Shari Africk-Olefson

DIVISION 25 DOES NOT CONDUCT “HYBRID” HEARINGS OR TRIALS (WHERE ONE OR MORE PERSON(S) APPEARS IN-PERSON AND ONE OR MORE PERSON(S) APPEARS VIA ZOOM).

WEDNESDAYS ARE OUR PREFERRED DATE TO SCHEDULE IN-PERSON HEARINGS. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SET AN IN-PERSON HEARING, PLEASE LET US KNOW.

Amendment to Rule 1.440 (Setting Action for Trial)
New Rules eliminate the “at issue” requirement and instead provide that “the failure of the pleadings to be closed will not preclude the court from setting a case for trial.” If your case does not yet have a firm trial period, the Plaintiff is required to immediately notify the Court as soon as the pleadings are closed and the case is at issue to request one. The Court is not notified when a Notice of Readiness for Trial is merely filed. Please note that, if the parties do not follow this requirement and promptly obtain or request a firm Trial Period, upon discovery the Court may Sua Sponte determine the Trial Period and number of days; it behooves parties who wish to choose the month and number of days they want Trial to promptly obtain a firm Trial Period. If any Order contains an error, please simply notify the Division and we will correct it. After three (3) days, your Order will be deemed to have been reviewed by you and correct.
Self-Generated UTO
When selecting a Trial Period, Counsels must comply with the Florida Supreme Court mandate that non-jury cases be heard within twelve (12) months and jury cases within eighteen (18) months. Once a Trial Period has been agreed to between the parties, parties who wish to do so may obtain a firm Trial Period via the Online Scheduling System at www.17th.flcourts.org; No unilateral setting of Trial is permitted. Unresolvable disputes regarding Trial Periods must be immediately set for UMC.
Hearings

Timeslots for hearings open on the first business day of each month for the month approximately sixty (60) days out. Timeslots for hearings also become re-available several days before the hearings as issues and cases resolve; often several timeslots daily. If you cannot find a timeslot for UMC, simply e-mail us, we can almost always fit you in promptly. We maintain a request for Special Set hearing back-up list in order to fill cancellation slots. It is mandatory that all parties consult with one another regarding their availability, amount of time needed and whether an evidentiary hearing is desired before setting any hearing. It is not appropriate for opposing parties to wait until a hearing begins to object to it. However if, three (3) reasonable good faith attempts to do so are unsuccessful, a party may unilaterally set a hearing. Once the hearing has been set, the Notice of Hearing must (1) indicate that it is a unilaterally set hearing (2) include as an attachment to the Certificate of Compliance, the dates and times of efforts made (3) and a copy must be sent to the other side(s).

The movant is responsible to notice the hearing and the Plaintiff the Trial. Cross-noticing additional matters is not permitted; the Court is not notified and thus cannot prepare for your hearing. Courtesy copies of all Notices must be filed at least three (3) working days in advance for a SS and before 9:00am EST the prior working day for a UMC. Please be sure to clearly reflect in the Notice whether the hearing will be held in-person or via Zoom; to avoid confusion, please remove all Zoom information and references if the hearing will be in-person; please remove the Courthouse address and Courtroom number and provide the “Join Zoom Meeting” link, the meeting ID, and telephone numbers if the hearing will be held via Zoom, including the “how to find your local phone number” link if any individual cannot appear through Zoom video, and insure that an agreed Motion and proposed Order for Telephonic Appearance is timely and properly filed and granted (See section titled Telephonic Appearance).
Good Faith Conferral
All parties on all cases are required to meet and confer within thirty (30) days of service of the last named Defendant. Local Rule 10A and Division procedure also require that all parties meaningfully confer to resolve the issue(s) before filing any Motion. The term "confer” requires a substantive conversation, in person or by telephone, in a good faith effort to resolve the Motion without the need to schedule a hearing, and does not envision an exchange of ultimatums, missed or unreturned calls, e-mails or letters. Counsel who merely attempt to confer have not conferred. Prior to setting a hearing, “the Parties shall have direct communication regarding the issues raised in the pending Motion, and all parties shall be prepared to confirm for the Court at the hearing that they have made a good faith effort to resolve the issues, as required to be included in the Notice of Hearing,” to wit; “…every party scheduling a Motion…shall execute the following Certification in the body of the Notice of Hearing: I hereby certify that A) the movant has conferred or attempted to confer with all parties or self-represented parties who may be affected by the relief sought in the Motion in a good faith effort to resolve the issues raised in the Motion; and B) the issues in the Motion may be heard and resolved by the Court within five (5) minutes.[3]
Counsel must respond promptly to inquiries and communications from any opposing Counsel who is attempting to confer or set a hearing or Trial. All Counsels appearing in Division 25 are expected to respond to such requests within one (1) business day and actually confer within three (3) business days. The Court will inquire whether the parties have complied. Those that have not will be instructed to do so and moved to the end of the docket, reset, the Motion may be denied or otherwise sanctions applied.
If all or part of your Motion can be resolved via agreed or ex parte Order, or the issues narrowed, please notify the Court before 9:00am the business day prior to your hearing in order to allow time slots for other cases and to save the Court time preparing for an unnecessary hearing.

