Supreme Court of Florida

The Court disapproved the referee’s recommendation that Studstill be found not guilty and held that the record established he knowingly violated the tribunal’s sequestration order and knowingly made a false statement to the trial judge.

The Florida Supreme Court adopted the Probate Rules Committee’s proposed amendments to several probate and guardianship rules and forms. The amendments update rule references and form formatting and service language to conform to recent changes in the Florida Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration; they…

The court adopted amendments to Florida Probate Rules 5.122 and 5.905 in response to 2026 legislation. The amendments clarify when a curator’s bond and notice are required and add Tatton-Brown-Rahman syndrome to the developmental disabilities listed in the guardian-advocate petition form.

The court held that the State violated Brady by withholding FDLE analysts’ assessment that secondary transfer was highly unlikely to explain the victim’s DNA evidence. The assessment could have impeached prosecution witnesses and supported the defense’s exploration of another person’s contact with the victim…

The court affirmed the summary denial of Reaves’s successive postconviction motion, concluding that his clemency challenge failed on the merits and his method-of-execution claim was untimely, procedurally barred, and meritless.

The court affirmed the summary denial of Thompson’s successive postconviction motion, concluding that a clemency proceeding need not be tied to the particular death sentence being carried out and that his method-of-execution claim failed because he did not timely challenge the alternative-method determination.

The court affirmed the denial of Derrick’s three successive postconviction motions because the alleged confessions by a deceased third party were inadmissible and therefore did not qualify as newly discovered evidence likely to produce a less severe sentence on retrial.

The court amended the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar to create standards and procedures for board certification in Insurance Coverage Law. It adopted the Bar’s proposal with three modifications: deleting LL.M.

The Florida Supreme Court adopted the proposed amendments to Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure 9.370 and 9.900. The amendments clarify that an amicus brief’s identity-and-interest statement counts toward its word limit and add certificates of service to the forms, including one documenting service on the Attorney…

The Court adopted the proposed amendments to Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.280. Under the amended initial-disclosure provision, a party must provide a computation for each claimed category of damages other than noneconomic damages, and make the supporting materials available for inspection and copying under rule…

The court adopted amendments to Florida Probate Rules 5.025 and 5.080 clarifying that probate and guardianship proceedings are exempt from the initial discovery disclosure requirements specified in Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.280. The amendments take effect January 1, 2027.

The court consolidated two rulemaking proceedings and adopted proposed amendments to several Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, with modifications. It required objections to nonparty subpoenas to state specific grounds and reasons, but declined to require that all such objections be filed with the court and declined a…

The court adopted proposed amendments to Rule 1.410 and five civil-procedure forms, but declined to adopt the proposed amendments to Rule 1.442 because they appeared to concern substantive law. It relied on the distinction between procedural rules and substantive entitlements to costs and attorney fees.

The court amended Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.280(k) as proposed by the Civil Procedure Rules Committee, including a new subdivision requiring the court to strike an unsigned disclosure or discovery filing unless it is promptly signed after the omission is called to the responsible person’s attention.

The Court adopted the proposed amendment to Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.400(b)(4), replacing language tied to rendition of an order of dismissal with language tied to issuance of a disposition. The amendment takes effect January 1, 2027, at 12:01 a.m.

The Court adopted amendments to Florida Probate Rules 5.171 and 5.205, including deleting Rule 5.171 because it repeats a statutory provision and revising Rule 5.205 to require timely evidence of death under that statute.

The court affirmed the denial of Foster’s amended successive motion for postconviction relief. It held that competent, substantial evidence supported the postconviction court’s finding that Henderson was not coerced into giving false testimony, defeating Foster’s Brady and Giglio claims, and that the exclusion of a…

The Court accepted the Judicial Qualifications Commission’s findings and joint recommendation arising from Judge Smith’s intemperate, discourteous, and biased statements during a discovery-related hearing.

The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the circuit court’s denial of Smiley’s post‑conviction relief motion and his habeas petition, holding that none of his numerous ineffective‑assistance claims—relating to evidentiary strategy, mitigation investigation, expert reliance, newly discovered evidence, and cumulative…

The Supreme Court of Florida affirmed the lower court's dismissal of the petitioner’s habeas corpus petition as moot and imposed sanctions barring the petitioner from filing further pleadings related to the dependency case without counsel, finding the filings frivolous and an abuse of judicial resources.

