How Do I Get My Case or Issue to the Florida Supreme Court?

Have you lost your Palm Beach probate appeal in the   Fourth District Court of Appeals? Are you wondering what the next step is, can you get to the Florida Supreme Court? In order to get there you will likely need to have some question of law certified by the lower court, but do you know how to do that? Experienced Palm Beach probate litigators know this is a long shot but it can be worth it sometimes. Take a look at this recent case out of the Fifth District Court of Appeals where the court certified just such a question the Supreme Court of Florida.

Supreme Court of Florida

• The Supreme Court of Florida is the highest Court in Florida and has jurisdiction over several things.
• The court has to hear every capital case where the death penalty is given for instance.
• The most common way for a probate litigant to get into the Supreme Court is to have a question of law certified by the lower appellate court.
• Do you know how to do that?
• Can the Supreme Court decline to answer a question despite it being certified by the lower appellate court?
• Do you have an issue of probate law that is so unclear that the question can be certified truly by the Court as one of “great public importance?”

Florida Insurance Guaranty Association v. Simmons & Simmons

• The Appellate Court (Fifth District) recently reviewed a case and reversed it with little else to say.
• It did something else though, besides issuing an order the Court certified a question of great public importance to the Supreme Court of Florid.
• Specifically the Court asked “Does the 2011 amendment to the definition of “covered claim” in section 631.54(3), Florida Statutes (2011), apply to a sinkhole claim, where the claim was filed with the insurer prior to the date of amendment, but after the insurer became insolvent, triggering FIGA’s obligation to pay the claim.”
• Do you know what a Palm Beach Appeals Court considers prior to certifying a question?
• Is your Palm Beach litigator prepared to flesh out the issues and show the conflicting law the court?

Want to see how it was done?

Check out the entire case by clicking here.