Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Two New Opinions


 
APPELLANTS BEWARE

Starling v. Allstate Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co., --- So. 3d --- (Fla. 1st DCA September 11, 2012)

For years I have been telling my students that an order granting a motion for summary judgment is not a final, appealable order.  This case holds, however, that an “Order Granting Motion for Summary Judgment,” is a final order, and that an appellant who relied on a subsequent Final Summary Judgment to file the Notice of Appeal was too late.  The appeal was dismissed as untimely.  The Order here determined that the motion should be granted and contained the following language:  “Summary Judgment is herewith entered in favor of the defendant.”  By having such self-executing, unequivocal language of finality rendered the order sufficient to constitute a final order.
http://opinions.1dca.org/written/opinions2012/09-11-2012/12-3302.pdf

DUTY OF CANDOR

McDaniel Ranch P’ship v. McDaniel Reserve Realty Holdings, LLC, --- So. 3d --- (Fla. 2d DCA September 7, 2012) reminded appellate counsel of the duty of candor to the court when he made arguments not supported by the record and persisted at oral argument even after the discrepancy was brought to his attention.
http://www.2dca.org/opinions/Opinion_Pages/Opinion_Page_2012/September/September%2007,%202012/2D10-2414.pdf

2 comments:

  1. Very interesting post Juan. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. You are definitely right when saying that an order for granting a motion for summary of a judgement is not an appealable order. Someone should speak with someone who works in
    Court reporting in West Palm Beach FL.

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