Abuse Of Discretion (Standard Of Review)

12,338 Florida cases classified under this topic, plus 1,659 listed through its narrower topics · sorted by citation count · see the citation graph · browse and sort

• Landa v. Aon Corp. Excess Benefit Plan
  S.D. Fla.· 2024-09-30
  The court held that the Administrative Committee's denial of Plaintiff's excess benefit plan benefits was not arbitrary and capricious, as there was a reasonable basis in the administrative record to support the finding that Plaintiff violated the plan's forfeiture provisions.
• Kanter v. Healy
  M.D. Fla.· 2024-09-27
  The district court affirmed the bankruptcy court's approval of a settlement, finding no abuse of discretion in applying the Justice Oaks factors.
• Johnson v. State
  Fla.· 2024-09-19
  Tyrone T. Johnson was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for killing 10-year-old Ricky Willis. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed his conviction and death sentence on direct appeal, rejecting seven challenges including claims regarding interrogation evidence,
• Sciallo v. State
  Fla. 3d DCA· 2024-09-18
  Peter Sciallo appeals his petit theft conviction following a jury trial, contending the trial court reversibly erred by denying a for-cause challenge to a juror who gave equivocal responses about his ability to remain impartial given his family members' prior victimization by rob
• Thomas v. State
  Fla. 1st DCA· 2024-09-18
  Ronald Thomas appeals his conviction for fleeing a police officer, resisting an officer, and driving without a valid license, challenging the trial court's denial of his request to testify after jury selection. The appellate court affirmed the conviction and sentence while remand
• Zayon v. Bianca Valme
  Fla. 3d DCA· 2024-09-18
  A trial court's grant of a permanent stalking injunction is reviewed for abuse of discretion, and the trial court's decision is presumed correct with the burden on the appellant to demonstrate error.
• Torolopez v. State
  Fla. 3d DCA· 2024-09-16
  A trial court must properly apply the Younghans factors and Rule 3.691 when deciding whether to grant a supersedeas bond, and cannot rely on conclusory findings, mischaracterizations of conduct, or the nature of the offense alone without grounding its decision in specific facts a
• Naval Logistic, Inc. v. M/V Family Time
  S.D. Fla.· 2024-09-16
  The District Court of South Florida denied defendants' motion for reconsideration of the court's order granting plaintiff's motion for summary judgment in a maritime lien case. The defendants sought reconsideration based on an alleged genuine dispute of material fact regarding wh
• Ryder Truck Rental, Inc. v. Teesha Adams
  Fla. 3d DCA· 2024-09-11
  The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion to dismiss for forum non conveniens where the defendants failed to submit affidavits supporting their position, the corporate defendants were located in Florida, and substantial business-related discovery would ta
• First Born Again Baptist of N. Miami, Inc. v. First Baptist Church of Greater Miami
  Fla. 3d DCA· 2024-09-11
  First Born Again Baptist appeals from a trial court order granting First Baptist Church of Greater Miami a temporary injunction to restore access to a church property. The court rejected First Born's res judicata defense based on a prior dismissed action and found the injunction
• Ted'Qwon McGowan v. State
  Fla. 1st DCA· 2024-09-11
  The trial court did not abuse its discretion in giving an Allen charge to a deadlocked jury after seven hours of deliberation or in admitting the contested evidence at trial.
• Gonzalez v. Universal Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co.
  Fla. 3d DCA· 2024-09-04
  Issues not presented in the trial court cannot be raised for the first time on appeal, and a party must contemporaneously move for mistrial to preserve claims of trial court error.
• Fgap Inv. Corp. v. Al Body
  Fla. 4th DCA· 2024-09-04
  An award of attorneys' fees under sections 559.917(1)(b) and 713.585(7)(e) of the Florida Statutes is discretionary, not mandatory, and the trial court's denial of such fees cannot be reviewed for abuse of discretion without a transcript explaining the court's reasoning.
• Radko v. Shahar Levi
  Fla. 4th DCA· 2024-09-04
  A trial court abuses its discretion by modifying custody through motion rather than supplemental petition, and by failing to find a substantial change in circumstances as required by statute. The father's failure to allege such a change and the trial court's failure to make corre
• Radko v. Shahar Levi
  Fla. 4th DCA· 2024-09-04
  The Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed a trial court's order placing a minor child in the father's temporary sole custody, holding that the father failed to follow proper procedural requirements by not filing a supplemental petition for modification of custody and by not al
• Arenas v. United States Citizenship & Immigr. Servs.
  S.D. Fla.· 2024-09-03
  The court held that the agency's denial of the plaintiff's visa application was not arbitrary, capricious, or otherwise contrary to law.
• Louis v. Nathalie L. Pierre Louis
  Fla. 4th DCA· 2024-08-28
  A trial court does not abuse its discretion in entering judgment against a party who fails to move to set aside a default, file a financial affidavit, or respond to discovery.
• Sanchez v. Sanchez
  Fla. 3d DCA· 2024-08-28
  A trial court's contempt order is reversed in part where the former wife confesses error regarding provisions requiring the former husband's current wife to execute documents and imposing related attorney's fees, but affirmed as to all other issues.