Scarce availability of hearing slots is a challenge for all of us. Significant causes include Counsel setting a hearing without first properly attempting to resolve the matter, and last minute cancellations. In one 2022 study, over forty percent (40%) of hearings revealed to be cancelled. As a courtesy to other Counsel and litigants, before setting a hearing, the Motion must properly be filed, the parties must have meaningfully conferred to resolve it as required by Local Rule 10(A), and cancellations must comply with the procedures reflected herein. As a courtesy to the Court and others, parties who intend to cancel a hearing are requested to do so as soon as possible but in no event later than 9:00am EST the business day before the hearing. You must email the Division if you cancel a hearing; we do not receive Notices of Cancellation that you may file. Failure to appear without properly noticing cancellation may result in your Motion being deemed abandoned. Repeat violations may be sanctioned.
Courtesy Copies and Exhibits
For all Trials and for SS hearings involving lengthy documentation, the Court requires an organized binder, with indexed courtesy copies not later than 9:00am EST the prior business day for a hearing and three (3) business days prior to a Trial. Courtesy copies are to be hand delivered with a cover letter. All opposing Counsel and unrepresented parties must be copied.
Exhibits for evidentiary hearings or Trials that are agreed to by both sides should be marked as “Agreed.” Exhibits that are opposed should clearly be marked as such. Exhibit labels may be obtained at the 4th floor, Clerk’s Civil Division for all evidentiary hearings or Trials. All Exhibits that the parties plan to utilize shall be uploaded in the Supporting Documents section of the online filing system and available in CMS for the Court by 9:00am EST the business day before your hearing or Trial, or by such other date as may be established by the UTO, PTO or other Order of the Court. Exhibits should be labeled for identification purposes utilizing the title of the party, in alphabetical Order, and a brief description of the Exhibit; for example “Plaintiff’s Exhibit A – Photo of Car.” If you want exhibits to be entered into evidence, the In-Court Clerk will need to have her own set of physical hard copies in advance. Please contact the Evidence Room at least three (3) business days in advance of the date needed in order to retrieve Exhibits from evidence. First, contact: Evidence Manager at 954-831-5505. If unavailable, then contact the main number for the Evidence Room at 954-831-5539. Counsel(s) and pro se litigants shall make every effort possible to file a Joint Index with Exhibits. See Administrative Order, 2020-42-GEN.
Case Management Conference (CMC)
Monday through Thursday @ 8:45am to 9:30am EST held via Zoom.
If your pleadings are closed, please email the Division the month and number of days the parties want Trial by 9:00am EST the business day before your CMC and, in most instances, we can cancel your CMC. If you do not believe your CMC is needed, simply email us before 9:00am the business day before your CMC and the Judge will make a determination. CMC’s may not be canceled or reset without advance Court approval. Appearance is mandatory. On failure to appear for a CMC, the Court may dismiss the action, strike the pleadings, limit proof or witness, or take any other appropriate action. Counsels and pro se litigants are expected to inform the Court at CMC about any and all barriers to timely Trial, pleadings closing or reclosing, and anticipated timeframes including pending Motions. Each pre-judgment case must either have a CMC set or closed pleadings; It is the Plaintiff’s responsibility to insure the pleadings in its case are closed (

