Perlmutter v. Federal Insurance Co., Case No. SC2024-0058 (Fla. 2026).
A plaintiff seeking leave to amend to add a punitive damages claim under Florida Statutes section 768.72(1) need only make a reasonable evidentiary showing that could support a finding of intentional misconduct or gross negligence and is not required at the pleading stage to demonstrate that a jury could find liability for punitive damages by clear and convincing evidence.
In re: Amendments to Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure, Case No. SC2025-0241 (Fla. 2026).
Amendments to the Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure to be effective Sept. 1, 2026, will require initial briefs to include a jurisdictional statement and per-issue preservation and standard-of-review statements, clarify the amount of supersedeas bonds for money judgments, update citation formats, and refine notice-of-appeal forms for nonfinal orders.
Emilione v. Miltner, Case No. 2D2025-2105 (Fla. 2d DCA 2026).
An order discharging a lis pendens as to a nonparty property owner constitutes a final order as to that nonparty, so any motion for attorney’s fees by that nonparty must comply with the 30-day deadline in Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.525.
Sasha Investments, LLC v. Staghorn Development, LLC, Case No. 3D25-2231 (Fla. 3d DCA 2026).
Given the breadth of post-judgment discovery authorized by Florida law, a judgment creditor’s post-judgment discovery directed to a debtor’s former law firm regarding asset-related information cannot be curtailed based on a blanket assertion of attorney-client privilege without document-specific analysis and appropriate judicial mechanisms, such as in camera review.
Healthy Food Experts, LLC v. AmGUARD Insurance Co., Case No. 4D2025-0181 (Fla. 4th DCA 2026).
A fully paid breach-of-contract judgment that fixes the amount of contractual damages in a first-party property insurance dispute does not bar a subsequent statutory bad faith action seeking extra-contractual consequential damages, even when the verdict is within policy limits.
Brillium, Inc. v. Oles-Dugre, Case No. 5D2024-1892 (Fla. 5th DCA 2026).
A replevin action asserting that specific personal property belongs to a corporation rather than to the decedent is not a “claim or demand against the decedent’s estate” subject to the notice-of-claim requirements of Florida Statutes section 733.702.