The court granted the petition for belated appeal and established a new appeal to review the circuit court's February 4, 2026, order. The controlling order did not resolve the merits of the defendant's intellectual-disability claim or definitively decide the appealability of the challenged order.

The Supreme Court of Florida amended the Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure to designate all family law forms as "Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms" and unified the process for creating, amending, and abrogating those forms, affirming its authority to do so.

The Supreme Court of Florida affirmed the petition to amend Florida Rules of Civil Procedure 1.080 and 1.090 as proposed, while declining to amend Rule 1.490, and ordered the amendments effective October 1, 2026.

The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's summary denials of Daniel O. Conahan, Jr.'s third and fourth successive post‑conviction relief motions, his motion for post‑conviction DNA testing, his request for a stay of execution, and his habeas corpus petition.

The Florida Supreme Court adopts amendments to Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure 9.020 (Definitions) and 9.100 (Original Proceedings) as proposed by the Appellate Court Rules Committee, after publication for comment drew no comments.

The court affirmed the summary denial of Silvia's successive postconviction motion and denied a stay and oral argument. It held that his valid 2012 waiver permanently barred collateral attacks based on later legal developments, while alternatively concluding that his execution-timing and etomidate claims lacked merit.

The Supreme Court of Florida denied Kevin Emas's petition for a writ of mandamus as moot because Governor Ron DeSantis had already made the appointment to the Third District Court of Appeal on July 10, 2026. The per curiam order contains no analysis of the merits.

The court affirmed the summary denial of the defendant's second post-warrant DNA-testing motion and sixth successive postconviction motion. It held that the DNA motion was procedurally barred and independently meritless because the requested items lacked identifiable or testable genetic material, and that consuming…

The court affirmed the summary denial of Occhicone’s second successive postconviction motion and denied a stay of execution. It held that his post-warrant public-records request was not tied to a colorable existing claim, his equal-protection and Eighth Amendment claims were speculative, untimely, or meritless, and…

The court affirmed the denial of Brown's successive postconviction motion and public-records request. It held that Frazier's evidence was untimely, Doyle's recantation was not credible, and, even assuming the evidence were credible and admissible, it would not probably produce a lesser sentence because of the evidence…

The Supreme Court of Florida affirmed Patrick R. McDowell’s first‑degree murder conviction and death sentence. The Court rejected McDowell’s five constitutional challenges, finding the amended sentencing scheme, non‑unanimous jury recommendation, victim‑impact evidence, and the death‑penalty scheme constitutional, and…

The court affirmed the denial of Foster’s amended successive postconviction motion. It held that competent, substantial evidence supported the postconviction court’s finding that Henderson was not coerced into giving false testimony, defeating Foster’s Brady and Giglio claims.

The court adopted the Probate Rules Committee’s proposed amendments to three Florida Probate Rules in response to recent legislation. The changes classify certain personal-representative-authority enforcement proceedings as adversarial and increase the property-value limits for disposition without administration and…

The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's sentencing of juvenile homicide offender Corey B. Johnson to life without parole for murder and concurrent life terms for attempted murder, holding that the structure does not violate the Eighth Amendment because Graham’s meaningful‑opportunity requirement applies…

The Florida Supreme Court held that the Florida Bar’s rule prohibiting lawyers from making false statements about a candidate’s qualifications (Rule 4‑8.2(a)) violates the First Amendment when applied to political speech in a state‑attorney campaign.

The court held that section 61.075 authorizes a trial court to award prejudgment interest as an equitable remedy in distributing marital property. Such an award is discretionary rather than automatic and depends on facts showing that it would achieve equity between the parties.

The court rejected a specialized or heightened abuse-of-discretion standard for reviewing dismissals based on fraud on the court. It held that factual findings receive competent, substantial evidence review, legal conclusions receive de novo review, and the choice of sanction receives ordinary abuse-of-discretion…

The court held that an employee assaulted by a third party while acting within the course and scope of employment may recover workers’ compensation benefits if the claimant establishes a work-related connection between the injury and the employment.

The court affirmed validation of the recreation district’s 2024 bond issue, holding that the district had statutory authority to proceed, that the proposed special assessments were supported by logically related special benefits, and that the appellant received due process.

The court affirmed the summary denial of Duckett’s fifth successive postconviction motion and denied his habeas petition. It held that later completion and disclosure of the DNA testing, together with the inconclusive results, satisfied due process and did not establish newly discovered evidence probably sufficient to…