JAMES R. SABOFF

v.

KATHLEEN R. SABOFF

Fla. 5th DCA | 2019-06-07

No. 18-3123

Rudisill, J., Evander, C.J., Orfinger, J., Wallis, J.

275 So. 3d 712 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (2019) Positive Treatment

Cited by 1 case

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Holding

A party has the right to appeal a trial court's order granting a new trial without waiting for final judgment, and an eighteen-month delay in ruling on a case after submission of closing arguments is unreasonable and justifies granting a new trial.

Headnotes

[1] A party may prosecute an appeal from a trial court's order granting a new trial to the appellate court without waiting for entry of final judgment.

Previewing 1 of 1 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Key Quotes

“the trial judge acknowledged on the record that there was no justification for his failure to rule on this case for over a year and a half after the parties' submittal of written closing arguments and proposed final judgments”
Court's factual finding regarding the delay that prompted the new trial order

Facts & Procedural History

In a family law case, the trial judge failed to rule for over eighteen months after the parties submitted written closing arguments and proposed final…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Topics

Dissolution Of Marriage

Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Dissolution Of Marriage cases and more on FLexlaw

Opinion of the Court

Remanded For A New Trial Before A Successor Judge. Evander

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA

FIFTH DISTRICT

NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO

FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND

DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED

JAMES R. SABOFF,

Appellant,

v. Case No. 5D18-3123

KATHLEEN R. SABOFF,

Appellee.

________________________________/

Opinion filed June 7, 2019

Appeal from the Circuit Court for Seminole County, Michael J. Rudisill, Judge.

Shannon L. Akins, of Law Offices of Shannon L. Akins, P.A., and David T. Roberts, of The Roberts Family Law Firm, P.A., Orlando, for Appellant.

Shannon McLin Carlyle, of Florida Appeals, Orlando, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

We affirm the trial court’s order granting a new trial.¹ See § 59.04, Fla. Stat. (2018) (“Upon the entry of an order granting a new trial, the party aggrieved may prosecute an

On remand, we direct the case be promptly assigned to a new judge. McGoldrick v. McGoldrick, 940 So. 2d 1275, 1277 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006) (remanding for new trial before successor judge after delayed ruling). We encourage the successor judge to retry this case as soon as the interests of justice permit.

AFFIRMED; REMANDED FOR A NEW TRIAL BEFORE A SUCCESSOR JUDGE.

EVANDER, C.J., ORFINGER and WALLIS, JJ., concur.

Footnotes

1 Subsequent to the appeal of the trial court’s order granting a new trial, we relinquished jurisdiction to the trial court to consider Appellant’s motion to bifurcate. The trial court then entered a partial final judgment dissolving the parties’ marriage. That order is not the subject of this appeal.

2 appeal to the proper appellate court without waiting for final judgment.” (emphasis added)); see also Marley v. Saunders, 249 So. 2d 30, 32 (Fla. 1971) (holding that party had right of appeal from trial court’s order for new trial on issue of liability only, notwithstanding that order was not final judgment). Here, the trial judge acknowledged on the record that there was no justification for his failure to rule on this case for over a year and a half after the parties’ submittal of written closing arguments and proposed final judgments. See Johnson v. Johnson, 43 Fla. L. Weekly D1315 (Fla. 2d DCA June 8, 2018) (holding thirty-three-month delay in ruling unreasonable and unacceptable); McKenzie v. McKenzie, 672 So. 2d 48 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996) (holding one-year delay in ruling unreasonable).

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus

Citator

Cited By

Moore v. Moore (Fla. 5th DCA 2020)

Authorities Cited

McKENZIE v. McKENZIE, 672 So. 2d 48 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996)
Marley v. Thadius James Saunders & Dade Cnty., 249 So. 2d 30 (Fla. 1971)
McGOLDRICK v. McGOLDRICK, 940 So. 2d 1275 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006)

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw

JAMES R. SABOFF v. KATHLEEN R. SABOFF