Officials say the transition to higher county court civil threshold going smoothly
Broward County Judge Kenneth Gottlieb
Florida county court judges say the January 1 transition to a higher civil jurisdiction is going smoothly.
Broward County Judge Kenneth Gottlieb, president of the Conference of County Court Judges, credits the diligence of all the stakeholders.
“With the leadership of the Supreme Court and the chief judges throughout the state, and the education that we do [as a conference,] we have really worked hard on being prepared,” he said.
Some six weeks after the civil threshold rose from $30,000 for cases in controversy to $50,000, Broward County Administrative Judge Robert Lee is pleasantly surprised.
“It’s smooth so far and with [a] few caveats, we haven’t seen the wave yet that we thought we were going to see,” he said.
Court officials say it is important to note that the $8,000 small claims threshold remains unchanged and that civil cover sheets specifying the dollar amount in disputes exceeding $8,000 still must be filed.
In addition to overseeing the civil division, Lee also serves as the conference’s education chair.
In the 17th Judicial Circuit, the 21 county judges who manage civil cases were expecting to be assigned up to 27 cases each that fall within the $30,000 to $50,000 range, Lee said.
So far, the number has been much lower, he said.
“If it stays at the level it is now, where it’s only eight cases per judge per month, as opposed to 27 cases per judge per month, then it’s going to be completely negligible,” he said.
However, Lee warned that the picture will be clearer a year from now when local lawyers grow more accustomed to the new threshold. Some may still be filing civil cases in circuit court that now belong in county court, he said.
“They’re probably going to hit a point where they get transferred or it gets rejected by the clerk,” he said. “That’s the only other explanation that I have that we’re not seeing as many as we thought that we were going to see.”
Courtroom space remains a concern, Lee said. The higher threshold will likely result in an increased demand for jury trials, he said.
“As a matter of fact, in the 17th Circuit, we have 21 of us that do civil jury trials, and we share three courtrooms,” he said. “I see that we’re going to have some juggling to do.”
