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What is a Writ of Certiorari in Florida State Courts?

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The term writ of certiorari is used in many different contexts, depending on the courts involved. The Latin word certiorari (often abbreviated as “Cert.”) means “to be made certain,” and in Old English courts such writs actually began with the Latin words “Certiorari volumus…” (“We wish to be made certain…”). In Florida state courts, the writ of certiorari most often refers to a proceeding in which a party asks an intermediate appellate court, here known as a District Court of Appeal, to review a decision of a trial court. But importantly, it can’t be just any trial court decision, because otherwise litigants would file a writ every time they disagreed with the trial court. For the District Court of Appeal to have jurisdiction to hear a Writ of Certiorari, the order must be otherwise unappealable, and the party seeking certiorari relief must demonstrate that harm caused by the order is irreparable and cannot be remedied on plenary appeal, and that the ruling was “a departure from the essential requirements of law.” Let’s drill down on what each of these requirements mean.

Not an Otherwise Appealable Nonfinal Order

There are some kinds of nonfinal orders that Florida has decided are automatically appealable — essentially, Florida has made a policy decision that certain kinds of cases do not need to make the showing that is normally required by certioari, because there is clearly a lack of remedy by the time the case is over. Before you consider filing a writ of certiorari, be sure to check out the list of directly appealable nonfinal orders found in Rule 9.140. But if the order you want reviewed is not on the list of appealable non final orders, you should determine if a writ of certiorari is available to you.

Harm Not Remedied by Plenary Appeal

Assuming the ruling is not covered by Rule 9.140, the threshold issue the appellate court will consider is whether the harm caused by the order is of a character that it needs to be resolved now, rather than at the end of the case. The term “plenary appeal” refers to an appeal of a final order, which comes at the end of the case. Most rulings, no matter how wrong, can be fixed at the end of the case, or more importantly, don’t need to be fixed — usually because it did not affect the ultimate outcome of the case. This prong of the test is also sometimes referred to as “irreparable harm.” And not all types of harm are considered irreparable. For example, a ruling costing a party a lot of money is not sufficient to cause irreparable harm. W. Florida Reg’l Med. Ctr., Inc. v. See, 18 So. 3d 676, 682 (Fla. 1st DCA 2009), approved, 79 So. 3d 1 (Fla. 2012). Even disclosure of information in which the party has a “valid privacy interest in avoiding unnecessary disclosure of matters of a personal nature” does not generally meet this standard. Id.

What does constitute irreparable harm? The most common example is described as “’cat out of the bag’ material that could be used to injure another person or party outside the context of the litigation, and material protected by privilege, trade secrets, work product, or involving a confidential informant may cause such injury if disclosed.” Allstate Ins. Co. v. Langston, 655 So. 2d 91, 94 (Fla. 1995). A litigant must carefully consider, by reviewing existing cases, whether the harm of the order would be considered irreparable by the appellate court.

Departure From the Essential Requirements of Law

Once you prove the harm is irreparable, you still cannot get relief on a writ of certiorari unless you also demonstrate to the court that the trial court’s ruling is a “departure from the essential requirements of law.’ This phrase means, for example, that the law is very clear, and the violation of that clearly established principle of law results in a miscarriage of justice. It has to be more than just the appellate judges simply disagreed with the circuit court’s determination and interpretation of the applicable law. See Custer Med. Ctr. v. United Auto. Ins. Co., 62 So. 3d 1086, 1094 (Fla. 2010).

Successful Writs of Certioari Are and Should Be Rare

The Florida Supreme Court does not want litigants to run to the appellate courts for every little disagreement with the trial judge. That is why it says that “common law certiorari is an extraordinary remedy and should not be used to circumvent the interlocutory appeal rule which authorizes appeal from only a few types of non-final orders.” Citizens Prop. Ins. Corp. v. San Perdido Ass’n, Inc., 104 So. 3d 344, 349 (Fla. 2012) (citation omitted).

There Are Other Writ of Certiorari Standards In Florida

This post talks about the most common type of writ of certiorari, but there may be other times the term writ of certiorari is used in Florida Courts to apply to different situations. Those other situations also have different standards of review. If you have a question about whether you should file a writ of certiorari, or if the other side of your litigation has filed a writ of certiorari and you need help, feel free to contact us at 813-778-5161 or fill out our intake form here to initiate scheduling a consultation.

Jean Luc Picard Says Make it So to Effectuate the Mandate

Appeals 101: What is the Mandate?

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Jean Luc Picard Says Make it So and gives the mandate After an appellate Court decides a case, it is still not quite over:  the appeal is only formally concluded once the mandate has issued.  Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.340 requires that the clerk issue the mandate as a ministerial act “after expiration of 15 days from the date of an order or decision.”  The mandate is not issued until after the order is final, and the court won’t enter a mandate while a timely motion for rehearing is pending. Fla. R. App. P. 9.340(b). But what is a mandate, and what should parties do when the mandate has issued?

The Mandate Defined

Florida’s Second District succinctly defined the mandate as “the official mode of communicating the judgment of the appellate court to the lower court, directing the action to be taken or the disposition to be made of the cause by the trial court.”
Tierney v. Tierney, 290 So. 2d 136, 137 (Fla. 2d DCA 1974).  It’s a simple one-page order that tells the trial court, in Star Trek speak, to “Make it so.”  It makes clear that the appellate court has completed its work on the case and now it is up to the trial court to put the appellate court’s ruling into action. And that is all the trial court may do, as the Second District more recently explained: “upon the issuance of our mandate, the trial court is without authority to take any action other than to compose an order carrying out the terms of the mandate. Florida Digestive Health Specialists, LLP v. Colina, 202 So. 3d 94, 96 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016).

What Action Needs to be Taken? It Depends.

