Court Requests Word Documents

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The Second District Court of Appeal last week issued a — notice? request? gentle nudge? — asking that attorneys submitting briefs via the eFiling Portal submit Microsoft Word documents instead of .pdfs. According to the notice [.pdf here] while the court cannot mandate filing Word documents, “the court strongly encourages use of MS Word for submission of briefs” because “Installing hyperlinks to citations by court staff is greatly facilitated if the document in
question is filed in MS Word.”

And if the Court staff is happy, the judges are happy. And if the judges are happy, they are focusing on your substance instead of administrative matters. So take note, 2DCA appellants. Take note.

Bonus tip for WordPerfect users: You can most likely adhere to the Court’s request by filing your document in the more universal .rtf format. The portal accepts WordPerfect documents as well as Word documents, but the .rtf file format will more closely preserve your formatting when the Court opens your document in Word.

Florida Courts Receive Much-Needed Funds

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The Florida court system received some much-needed additional funding to fix pay disparities between its employees and the private sector, renovate or replace older court buildings for the Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth District Courts, and add judgeships to the busy Second and Fifth District Courts of Appeals in the state budget approved May 2nd. As more fully reported in The Florida Bar Journal, the $8.1 million allocation for pay will be used for retention and recruitment to equalize pay scales so that the court system doesn’t lose competent workers to higher-paying private sector jobs.

The Fourth District received $7.1 million to begin construction to build a new courthouse, to replace their mold-infested building, while the First, Second and Fifth Districts will each receive funds toward renovating their older buildings.

Most importantly, Second District will get two new seats, and the Fifth will get one additional judge.

Is Good Friday a Court Holiday? It Depends

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Today an attorney asked me to confirm whether his deadline was really today under the rules, or if the deadline rolled to Monday. And I told him what I am telling you: it depends! What court are you in? As I’ve explained before, Florida Rule of Judicial Administration Rule 2.514 clarifies what constitutes a legal holiday, and defines holidays as:

(A) the day set aside by section 110.117, Florida Statutes, for observing New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans’ Day, Thanksgiving Day, the Friday after Thanksgiving Day, or Christmas Day; and
(B) any day observed as a holiday by the clerk’s office or as designated by the chief judge.

Good Friday is not on the enumerated list. But it happens to be observed as a holiday by many, if not most, of the courts in this state, including the First DCA (First DCA [.pdf]), Second DCA, Third DCA, Fourth DCA, Fifth DCA, and Florida Supreme Court [.pdf]. So if you have an appellate deadline calculated for Good Friday, Happy Easter! It’s due Monday instead. And if your deadline is in the trial court, I recommend checking the clerk’s website and putting a copy of the order in your records in case timeliness becomes an issue down the road on appeal.