The world has been without a Regensdorf Rant for more than several months, and it seems the world has gone to hell in a handbasket during that time. [I’m not 100% “sure” I can prove a cause-and-effect relationship, but you can’t argue with the incredible coincidence].
During this Interregnum period, I have been keeping track of a large number of interesting/troublesome/significant developments that caught my eye, and will try and whittle that list down over the coming weeks and months by passing them on…in future Rants. But not in this Rant.
WHY NOT? Because a slew of truly important developments popped up as this horrid year ground to a close and they have spurred me to action, to give you at least a “head-up” on these matters, along with a brief memo on each. More detailed memos on the other accrued developments will follow.
It’s also time for me to “announce” a change in – or addition to — the circulation of these email Rants that hopefully will make them somewhat more useful to Bench and Bar alike. Starting in 2021 — soon, this month — I will publish a blog called RegensdorfRants.com where these memos and Rants, and selected previous ones, can be more easily accessed. I will still email the new ones, but if you want to go back to an earlier topic, you should be able to do so more easily soon.
FIRST DEVELOPMENT – SUMMARY JUDGMENTS: The Supreme Court on the last day of the year scrapped 50+ years of Florida case law and expressly adopted the federal/SCOTUS practice or standard for considering motions for summary judgment. OF NOTE: (1) The Court did not change the text of Rule 1.510, since that was not seen to be the problem; (2) the problem was years of judicial interpretations that were inconsistent with the text and meaning of the rule; and (3) because no one has had an explicit chance to comment on this change, it will not go into effect until May 1, 2021. Some of you may expect massive changes in practice and rulings; I am less than certain of that. See brief memo attached, and hyperlinks to the Wilsonart and In re: FRCP 1.510 decisions.
SECOND DEVELOPMENT – ATTORNEY’S FEES UNDER §57.105(7). The Supreme Court also released two major consumer law opinions regarding the ability of a party to recover prevailing party attorney’s fees under a contract which only expressly provides for attorney’s fees had the losing party prevailed. This is not the sanction-type of fee recovery under §57.105(1), but is the reciprocal ability to recover fees by a party – frequently a consumer – from the opponent if the contract [often written by the losing/institutional party] only allows fees for that usually institutional-type party. These two decisions – one in a foreclosure context and one in a consumer debt case – may have far-reaching implications for attorney’s fees and indicate that this new Court may well not be as staunchly “conservative” as some folks expected. A short memo of initial thoughts is attached. Query: just what does “conservative” mean these days in a judicial sense. See the hyperlinks to the Ham and Page decisions.
THIRD DEVELOPMENT – REQUIRED TYPE FACES AND FONTS ARE CHANGING: For years, most of us have used this font or typeface – Times New Roman — and usually 14pt, although sometimes 12 pt. Starting on January 1, 2021, ALL documents [not just Briefs] filed in a Florida state appellate court must be filed in either [note the differences — “Bookman Old Style 14 Pt”, or “Arial 14 Pt”]. This will – or should – change your document preparation practices immediately in all courts, whether you only sometimes practice in appellate courts or not at all. Again, please see a short memo on this topic attached.
Lots more happening. The Florida Bar’s Civil Procedure Rules Committee meets next week and it has on its agenda the consideration of major changes to how defaults are entered and how attorney’s fees can be obtained. Stand by.
And Happy New Year. It will be better than 2020.
Paul