In Re Amendments to Florida Small Claims Rule 7.090

64 So. 3d 1196, 36 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 207, 2011 Fla. LEXIS 1051, 2011 WL 1796171

Opinions

PER CURIAM.

This matter is before the Court for consideration of proposed amendments to Florida Small Claims Rule 7.090 (Appearance; Defensive Pleadings; Trial Date). We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 2(a), Fla. Const.

The Florida Bar Small Claims Rules Committee (Committee) has proposed amendments to rule 7.090, subdivisions (a) (Appearance), and (b) (Notice to Appear; Pretrial Conference). The amendments proposed would require that the pretrial conference in a small claims action be conducted before a judge. The Committee’s proposals to amend rule 7.090 were first presented to the Court for consideration as a part of the Committee’s regular-cycle report, filed in January 2010.¹ At that time, the Court published each of the Committee’s proposed amendments for comment in The Florida Bar News. The Court received a number of comments from the public specifically addressing the proposal to amend rule 7.090. Ultimately, because the Court determined that this proposal warranted further study, we entered an order directing that the proposed amendments to rule 7.090 be severed from the regular-cycle report and addressed separately in the instant case. See In re Amendments to the Florida Small Claims Rules, No. SC10-144 (Fla. order to sever entered July 1, 2010).² We also requested supplemental materials from the Committee, the Commission on Trial Court Performance and Accountability, the Conference of County Court Judges, and any other party who filed comments specifically addressing rule 7.090. See In re Amendments to Florida Small Claims Rule 7.090, No. SC10-1227 (Fla. order requesting supplemental report entered July 1, 2010). As a result, the Court received several additional comments, some in favor of and some opposed to the Committee’s proposed amendments to rule 7.090. Upon consideration of these comments, we decline to adopt the amendments to rule 7.090 as proposed by the Committee. Instead, we adopt the language suggested in the comment from the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court, which allows management of the pretrial conference by nonjudicial personnel subject to direct supervision by the trial judge and mandates that a trial judge be available should his or her presence be necessary.

Accordingly, we amend the Florida Small Claims Rules as set forth in the appendix to this opinion. New language is indicated by underscoring; deletions are indicated by struck-through type. These amendments shall take effect on July 1, 2011, at 12:01 a.m.

It is so ordered.

CANADY, C.J., and LEWIS, POLSTON, LABARGA, and PERRY, JJ., concur. PARIENTE, J., concurs in result with an opinion, in which QUINCE, J., concurs.

Footnotes

1

. The Board of Governors of The Florida Bar unanimously approved the Committee’s regular-cycle report.

2

. The Court ultimately adopted the remaining amendments to the Small Claims Rules and Forms as proposed in the Committee's report. See In re Amendments to the Florida Small Claims Rules, 44 So.3d 573 (Fla.2010).