Tampa Estate Loses Wrongful Death Appeal on Jury Trial Demand: July 22, 2015 Florida probate appeals case

If you are involved in a Florida probate lawsuit or will contest, do you get a trial by jury? Well, let’s consider something slightly different.  We know that if you were cut out of a Palm Beach estate or Florida Trust by bad acts, you can sue for tortuous interference with an inheritance and demand a jury trial.  But….  What if the Florida estate is suing for damages against a third party?   If you want a jury trial and you are the Florida Personal Representative of a Palm Beach probate, you may want to read this Florida probate appeal case out of Tampa, Florida just released July 22, 2015.  This Hillsborough County appeal reminds Florida estate litigators and Florida probate lawyers that if a trial court strikes your demand for a jury trial, that order is NOT review able by a petition for a writ of certiorari to a Florida appeals court.  You can appeal at the end of the trial where the estate is suing for wrongful death. 

Can a Florida estate demand a jury trial if the estate sues someone?

• The Florida Probate Code gives the executor of the will a lot of power
• The personal representative of a Tampa probate has a lower of power including theright to sue third parties
• In fact, under Florida Probate Law, an executor of the will, also called a personal representative of a Tampa probate or estate, has an obligation to sue third parties if it is in the best interests of the estate

What if I am running the Florida estate but don’t want to sue someone?

• If you are the personal representative of the Tampa probate and don’t want to sue someone, you can resign
• If you don’t want to file a probate lawsuit, consider getting discharged before you resign
• Do you know how a Hillsborough County personal representative should get discharged by the probate court?
• Or, you can ask the probate court in Hillsborough County, Florida to appoint someone to handle just the estate litigation or the suing of the third party
• Sometimes this is called, in Florida probate litigation circles, an administrator ad litem, or special administrator or some other term

Hillsborough County Estate Lawsuit Goes to Appeal

• In this recent case of Walter v. Sunrise Senior Living Services, Inc. the Florida personal representative of the Hillsborough County estate wanted the 2nd DCA appeals court to rule on or review a trial court order
• Actually, when a Florida estate sues someone, the lawsuit must be brought in the name of the named personal representative of the Tampa estate
• Likewise, if you are suing an estate, you need to sue the Florida probate court-appointed personal representative
• What if you want to sue the estate of someone who died in Florida, but no estate is opened?  If no Florida probate is open, then you need to open the Florida probate andget someone appointed to run the Florida estate — a personal representative.
• In this Tampa estate lawsuit appeal, the trial court struck the personal representative’s request for a trial by jury in a negligence lawsuit
• This was actually a Florida wrongful death lawsuit brought by the Tampa estate , theHillsborough County personal representative
• The trial court denied the Tampa estate’s request for a jury trial
• When a Florida court issues an order striking a demand for a jury trial, or denying the request for a jury trial, that order is NOT reviewable by a Florida petition for writ of certiorari
• The Tampa personal representative, after trial, if unhappy with the result of the trial, can then file an appeal

Here is a free copy of the July 22, 2015 Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal opinion about the estate suing the facility: http://www.2dca.org/opinions/Opinion_Pages/Opinion_Pages_2015/July/July%2022,%202015/2D15-2467.pdf