• Citizens Prop. Ins. Corp. v. Prol
  Fla. 3d DCA· 2024-08-28
  A party seeking to vacate a default judgment must provide sworn evidence of exceptional circumstances to demonstrate due diligence, and absent such competent substantial evidence, the party fails to show due diligence as a matter of law.
• JDi Data Corp. v. United States Trustee
  S.D. Fla.· 2024-08-27
  The appeal is dismissed as moot because the conversion of the bankruptcy case from Chapter 11 to Chapter 7 eliminated the possibility of granting effectual relief sought by the appellant.
• Armstrong v. State of Fla. & Grady Judd
  Fla. 6th DCA· 2024-08-26
  Section 907.041(5)(d) does not violate article I, section 14 of the Florida Constitution because the heightened proof standard of "proof of guilt is evident or the presumption is great" applies only to capital and life felony cases, not first-degree felonies, and the "substantial
• Struggs v. State
  Fla. 1st DCA· 2024-08-21 ·via Abuse Of Discretion Standard For Evidentiary Rulings
  A police officer's testimony that he is familiar with a resident of a neighborhood he patrols does not, by itself, imply the resident committed a prior bad act, and an officer's immediate identification statement captured on dashcam video is properly admitted as a statement of id
• McBride v. State
  Fla. 1st DCA· 2024-08-21
  A trial court does not err in denying a motion for new trial when it properly applies the 'seventh juror' standard and finds that the weight of the evidence supports the jury's guilty verdict, even where the victim's testimony contains inconsistencies and is contradicted by defen
• Brosnan v. State Farm Fla. Ins. Co. & Lucille V. Brosnan
  Fla. 5th DCA· 2024-08-20
  A party bearing the burden of proof may be subject to an adverse inference from the failure to call a witness with whom the party has a special relationship, such as a sibling, even if the witness's deposition testimony was accessible to both sides. The missing witness rule permi
• Fernandez v. State
  Fla. 2d DCA· 2024-08-16
  The trial court abused its discretion by admitting a defendant's prior criminal record under section 90.806(1) to impeach non-hearsay statements made by a witness, where the statements were offered to show the defendant's conduct in attempting to diffuse a situation rather than f
• Gamaly Argentina Hollis v. State
  Fla. 3d DCA· 2024-08-14 ·via Abuse Of Discretion Standard For Evidentiary Rulings
  Communications directed at a specific person under section 784.048(1) can include social media postings not sent directly to an individual if they sufficiently describe the person to make identification possible and are reasonably likely to come to the targeted person's attention
• Molina v. Moises Molina
  Fla. 4th DCA· 2024-08-07
  A trial court errs in finding misconduct and including dissipated marital funds in equitable distribution where one party presents unrebutted testimony on the proper use of those funds and the other party offers no rebutting evidence. The trial court must make explicit findings o
• Rodriguez v. Cent. Fla. Equip. Rentals, Inc.
  Fla. 3d DCA· 2024-08-07
  Trial courts have broad discretion to control witness disclosure problems, and a trial court's decision regarding late witness disclosure is reviewed for abuse of discretion.
• Boca View Condo. Ass'n, Inc. v. Lepselter
  Fla. 4th DCA· 2024-07-31 ·via Abuse Of Discretion Standard For Fee Awards
  A party's challenge to prevailing party status must be raised on appeal from the order denying the motion for rehearing that addressed the fee entitlement claim, or it is waived; therefore, the trial court lacked jurisdiction to consider a successive motion on that issue. Paraleg
• Izard v. Phiippe Bois
  Fla. 4th DCA· 2024-07-31 ·via Abuse Of Discretion Standard For Fee Awards
  An order awarding attorney's fees under section 57.105 must include specific factual findings by the trial court supported by substantial competent evidence; a conclusory award without such findings is insufficient and must be reversed.
• Tormax USA, LLC v. Kennedy Contractors, Inc.
  Fla. 4th DCA· 2024-07-24
  A trial court does not abuse its discretion in denying a motion to set aside a default for excusable neglect, but summary judgment on damages is improper when factual issues exist regarding the contract damages.
• Griffin v. Griffin
  Fla. 1st DCA· 2024-07-24
  The former husband appeals a trial court's post-judgment order refusing to revalue the marital home to account for post-judgment appreciation in property value. The court affirms, holding that equitable distribution judgments are final and cannot be reopened merely because proper
• Sami v. The Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am.
  S.D. Fla.· 2024-07-22
  The court held that the insurer failed to provide a full and fair review by not providing new evidence to the claimant sufficiently in advance of the final decision, thus violating ERISA regulations.
• Schwartz v. Rodriguez
  Fla. 3d DCA· 2024-07-17
  The trial court's finding that no contract was formed is affirmed because the appellant failed to provide a trial transcript to challenge the factual findings, which are presumed correct.
• Galdamez v. State
  Fla. 3d DCA· 2024-07-17
  A prosecutor may comment during closing arguments on the absence of evidence on a particular issue without abusing discretion or committing fundamental error.
