NILDA CASABONA, APPELLANT,
v.
SCI FUNERAL SERVICES OF FLORIDA, INC., ET AL., APPELLEES

Fla. 3d DCA | 2001-11-14
No. 3D00-1307
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and FLETCHER and SORONDO, JJ.
802 So. 2d 1151 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (2001) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases


Opinion of the Court
SCHWARTZ, Chief Judge.

SCHWARTZ, Chief Judge.

While we have serious doubts about the trial judge’s apparently unwavering “policy” to bifurcate the issues of liability and damages in every case, see Glosson v. Solomon, 490 So. 2d 94 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986)(error to refuse to exercise judicial discretion); Fazio v. Russell Bldg. Movers, Inc., 469 So. 2d 844 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985)(same); see generally Maris Distributing Co. v. Anheuser-Busch, Inc., 710 So. 2d 1022 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998)(bifurcation exception rather than rule), and cases cited; Bowen v. Manuel, 144 So. 2d 341 (Fla. 2d DCA 1962)(same); Claughton v. Claughton, 393 So. 2d 1061 (Fla.1980)(same, dissolution), the judgment for the defendant under review is nevertheless affirmed because the error, if any, in this regard had no practical effect other than the exclusion of evidence relating only to the appellant’s co-plaintiffs. That ruling, in turn, was both unobjected to below, see Diaz v. Rodriguez, 384 So. 2d 906 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980), and entirely harmless. See Salzverg v. Salzverg, 696 So. 2d 1278 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997); Dessanti v. Contreras, 695 So. 2d 845 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997), review denied, 703 So. 2d 475 (Fla.1997); 3 Fla. Jur.2d Appellate Review §§ 299,383 (1997).

Affirmed.


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  • Briois v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. & Lett Garcia, 807 So. 2d 720 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002)
    …l injury action all stem from the fact that, in accordance with the trial judge’s apparently unwavering personal policy to do so in every case, the issues of Lability and damages were bifurcated for trial. As in Casabona v. SCI Funeral Servs., Inc., 802 So. 2d 1151 (Fla. 3d DCA 2001), however, the application of this rule, as highly dubious as it certainly is, did not result in any cognizable harm to the plaintiff-appellant.1 Since this is true, [*721] and even though the effect may well be that a bifurcation…

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