Courts, clerks told to work out their e-portal differences
Florida clerks of court and the court system had better work out a dispute about who will control the Internet portal to the mandated new statewide e-filing system for the courts or the Legislature will, a top state senator has warned. Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa, gave that caution November 5 after listening to 11th Circuit Judge Judith Kreeger, chair of the Florida Court Technology Commission, outline what the courts are doing to implement mandates to begin an e-filing system for the courts this year. He said failure to reach an agreement could put the e-portal and e-filing at the bottom of the Legislature’s funding priorities.
The First DCA's New Home
THE NEW FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL in Tallahassee is taking shape. The project, located in the Southwood community, is a three-story building just over 100,000 square feet. The facility will include administrative offices, judges' chambers, marshal’s office, courtrooms, and a library. . .
Court grapples with how to best handle forclosures
A staggering number of foreclosure cases are currently pending statewide; 95 percent of Floridians losing their homes have no legal representation; and the courts can’t solve the emergency alone, according to the chair of the Task Force on Residential Foreclosure Cases during oral arguments at the Florida Supreme Court.
State attorneys, PDs fear further budget reductions
Five hundred and twenty-five fewer assistant state attorneys, plus a reduction of 250 to 260 assistant public defenders. Around 2,000 fewer children represented by guardians ad litem. Those were some of the dire projections made November 3 at the House Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Committee.