pleaded guilty to two counts of…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's convictions for first-degree murder but reversed his sentence of death and remanded for the limited purpose of resentencing and a new sentencing order, holding that the trial court…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court quashed the decision of the Fourth District Court of Appeal in this juvenile sentencing case remanding for the trial judge to remedy a harmful Alleyne error through a "ministerial correction" of…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the sentence of death that was imposed at Defendant's resentencing for the first-degree murder of Seath Jackson, holding that Defendant's claims of error were unavailing. The Supreme Court…

Justia Opinion Summary: In this foreclosure case, the Supreme Court quashed the decision of the Third District Court of Appeal failing to follow precedent and concluding that the term "Borrower" means something different than both the mortgage…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that an initiative petition circulated pursuant to Fla. Const. art. XI, 3 was affirmatively misleading and that the proposed initiative should not be placed on the ballot. At issue was an…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the trial court denying Appellant's motion for a determination of intellectual disability as a bar to execution and his amended successive motion for postconviction relief, holding…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court accepted certification of a question about theUnderground Facility Damage Prevention and Safety Act, Fla. Stat. Chapter 556, and answered that the Act creates a standalone cause of action and that the…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court denied Petitioner's petition for review of the decision of the First District Court of appeal concluding that it was not error for a successor judge to deny Petitioner's Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.800(b)…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's conviction for first-degree murder and his sentence of death, holding that Defendant's claims on appeal failed. Specifically, the Supreme Court held (1) the trial court's failure…

Justia Opinion Summary: In this legal malpractice action by an insurer against a law firm retained to represent its insured in a separate prior litigation, the Supreme Court held that, where the insurer had a duty to defend, the insurer had…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court quashed the Second District Court of Appeal's decision holding, in pertinent part, that the trial court erred in failing to notify J.A.R. of his asserted right to a hearing to challenge the $100 public…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court quashed the decision of the First District Court of Appeals partially upholding a temporary injunction that prohibited enforcement of certain statutory provisions relating to the regulation of medical…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the circuit court summarily denying Appellant's third successive motion for postconviction relief, filed under Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.851, holding that the postconviction court…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that a defendant who does not comply with the Florida rule of appellate procedure requiring a criminal defendant to file a motion to withdraw the plea in the trial court before appealing an…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the circuit court granting Defendant's motion to dismiss postconviction counsel and proceedings, filed pursuant to Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.851, holding that the circuit court properly…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court approved the stipulation entered into by Judge Richard Howard of the Fifth Judicial Circuit and the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC) that Judge Howard should be publicly reprimanded…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the postconviction court summarily denying Appellant's second successive motion to vacate his judgment of conviction of first-degree murder and sentence of death, holding that the…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court approved a stipulation of the Judicial Qualifications Commission and Twentieth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Scott Cupp agreeing to the discipline of a public reprimand, holding that a public reprimand…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the sentence of death imposed on Defendant after a new penalty phase ordered by the Supreme Court, holding that there was no error in the proceedings below. Defendant was convicted of…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court denying Defendant's second and third amended motions to vacate judgment and sentence, holding that the circuit court did not err. Defendant was convicted of one…

Justia Opinion Summary: In this certified conflict case, the Supreme Court held that a final judgment that modifies a preexisting parenting plan does not need to give a parent "concrete steps" to restore lost time-sharing and return to the…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's convictions of first-degree murder, sexual battery of a person under twelve years old, and kidnapping, and the imposition of the death penalty, holding that there was no prejudicial…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court struck a proposed amendment that would add a new section to Fla. Const. art. X, 33, holding that the language in the ballot summary indicating that the proposed qualifiedly "[p]ermits" the use and…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's conviction of first-degree murder and his sentence of death, holding that Defendant failed to demonstrate any reversible error. Defendant pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court approved the decision of the First District Court of Appeal dismissing Defendant's appeal of the denial of his motion filed under Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.800(a), holding that Defendant could not show that…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court answered in the affirmative a question certified to it by the Fifth District Court of Appeals and quashed the Fifth District's decision in this case, holding that the lowest permissible sentence as…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the postconviction court denying Appellant's initial postconviction motion filed under Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.851, holding that Appellant was not entitled to relief on his…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the postconviction court denying Appellant's successive motion for postconviction relief filed under Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.851, holding that the postconviction court did not…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court struck in its entirety an amendment to the Hillsborough County Charter adopted in an initiative election that approved a transportation surtax and directives for allocating the tax proceeds, holding…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that the Federal Trade Commission's "single document rule," promulgated under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, 15 U.S.C. 2301-2312, does not require the disclosure of a binding arbitration…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the circuit court denying Appellant's second successive postconviction motion filed under Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.851, holding that Appellant did not demonstrate that he was entitled to…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the circuit court denying Appellant's second successive postconviction motion filed pursuant to Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.851, holding that the trial court properly denied postconviction…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court held that a defendant's potential designation as a prison releasee reoffender (PRR) under Fla. Stat. 775.082(9)(a)1. is not a sufficient collateral legal consequence to preclude dismissal of an appeal…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court answered in the negative a question certified by the Fifth District Court of Appeal, holding that in a first-party breach of insurance contract action brought by an insured against its insurer not…

Justia Opinion Summary: The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the trial court denying Appellant's successive post conviction motion file pursuant to Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.851, holding that Appellant's claims failed. In 1983, Appellant was…