Teresa Gaffney v. Phillip A. Baumann, etc.

• Court: Supreme Court of Florida
• Decided: September 11, 2025
• Docket: SC2024-1862
• Status: Published

Opinion

Supreme Court of Florida ____________

No. SC2024-1862 ____________

TERESA GAFFNEY, Petitioner,

vs.

PHILLIP A. BAUMANN, etc., et al., Respondents.

September 11, 2025

PER CURIAM.

This case is before the Court on the petition of Teresa Gaffney

to invoke this Court’s discretionary jurisdiction based on express

and direct conflict. In our order dated May 14, 2025, we denied the

petition for review, retained jurisdiction to pursue any possible

sanctions, granted a motion for attorney’s fees filed by Respondent

Michael R. Kangas, Successive Administrator Ad Litem of the Estate

of John J. Gaffney, in the amount of $2,500.00, and directed

Petitioner to show cause why she should not be barred from any

future pro se filings in this Court related to Hillsborough County Circuit Court cases 292014CA003762A001HC and

292020CA002115A001HC.

This case represents our fifth denial of a request for review by

Petitioner related to this matter. See Case Nos. SC2019-0893,

SC2019-0899, SC2021-1212, SC2024-1474, and SC2024-1862.

Petitioner’s late husband represented her in the first three cases;

she has represented herself in the last two cases.

We issued the order to show cause because Petitioner has

abused the judicial process by filing frivolous filings in this Court

related to this matter that are either meritless or not appropriate for

this Court’s review. Petitioner has filed a response to the order to

show cause.

After considering Petitioner’s response, we conclude that it

fails to show cause why she should not be sanctioned. Accordingly,

the Clerk of this Court is hereby instructed to reject any future

pleadings, petitions, motions, documents, or other filings submitted

by Teresa Gaffney pertaining to Hillsborough County Circuit Court

cases 292014CA003762A001HC and 292020CA002115A001HC,

unless such filings are signed by a member in good standing of The

Florida Bar. Counsel may file on Gaffney’s behalf if counsel

-2- determines that the proceeding may have merit and can be brought

in good faith. 1

No motion for rehearing or clarification will be entertained by

this Court. See Fla. R. App. P. 9.330(d)(2).

All pending motions are hereby denied as moot.

It is so ordered.

MUÑIZ, C.J., and CANADY, LABARGA, COURIEL, GROSSHANS, FRANCIS, and SASSO, JJ., concur.

Application for Review of the Decision of the District Court of Appeal Direct Conflict of Decisions

Second District - Case No. 2D2024-0352

(Hillsborough County)

Teresa M. Gaffney, pro se, Tampa, Florida,

for Petitioner

Michael R. Kangas of BaumannKangas Estate Law, Tampa, Florida,

for Respondent

1. In recent years, we have imposed comparable sanctions on other litigants whose pro se filing practices have exhibited their disregard for abusing the scarce judicial resources of this Court. See, e.g., Rivas v. Bank of N.Y. Mellon, 239 So. 3d 614 (Fla. 2018); Fla. Bar v. Petrano, 153 So. 3d 894 (Fla. 2014); Steele v. State, 14 So. 3d 221 (Fla. 2009); Pettway v. McNeil, 987 So. 2d 20 (Fla. 2008); Sibley v. Fla. Jud. Qualifications Comm’n, 973 So. 2d 425 (Fla. 2006).

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