• Lisandra Soto Gutierrez v. State
  Fla. 4th DCA· 2024-07-17 ·via Abuse Of Discretion Standard For Evidentiary Rulings
  Evidence of a debtor's fraudulent transfer of her own property to avoid creditors' liens during bankruptcy proceedings is inadmissible in a theft prosecution because such conduct is not relevant to prove the elements of theft and constitutes improper collateral crime evidence und
• Ashraf Abdulkarim-Ali Alkotof v. U.S. Attorney General
  11th Cir.· 2024-07-12
  The court held that it lacks jurisdiction to review the denial of a motion to remand for cancellation of removal, as it is a discretionary form of relief, and affirmed the BIA's denial of administrative closure or continuance.
• Martinez v. Martinez
  Fla. 5th DCA· 2024-07-12
  The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying relocation and awarding equal timesharing, but erred in calculating support obligations based on inaccurate income information and in failing to properly account for premarital retirement funds and post-separation expenses i
• Johnson v. State
  Fla.· 2024-07-11
  Tyrone T. Johnson was convicted of first-degree murder for killing 10-year-old Ricky Willis and sentenced to death. On direct appeal to the Florida Supreme Court, Johnson raised seven issues challenging his conviction and sentence, but none succeeded. The court affirmed his convi
• Guzman v. Lazzari
  394 So. 3d 106· Fla. 4th DCA· 2024-07-03
  This medical malpractice appeal addresses whether a defendant physician must provide an expert witness in a specialty field to pursue a Fabre defense (apportioning fault to a non-party). The court held that under the limited circumstances where negligence allegations are identica
• Stucky v. BMW of N. Am., LLC
  389 So. 3d 555· Fla. 4th DCA· 2024-07-03
  A motion to vacate under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.540(b) does not toll the time for filing a notice of appeal, and an untimely motion for rehearing under rule 1.530 cannot extend the appeal deadline. The appellate court therefore lacked jurisdiction to review the merits
• Arcamone v. State
  Fla. 3d DCA· 2024-07-03 ·via Abuse Of Discretion Standard For Evidentiary Rulings
  A trial court's admission of a victim's excited utterance captured in body-camera video does not constitute an abuse of discretion, but a probation supervision fee exceeding the statutory maximum without oral pronouncement of deviation is reversible error.
• Guzman v. Lazzari
  394 So. 3d 106· Fla. 4th DCA· 2024-07-03 ·via Abuse Of Discretion Standard For Evidentiary Rulings
  A defendant physician need not provide expert testimony in a non-party's specialty to pursue a Fabre defense allocating fault when the negligence allegations against both physicians are identical. The trial court abused its discretion in excluding the non-party physician's testim
• MedEnvios Healthcare, Inc. v. United States Dep't of Health & Human Servs.
  S.D. Fla.· 2024-07-01
  The court denied the defendant's motion for reconsideration because it failed to demonstrate a valid basis for reconsideration under Rule 59(e) or Rule 60(b), and did not present new facts or law to disturb the prior ruling.
• In re Zantac (ranitidine Litig. C.A. NO. N22c-09-101 ZAN
  Del. Super. Ct.· 2024-07-01
  The court refused to certify an interlocutory appeal because the trial court's order denying exclusion of expert testimony under D.R.E. 702 and Daubert did not present a substantial issue of material importance meriting appellate review before final judgment. Such rulings are rou
• Williams v. State
  Fla. 3d DCA· 2024-06-26
  Keith Williams appealed a trial court's denial of his Rule 3.850 motion seeking to withdraw his guilty plea to attempted murder and firearm charges based on allegedly newly discovered evidence. Williams challenged only the trial court's denial of his oral motion to continue an ev
• King Tyson, Inc. v. Perez
  Fla. 3d DCA· 2024-06-26
  King Tyson, Inc. and related defendants appeal a final judgment entered against them following a jury verdict in favor of the estate of Jonathan Soto. The Third District Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment against most defendants but reversed as to deceased defendant Isaiah Kin
• 92 On The Bay, LLC v. The River Front Master Ass'n, Inc.
  Fla. 3d DCA· 2024-06-26
  92 On The Bay, LLC, the winning bidder at a tax deed auction, appeals a temporary injunction granted to The River Front Master Association, Inc., preventing the sale of property deemed a common area of a planned community. The court affirmed the injunction, finding no abuse of di
• Rory Wilson v. State
  Fla. 3d DCA· 2024-06-26
  Rory Wilson appealed his conviction, challenging the trial court's handling of his request to dismiss his court-appointed counsel. The appellate court affirmed the conviction, finding that the trial court conducted an adequate inquiry into Wilson's dissatisfaction with counsel an
• Sloan v. Fisher
  Fla. 5th DCA· 2024-06-21
  Improper closing argument comments that are objected to and cured by jury instructions do not constitute fundamental error warranting a new trial unless they are harmful, incurable, and so damaging to trial fairness that the public's interest in justice requires a new trial.