Justia Florida Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

This case arose when respondents commenced an action to foreclose a mortgage against petitioner. At issue was whether Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.350 required the court to dismiss a case after the court had accepted jurisdiction based on a question certified to be one of great public importance and after the petitioner had filed his initial brief on the merits. This issue arose after the parties filed a joint Stipulated Dismissal, which advised that they had settled this matter and stipulated to the dismissal of the review proceeding pending before the court. The court held that well-established precedent authorized it to exercise its discretion to deny the requested dismissal of a review proceeding, even where both parties to the action agreed to the dismissal in light of an agreed-upon settlement. The question certified to the court transcended the individual parties to this action because it had the potential to impact the mortgage foreclosure crisis throughout the state and was one which Florida's trial courts and litigants needed guidance. The legal issue also had implications beyond mortgage foreclosure actions. Because the court agreed with the Fourth District that this issue was one of great public importance and in need of resolution, the court denied the parties' request to dismiss. View "Pino v. The Bank of New York, etc., et al." on Justia Law

This case was before the court for review of the decision of the Fifth District Court of Appeal. In its decision, the Fifth District construed provisions of the state and federal constitutions and certified a question which the court rephrased: Did the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article X, Section 6(a) of the Florida Constitution recognize an exactions taking under the holding of Nollan v. California Coastal Commission and Dollan v. City of Tigard, where there was no compelled dedication of any interest in real property to public use and the alleged exaction was a non land-use monetary condition for permit approval which never occurred and no permit was ever issued? The court answered in the negative, quashed the decision of the Fifth District and remanded for further proceedings. The court emphasized that its decision was limited solely to answering the certified question and the court declined to address the other issues raised by the parties. View "St. Johns River Water Mgmt. Dist. v. Koontz, etc." on Justia Law

This case arose from certain hurricane damage claims made by respondent under a 2004 insurance policy issued by respondent's original insurer. When the original insurer became insolvent, the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association (FIGA) then became obligated to respond to certain claims made under that insurance policy. At issue was the proper test to be utilized by a court when determining whether a statute could be applied retroactively, in this case to a contract of insurance. The court held that the court's precedents both before and after the Fourth District's decision required the court to engage in a two-pronged inquiry to determine if the 2005 amendments to section 627.7016, Fla. Stat., were to be applied retroactively. Thus, the Fourth District misapplied this precedent when it omitted the first inquiry into whether the Legislature clearly expressed an intent that the statute be applied retroactively and moved directly to the second inquiry, whether retroactive application would be constitutional. For this reason, and because there was no clear evidence of legislative intent for retroactivity, the court quashed the decision of the Fourth District to the extent it was inconsistent with the opinion and remanded for further proceedings. View "Florida Ins. Guar. Assoc., Inc. v. Devon Neighborhood Assoc., Inc." on Justia Law