Monday through Thursday 8:45 to 9:30 A.M. EST held via Zoom.
UMC is reserved for uncontested, non-evidentiary matters, not exceeding five (5) minutes. The Zoom screen-share feature and witness testimony are not available during UMC. Each side is allocated approximately one-half of the five (5) minute duration; approximately two and a half minutes (2.5). Up to two (2) Motions, each addressing one (1) issue each, may be set. Back to back, add-on, double-booking, and cross-notice UMC hearings are not permitted without the Court’s explicit consent, which must be requested before 9:00am EST on the business day before your UMC. All documents you want the Court to review for your UMC must be in the Court’s hands, meaning appearing in CMS, by 9:00am EST on the business day before your UMC; remember, it can take time for documents to appear. If all or part of your Motion can be resolved via agreed or ex parte Order, or the issues narrowed, please notify the Court before 9:00am the business day prior to your hearing in order to allow time slots for other cases and to save the Court time preparing for an unnecessary hearing. UMC may be properly and timely canceled by notifying the Division before 9:00am on the business day before. Non-compliance may be sanctioned, including striking of a untimely filings and/or opposing counsel attorney fees. Filing a Notice of Cancellation does not notify the Court; the Court is not notified if you simply “Notice” a change and thus cannot prepare for (or know to not prepare for) your UMC hearing. Cases are called in the Order they appear on the docket. If any party is not promptly ready, the case may be heard at the end of the docket if time allows or will need to be reset. Movants are required to upload proposed Orders by end of business the day following the UMC (late proposed Orders may need to be accompanied by the hearing transcript), and reflect the Motion title, and filing date, Response titles and filing dates, and hearing date, in the proposed Order. Timeframes and deadlines begin at the UMC when the ruling is announced. Only proposed Orders that have been agreed to by the parties can be uploaded to the portal; all other proposed Orders should be emailed to the Division in red-line format, clearly reflecting which party wants which language.
Special Set Hearings (SS)
Monday through Thursday 9:30am to noon, and 1:30pm to 4:00pm EST during non-Trial weeks, 9:30am to 10:00am during Trial weeks. Held via Zoom unless otherwise Court-ordered or agreed to by the parties and requested when scheduled.
Parties may schedule SS for fifteen (15) or thirty (30) minutes through the CMS online scheduling system. Hearings for over thirty (30) minutes may be scheduled by emailing Division 25. Please be sure to copy all parties, let us know your Calendar Call date, whether it’s been reset before, whether a Special Magistrate’s been appointed, the age of your case, the UTO deadline by which your Motion must be set and heard, whether the SS has been set and canceled before, whether it is an evidentiary hearing, and indicate how much time is needed and why (including a breakdown of time needed to open and close, witness(es) each party will call and amount of time estimated for direct, cross, redirect, and re-cross for each witness). Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, each side will be allowed an equal share of the hearing time. Any party may elect to not use all of their allocated time for litigation strategy or other reasons. In that case, the balance of time will not be reallocated to the other side(s). Prior to requesting a SS the underlying Motion or other pleading must be properly filed and the parties must have meaningfully conferred per Local Rule 10A. Once the Judge reviews your request and Motion, the JA w

See Administrative Order 2014-32 CIU; AO 2021-50-CIV; please follow this link and read it in its entirety before filing an emergency Motion. https://www.17th.flcourts.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ 2014-32-civ_amended.pdf After reading Administrative Order 2014-32 CIV; AO 2021-31 CIV, if you determine the emergency is “a matter that will result in irreparable harm, death, or result in a manifest injury if immediate relief is not afforded” you must fill out Form A, and follow the steps. In accord with the Administrative Order, non-compliance may be sanctioned. Please email the Division immediately about your Emergency Motion once it has been e-filed. Be sure to put *EMERGENCY* in the subject line. For any e-filed TRUE EMERGENCY, a courtesy copy of the Motion for Emergency Hearing shall be submitted to the Court for review. In the event that the Court is not in session, such requests should be submitted by Counsel to Court Administration (20th Floor). The Motion should indicate how much hearing time will be needed and include any supporting information which will help the Judge determine if the matter is an emergency. A proposed Order must be supplied. After the Judge has reviewed the Motion, she will give instructions to the JA about setting the Motion for hearing. The JA will then contact you with regard to the Judge’s determination.
Trials
Pre-Trial Order (PTO)
Approximately one (1) month before your Calendar Call, the Court will enter a PTO. The PTO reflects all requirements for your Joint Pretrial Stipulations which both the UTO and PTO require to be fully finalized and filed by ten (10) days before Calendar Call. PTO requirements are strictly enforced. Please see the sample PTO provided for you here as a courtesy – Appendix 1. Parties are expected to be fully compliant with the UTO and PTO by the time they appear for Calendar Call.
Pre-Trial Conference (PTC)
Held via Zoom or In-Person during CMC, UMC or SS
If, after meaningfully conferring as per Local Rule 10(A), the parties in your case cannot fully agree on all components of your Joint Pre-Trial Stipulations and resolve all exhibit, witness and deposition designation objections (and witnesses appearing via video), all disputed Jury Instruction and Verdict Form language and all pending Motions (collectively, Compliance), or if the case appears to be non-compliant with UTO or PTO, the parties must set, or the Court may sua sponte set, a PTC to occur prior to Calendar Call. Compliance requirements that cannot be resolved via conferral, may be addressed on UMC, in chambers, or by Special Magistrate as desired by the parties. If, after appearing at Calendar Call, the case still reveals to be non-compliant, the Court may set a PTC post Calendar Call. PTC’s may be required to be in person and, particularly if sanctions are a possibility, client attendance may be required.
Calendar Call (CC)
Monthly held via Zoom at 10:00am EST; See CC and Trial Schedule attached.
Attendance at CC is mandatory. The Court invests significant time preparing for CC beginning in advance with the entry of PTOs. You must be in full compliance with the UTO and PTO by CC. Oftentimes, cases with upcoming Trials are prioritized for various purposes, including allocating scarce hearing times. For these reasons, and as required by the UTO, all Motions to Continue and Notices of Conflict or Unavailability must be filed and heard before CC. The Court will not entertain any requests to continue, conflicts, or unavailability at CC; CC is only for purposes of verifying your preference for Trial week 1, 2, or 3, which we will try to accommodate as a courtesy. If you have not already filed a Notice of Conflict or Unavailability or been granted a Motion to Continue by the time you appear for CC, you are presumed to b

