Florida Appeals: Corkidi v. Franco: 3rd DCA says Trial Court has wide latitude to determine compliance with appellate court orders

One of the good things about Florida Probate is that if you feel you did not get a chance to make your case, the Probate Rules and the Rules of Civil Procedure do provide mechanisms for you:  motion for probate rehearing?  A Florida lawsuit case decided on March 25, 2015 highlights the wide latitude that the trial court has in listening to the appellate courts.

Does filing a probate appeal in West Palm Beach make sense?

• You have to weigh more than just the cost of an estate appeal.  You have to consider what the appellate court Palm Beach will do.
• So, before you get there, do you want to exhaust your procedures in the Delray Beach probate court?
• Estate motion for reconsideration?
• Florida Appeal?
• Sometimes, you can file a Palm Beach Probate appeal (as opposed to arbitration where appeals might be extremely limited.)
• BUT: don’t think the Florida appeals court will give you everything you want.
• Probate Litigation lawyers Palm Beach and Palm Beach appellate lawyers will tell you that an appeals court’s job is to get it right in Florida.
• This may mean giving you more than you bargained for–if that’s what the law says.
• You may think that just because an appellate court sides with you that the trial court has to do exactly what you asked from the appellate court.
• Well….it does, sort of….  But it is really not that simple.
• A case decided on March 25, 2015 highlights the wide latitude that the trial court has in listening to the appellate courts.
• The Defendant / Appellant (which is the party bringing the appeal) moved the court to enforce its opinion that it had issued in 2012 that held the defendant did not waive his constitutional right to a six person jury on the issue of damages in the underlying case. The court literally held he had not waived that right.
• The Appellant thought that meant he would get a new trial on the issues of damages.
• What did it actually mean? The court held an evidentiary hearing (which is different from a trial) on the issue of whether he had effectively waived the right to a six person jury. Ultimately the court found given the evidence that he had waived it (they could not do this previously because there was not a record of such).
• The Appellant was obviously quite upset which is why three years after the DCA first issued an opinion it had to re-issue the foregoing opinion.
• The Court ultimately held that the trial court had met its obligation of complying with the appellate court and told them that the appellate court’s orders do not have to be explicitly maintained and that mere implicit compliance was sufficient. 
• Thus a hearing that determined he had waived the right was sufficient for the appellate court.

Why is this important to Florida Probate?

• Appeals are expensive and knowing what you will get out of them is difficult as this case shows.
• Is an appeal going to be worth it?
• How much does it cost to get an appeal and what are the odds that the relief requested will be met? 

Want to read the entire opinion yourself? Click here.