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Date: 11-07-2024
Case Style:
William J. Mitchell v. David W. Race
Case Number: 4D22-1979
Judge: Not Available
Court: Circuit Court, Broward County, Florida
Plaintiff's Attorney:
Defendant's Attorney: James S Toscanoa and Rebecca E. Rhoden
Description:
Fort Lauderdale, Florida personal injury lawyers represented the Plaintiff who sued the Defendant claiming violation of the Florida Security of Communications Act, "which prohibits, among other things, unlawfully recording phone calls without the consent of all parties and provides civil remedies for violations of its proscriptions. See §§ 934.02(1), .02(3), .03(1), .10(1), Fla. Stat. (2019).
Defendant, not a resident of Florida, claimed that he did not have sufficient contact with Florida for the court to have jurisdiction.
Article V provides that this Court "may" exercise its jurisdiction over cases from the district courts that certify conflict with another district. There is no question that the Fourth District certified conflict, and we are therefore squarely within our constitutional authority to consider and decide this case. Even so, whether we should exercise our discretion to decide this case is a separate question.
There are no fixed constitutional standards guiding this Court's discretionary jurisdiction. In the past though, we have declined to exercise constitutionally authorized jurisdiction in conflict cases when upon closer review of the case, this Court has not been presented with a clear conflict to resolve. See, e.g., BoUettieri Resort Villas Condo. Ass'n v. Bank of N.Y. Mellon, 228 So.3d 72, 73 (Fla. 2017) (dismissing a case because "the certified conflict has been resolved"); Summit Claims Mgmt., Inc. v. Lawyers Express Trucking, Inc., 944 So.2d 339, 340 (Fla. 2006) (dismissing a case because "upon further review, we determine that no actual conflict exists between the lower courts' opinions in regard to the certified question"); State v. Fuller, 887 So.2d 1236, 1237 (Fla. 2004) (dismissing a case because a subsequent holding eliminated the existence of an actual conflict); Skinner v. State, 470 So.2d 702, 702 (Fla. 1985) (same).
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Mitchell v. Race, SC2023-0432 (Fla. Nov 07, 2024)
Outcome: Appeal dismissed.
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: