JAMES SANDERS, PETITIONER,

v.

STATE OF FLORIDA, RESPONDENT

Citator

Cited By

• In the Interest of L.B. v. Dep't of Child. & Fam. Servs. & Guardian Ad Litem Program, 932 So. 2d 1148 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006)
  …he mother argues, and the Department of Children and Family Services and the Guardian Ad Litem concede, that the final judgment must be reversed as to the mother. First, the final judgment was improperly entered by a successor judge. See Fry v. Fry, 887 So. 2d 438, 440 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004) (holding that in the absence of a stipulation by the parties, a successor judge may not enter a judgment when factual matters were tried before a predecessor judge); S.C. v. Dep’t of Children & Family Servs. (In re N.C.), 834…
• Tamiko Kirt v. Sharper, 940 So. 2d 1239 (Fla. 5th DCA 2006)
  …795 So. 2d 1131 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001), this court held that, while a successor judge may complete acts left uncompleted by a predecessor judge, he or she may not weigh and compare testimony heard before the predecessor judge. Similarly, in Fry v. Fry, 887 So. 2d 438 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004), the court reversed the entry of a judgment by a successor judge who was not at the evidentiary hearing. See also Bradford v. Foundation & Marine Const. Co., 182 So. 2d 447 (Fla. 2d DCA 1966)(adopting a rule that a successor judge…
• Nevada Bedwell v. Bedwell (Fla. 2d DCA 2021)
  …d the following rule: "[W]here oral testimony is produced at trial and the cause is left undetermined, the successor judge cannot render verdict or judgment without a trial de novo, unless upon the record by stipulation of the parties." Fry v. Fry, 887 So. 2d 438, 440 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004) (quoting Bradford, 182 So. 2d at 449). This is so because the successor judge had no opportunity to hear and observe the witnesses in the act of testifying. Id. We have continued to follow this rule. See, e.g., K.B. v. De…