The Fourth District Court of Appeal’s administrative order allowing stipulated enlargements of time goes into effect today. Rather than filing an unopposed motion for enlargement of time to serve a brief, parties can now file a notice notifying the court that the parties agree.
Probably the most common motion filed in the Florida intermediate appellate courts are motions for enlargements of time to serve briefs. Such motions are routinely granted, but take up an enormous amount of judicial resources that could better be used deciding something substantive. The Fourth District Court of Appeal has solved this problem by issuing an administrative order [.pdf] allowing parties to stipulate to an enlargement. Effective February 1, 2012, the parties need only follow the language of the order to file an agreed stipulation to receive an enlargement of up to 120 days for an initial or answer brief, or 60 days for a reply brief.
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The First DCA this weekend will make its big move to its new (if controversial) digs. As a result, the Court will be closed tomorrow, December 17th. Admin Order. 10-6 [.pdf]. After what will no doubt be a crazy weekend for essential staff, the Court will reopen for business on Monday morning at its new location: 2000 Drayton Drive
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0950. [.pdf notice]. Be sure to update your mailings accordingly. And hey, if you have a brief due on December 17 in the First DCA, you arguably just got yourself an extra day to serve it. Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.420 (f)(15) states that in calculating due dates, “any other day when the clerk’s office is closed” is considered a holiday.