A Florida Supreme Court order from May of last year imposed new civil case management rules. The changes were intended to expedite litigation and address a long-standing complaint about the courts: cases take too long and cost too much. But attorneys say the model may be creating unintended consequences for the very people it was meant to help.
With a backlog of hurricane insurance claims, FEMA-related foreclosure delays and a surge of new foreclosure filings across Florida, the public may be the ones caught in the squeeze.
“It’s a sledgehammer that’s whacking plaintiffs and defendants,” says foreclosure defense attorney Matthew Weidner. “There’s no question that this court order has put more pressure on lawyers and judges than anything I’ve seen in the last 25 years.”
He adds, “To be fair, there were many cases that lawyers delayed to the annoyance of people.”
Weidner says one consequence of the new system is that judges are pushing cases toward closure even when there may be reasonable cause for extension. As an example, he points to probate cases, which manage the estates of people who have died. If a deceased person’s stock accountant cannot be reached, Weidner says, “the judges don’t care; they push for the case to be closed anyway.”
Financial services attorney Ashley Elmore Drew corroborates Weidner’s point. “It is frustrating for anyone trying to resolve cases through loss mitigation efforts – such as a loan mod in a foreclosure case,” Drew states. “It takes time for people to get their applications together and time for the servicer to review.”
Drew, who represents large institutional clients, says the rules pose challenges for her sector too. “It is frustrating for attorneys who represent institutional clients because we don’t move that quickly,” she says. As deadlines tighten, clients have less time to gather required documents.
And the pressure is not limited to litigants. Judges feel it as well.
Because judges are now required to expedite cases, their role is shifting. Rather than primarily presiding and weighing the facts, they must now enforce strict timelines, creating a feedback loop that frustrates attorneys, clients and judges alike. Judges have reportedly expressed annoyance with the new rules from the bench.
The rising wave of home foreclosures will be a major test of the system. According to ATTOM, a national real estate data company, Florida is among the states with the highest foreclosure rates as of this year. The question is whether a growing wave of foreclosure cases can be handled fairly when courts are under pressure to move cases quickly.
You can add hurricane insurance claims to the mess. Drew points out that “in counties most affected by hurricanes, there will be an influx of insurance claims, many of which end up in litigation. This, coupled with the delays in foreclosure matters due to FEMA moratoria, has a significant impact on the number of civil cases in the queue and how quickly those cases can make their way through the system. This has a broader impact on the availability of judicial resources and how quickly litigants can get hearing times.”
Another wrinkle is that while judges are expected to enforce the rules, but according to the rules laid out, there is little formal mechanism to discipline noncompliance, not even through the authority of the Chief Judge. In practice, the only recourse to discipline non-compliant judges is for the public to vote them out during reelection. Yet it is the public whose cases are being pushed through, potentially against their own interests, creating a political bind.
Still, judges are accountable to performance metrics. Every judge must manage a docket through a digital dashboard monitored by State Court Administrators, pressuring judges to move the cases forward. But Weidner says he has had to make repeated requests for hearings, only to be scheduled six months out.
Weidner’s observation raises questions about how judges are managing their dashboards – and what the new rules will mean for the people who depend on the court system most: homeowners facing foreclosure, families navigating probate and borrowers trying to secure relief.
The ability to gather documents, meet deadlines and obtain timely hearings will ultimately determine whether the new rules deliver justice or create new obstacles. For now, the courts are racing ahead – and everyone involved is trying to keep up.