Summary Judgment and Florida Lawsuits – Where are the Affidavits

A recent case, the Schwartz case, was just handed down by the Fourth District Court of Appeal, that’s the Palm Beach Appeal’s Court. It upheld a reform Judge, David Franch’s opinion at the trial level about a dismissal based on summary judgment. Summary judgment is where you go to the judge and you say, “Hey, we don’t need a trial, there’s no material disputed facts and I’m entitled to judgment as a matter of law.”

That’s the one area where you’re allowed to, or one of the few areas where you’re allowed to file affidavits. In this Schwartz case, no affidavits were filed on the other side. In a motion for some rejudgment, one of the best practices is, and indeed the rules permit you, to file affidavits to provide countervailing evidence or countervailing testimony about the disputed facts.

So, if you’re involved in a summary judgment matter, you want to file affidavits. If somebody isn’t filing affidavits, you can read more about the Schwartz case, March 6th 2019; go to the Fourth DCA website, click on Opinions and scroll down by date.