Whether the parties need to take an action once the mandate issues depends upon what the appellate court has ruled.  If the appellate court has merely affirmed everything the trial court did — especially if it is a PCA –then there generally is not much more to do to effectuate the appellate court’s ruling on the merits. The judgment is truly final.

But if the Court orders “REVERSED AND REMANDED” then there is usually something the trial court needs to do to effectuate the mandate. It might be just the simple entry of a new judgment reflecting the ruling. It might be a new trial. The parties can’t expect the trial court to just act, though — the parties should seek an appropriate motion or other trial court action to effectuate the mandate. In rare instances, a party may even need to file a motion to enforce the mandate in the appellate court. See, e.g., Whited v. Florida Com’n on Offender Review, 153 So. 3d 324, 329 (Fla. 1st DCA 2014) (granting appellate motion to enforce the mandate and striking trial court’s order that did not effectuate the mandate); Florida Digestive Health Specialists, LLP v. Colina, 202 So. 3d 94, 96 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016) (same).

What Happens Post Judgement Even if Judgment is Affirmed?

The finality of the mandate also give the parties the green light to finalize any fee issues and collect on the judgment. If the appellate court ordered an express or conditional award of attorney’s fees, it will also often order the trial court to determine the amount, and sometimes entitlement, to such fees. If there was a stay pending review, then the parties may need to take steps to end that stay. And the party who attained judgment has the all-clear to enforce that judgment without facing the possibility of having to return the money collected if the judgment is reversed. These collection actions may include proceedings in the trial court to locate assets for payment of a money judgment. In a foreclosure case, if the Bank achieved a foreclosure and that was upheld by the appellate court, the Bank will now take steps to obtain full possession of the property, which may include scheduling a sale if one has not already occurred, or obtaining or enforcing a writ of possession.

Can I keep the judgment from being final by recalling the mandate?

Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.340(a) allows that “The court may direct the clerk to recall the mandate, but not more than 120 days after its issuance.” Many people read this and think they may be able to stop the mandate from issuing and the decision becoming final. But the application of this rule is very narrow, and generally it is only invoked when the Florida Supreme Court or United States Supreme Court has accepted review of a case after a mandate has issued. A party may ask that the mandate be withdrawn pending Supreme Court review. The court can also, in its discretion, recall the mandate if the issue in a case is being considered by a higher court in another case. Mitchell v. State, 160 So. 3d 902, 904 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009).

About Appeals 101

This post is part of our continuing Appeals 101 series. Click the link to find all of our posts on the basics of litigating an appeal.

Appeals 101: Why Rendition Matters

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Rendition is a critical concept in Florida appeals, but not everyone understands its importance. The Fourth District this week in Guy v. Plaza Home Mortgage, Inc., No. 4D17-3335 (April 25, 2018) [.pdf] chided the Broward County Clerk’s foreclosure department for backdating final judgments when entering them on the Court docket. The decision offers a good reminder of the importance of rendition in appellate practice, and the reasons it matters.

Rendered Before Entered?

The case came to the court in an unusual procedural posture — a pro se appellant moved the court to correct the record because while the summary judgment hearing was held at 1:30 pm, the judgement’s electronic stamp “indicates that it was filed with the Broward County Clerk…at 8:35 a.m., nearly five hours hours earlier.”

The Broward Clerk explained that when the clerk’s office received the order from chambers, often a day or more after it was signed, its practice was to scan the item — which added a time and date stamp — then change the date but not the time to the date the order was signed by the Court. The result in this case is an order that appears to be rendered prior to being signed. And the result in general is that the real time docket on the date of signature does not show the order, and may not for several days. Then the order will all of a sudden “appear” that the item was added to the docket on the date the order was signed, whether or not the clerk’s office processed it on that day.

Why Rendition Matters

Let’s start with the definition of rendition: “An order is rendered when a signed, written order is filed with the clerk of the lower tribunal.” Fla. R. App. P. 9.020(i). Rendition can sometimes be tolled, such as when “there has been filed in the lower tribunal an authorized and timely motion for new trial, for rehearing” and a few other specific types of motions. When such a motion has been filed, the order is not considered rendered “until the filing of a signed, written order disposing of the last of such motions.” Id.

The problem, as the Fourth District explained, is that “[t]he time for appeal runs from the date of rendition, not the date the judgment is signed.” See Fla. R. App. P. 9.110(b). “By backdating the electronic filing stamp, the clerk changes the rendition date, possibly to the prejudice of an appellant.”

The Court pointed out that in this case, “appellant’s appellate rights were not affected,” and so the Court denied the motion to correct the record. The Court concluded “We nevertheless disapprove of the this practice as it is inconsistent with the appellate rules.”

How Backdating Rendition Affects Appellate Rights

Kudos to the Fourth District for calling out this potentially prejudicial practice. The time for appeal starts running from the date of rendition, and a backdated docket entry can unexpectedly shorten the time for appeal. We’ve seen a clerk wait 25 days to enter a final order on the docket, and then send the backdated rendered order by mail, leaving the attorney with no time to even discuss appeal with the client. The clerk’s docket is supposed even the playing field and allow all to know when an order is rendered and therefore appealable. Backdating leaves a party without notice and potentially deprives the party of the right to appeal.

The Takeaway on Rendition

When you’re not sure if an order has been rendered, it’s never a bad move to calendar your deadlines based on the date of signature, and regularly check the docket until you are sure of a rendition date. While a premature appeal can be subject to dismissal, if the order is rendered before the appellate court catches that an appeal was prematurely filed, “the premature notice of appeal shall be considered effective to vest jurisdiction in the court to review the final order.” See Fla. R. App. P. 9.110(l).

About Appeals 101

This post is part of our continuing Appeals 101 series. Click the link to find all of our posts on the basics of litigating an appeal.