Second DCA Case: Litigant Banned From Pro-Se Appeals

Florida Courts are funded through tax dollars and like most public   services money can get tight. Did you know that if you abuse these resources you could lose your right to file civil appeals without the help of a licensed attorney? That is exactly what happened to an appellant who filed over fifty cases in the Second District Court of Appeal!

Palm Beach Pro Se Litigants

• In America we have a constitutional right to access to courts.
• That would be a pretty hollow right if you needed to pay an attorney to get access so courts allow pro se litigants to act on their own behalf.
• Did you know that as a pro-se litigant in West Palm Beach you would be held to thesame legal standard as a licensed attorney!
• You also have a right to bring pro-se appeals again assuming you can follow the rules.
• Do you know where to find the rules you need to follow?
• Have you checked out the Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure?
• Now since all of the rules are available online pro-se litigants will have little excuse forfailure to comply.
• What happens when you repeatedly fail to comply?
• Probably nothing, but take a look at what happened to one pro-se litigant who filed fifty appeals without following a single direction of the Court.

Cafaro v. Estate of Wyllins

• This was appeal number 50 and only one had not been dismissed thus far although he had re-filed some.
• When the Court issued this dismissal it also took the time to take consolidate all the other appeals on the books and to dismiss them all.
• Also they issued a decree that forbade the plaintiff from bringing civil appeals without a licensed attorney.
• Do you think that is a fair remedy for his overly litigious attitude?
• Palm Beach probate litigators know that abuse of the appellate process hurts everyone because the court only has limited resources.
• In this case the clerk was constantly trying to make sense of the hundreds of documents filed by the plaintiff to no avail.
• There was never even a notice of appeal filed!
• Do you think there was a more appropriate sanction?

Want to learn more?

Check out the entire case by clicking here.