IN RE: AMENDMENTS TO THE FLORIDA EVIDENCE CODE

Fla. | 2022-09-08
No. SC22-1040
Florida Supreme Court (2022)

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Synopsis

The Florida Supreme Court adopted amendments to the Florida Evidence Code establishing procedures for judicial notice of information from web mapping services, satellite imaging, and Internet mapping tools. The Court adopted section 90.2035 to the extent it is procedural, effective retroactively, and opened a comment period for interested persons.


Holding

The Court adopted section 90.2035 to the extent it is procedural, effective retroactively to the date the amendment became law, and established a 75-day comment period for interested persons.


Headnotes

[1] A party intending to offer information from web mapping services, global satellite imaging sites, or Internet mapping tools into evidence must file a notice of intent wit…

[2] In civil cases, there is a rebuttable presumption that information from widely accepted web mapping services, global satellite imaging sites, or Internet mapping tools sh…

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Key Quotes

“with very few exceptions, this Court has traditionally adopted, to the extent procedural, provisions of the Florida Evidence Code as enacted or amended by the Legislature”

Establishes the Court's standard practice for adopting evidence code amendments that are procedural in nature

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Facts & Procedural History

The Florida Legislature enacted chapter 2022-100, section 1, adding section 90.2035 to the Florida Evidence Code. This provision addresses the admissi…

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Opinion of the Court

PER CURIAM.

This matter is before the Court on consideration of a fast-track

report submitted by The Florida Bar’s Code and Rules of Evidence

Committee (Committee), recommending the adoption to the extent

procedural of a recent amendment to the Florida Evidence Code.

See Fla. R. Gen. Prac. & Jud. Admin. 2.140(e). We have

jurisdiction. See art. V, § 2(a), Fla. Const. Earlier this year, the Florida Legislature amended the Florida

Evidence Code to include section 90.2035, Florida Statutes

(Judicial notice of information taken from web mapping services,

global satellite imaging sites, or Internet mapping tools). See ch.

2022-100, § 1, Laws of Fla. Under new section 90.2035, whenever

a party intends to offer into evidence information obtained from web mapping services, global satellite imaging sites, or Internet mapping

tools, the party must file with the court a notice of intent that

includes copies of any image, map, location, distance, or calculation

the party intends to introduce. § 90.2035, Fla. Stat. (2022).

An opposing party may object to the court taking judicial

notice of the information and entering it into evidence, though in

civil cases there is a rebuttable presumption that such information

should be judicially noticed. Id. The rebuttable presumption may

be overcome if the court finds by the greater weight of the evidence

that the information does not fairly and accurately portray what it

is being offered to prove or that it otherwise should not be admitted

under the Florida Evidence Code. Id. If the court overrules the

objection (in either a civil or criminal case), it must take judicial

notice of the information and admit it into evidence. Id. In criminal

cases, the court must then instruct the jury that it may or may not

accept the noticed facts as conclusive. Id.

The Committee recommends adopting section 90.2035, as

enacted in chapter 2022-100, section 1, Laws of Florida, to the

-2-extent it is procedural. 1 The Florida Bar’s Board of Governors

unanimously approved the proposal.

Having considered the Committee’s proposal and the relevant

legislation, we hereby adopt section 90.2035, Florida Statutes, to

the extent it is procedural. Our adoption of the amendment is

effective retroactively to the date the amendment became law.

Because the amendment was not previously published for

comment, interested persons shall have seventy-five days from the

date of this opinion to file comments with the Court. 2

1. See DeLisle v. Crane Co., 258 So. 3d 1219, 1223-24 (Fla. 2018) (recognizing that, with very few exceptions, this Court has traditionally adopted, to the extent procedural, provisions of the Florida Evidence Code as enacted or amended by the Legislature).

2. All comments must be filed with the Court on or before November 22, 2022, with a certificate of service verifying that a copy has been served on the Committee Chair, Eric A. Hernandez, Post Office Box 531029, Miami, FL 33153, [email protected], and on the Bar Staff Liaison to the Committee, Heather Telfer, [email protected], as well as a separate request for oral argument if the person filing the comment wishes to participate in oral argument, which may be scheduled in this case. The Committee Chair has until December 13, 2022, to file a response to any comments filed with the Court. If filed by an attorney in good standing with The Florida Bar, the comment must be electronically filed via the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal (Portal) in accordance with In re Electronic Filing in the Supreme Court of Florida via the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal, Fla. Admin. Order No. AOSC13-7 (Feb. 18, 2013). If filed by a nonlawyer or a lawyer not licensed to -3-It is so ordered.

MUÑIZ, C.J., and CANADY, POLSTON, LABARGA, COURIEL, and GROSSHANS, JJ., concur. FRANCIS, J., did not participate.

THE FILING OF A MOTION FOR REHEARING SHALL NOT ALTER THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THESE AMENDMENTS.


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