Agreed proposed Orders must be submitted electronically through the “Proposed Order” tab in the online filing portal by the movant by end of business on the business day following the hearing. Proposed Orders must be circulated amongst Counsel for consent prior to being uploaded. When you submit Orders through the online filing portal, the Orders do not go to the JA, the Orders go directly to the Judge who reviews and enters approximately one hundred (100) order daily and presumes that, if the Order is uploaded, the parties agreed to the language. DO NOT UPLOAD A PROPOSED ORDER IF THE PARTIES DISPUTE ANY LANGUAGE IN THE ORDER. Do not upload any proposed Order to the online filing portal prior to your hearing or Trial. Proposed Orders may be uploaded to the online filing portal system only following a hearing and ruling by the Court on the Motion.
Disputed Orders
Disputed Orders must also reflect the Motion title and filing date, and the hearing date, but may not be uploaded to the online filing portal. You must instead email a single redline version (pdf and Word) of the disputed Order to Division 25, clearly reflecting which party desires which language. Attach the Motion and any Response that was filed. Include in the email subject line the hearing date, Motion and the words “Disputed Proposed Order.”
Proposed Agreed Orders without a Hearing
Proposed Agreed Orders without a hearing must reflect the Motion and any Response, title and filing date, that it is being addressed in chambers without a hearing, include the word “Agreed” in the title, and may be uploaded to the online filing portal. The Judge signs an Order when an Order is uploaded to the online filing portal because the parties have agreed on the language of the Order and the Judge, ministerially, signs the Order. The Court reserves the right to modify or reject any proposed Agreed Order(s), or set the matter for a hearing. Please ensure that your proposed Agreed Order reflects the information required for each type of Motion and Order reflected in these procedures. Do not include the word “proposed” in the title.
Motion for Clerk - Judicial and Motion for Default Final Judgment
If the Default is due to failure to respond to Complaint, it is obtained from the Clerk’s office, not the Court. If the Clerk’s Office delay, you may need to call or go to the Clerk’s office. If there is a specific reason the Clerk’s office won’t enter a Default that you cannot correct, file a Motion for a Judicial Default with an explanation. If the Default is for non-compliance with a Court Order after a show cause hearing and contempt non-compliance finding, file a Motion for Judicial Default.
A hearing on a Motion for Default Final Judgment may not be required if you are seeking an Order as to liability only or have pled a specific liquidated dollar amount of damages in the Complaint, are not requesting attorney fees and costs, and there are no pending Motions. Please include this information and file the portion of the Complaint that states the specific liquidated dollar amount of damages with your proposed Order. If you are seeking any relief beyond well-pled liquidated damages, a hearing is required; See Minkoff v. Caterpillar Financial Services Corp., 103 So.3d 1049, 2013 WL 85438, 4D11-3210 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013). If you are seeking an Order without a hearing, the Court requires: Proof of Service and Proof of Notice of all hearings, evidence of the debt and that it’s accrued in Florida via Affidavit, a statement that no Motions are pending, the relevant Complaint language, and a proposed Final Judgment. A Clerk’s Default alone is insufficient. A hearing is required for domesticated debts. 1.545 requires prevailing party to file form 1.998 FINAL DISPOSITION FORM with the Clerk’s Office conc