Administrative Order Viewer

In the Circuit Court of the Twelfth Judicial Circuit in and for
DeSoto, Manatee and Sarasota counties, Florida

Administrative Order No: 2019–11.1

Whereas, Administrative Order 2014-2.1 was implemented to comply with the requirements of Supreme Court of Florida order AOSC 13-51, which required each chief judge to issue an administrative order establishing a mechanism by which the courts and clerks are notified of case status changes in a timely manner, including explicit direction for designating the status of cases as “active” or “inactive”, as defined by the Foreclosure Initiative Data Collection Plan promulgated by the Office of the State Courts Administrator; and

Whereas, the Supreme Court of Florida entered AOSC 14-20 which adopts Case­-Event-Definitional Framework, and AOSC16-15 which expands the existing clerk of court data reporting requirements for real property mortgage foreclosure cases to include all other civil case types, including family and probate cases, and to increase the data elements provided for reporting; and

Whereas, there are two ways to designate a case as “active” or “inactive”. These designations can be done automatically by the clerk of court or by an Order of Case Status Change entered by the court; and

Whereas, Appendix B of the Uniform Case Reporting Specifications, created by the Office of the State Courts Administrator, establishes the case event reasons that may change the status of a case, and courts and clerks are required to implement this framework as part of its data management reporting; and

It is Therefore Ordered:

1. All pending Circuit Civil, Family, Probate and County Civil cases are designated “active” unless specifically designated “inactive” by the court or clerk of court based on criteria listed below.
2. Automatic Designtion by the Clerk–The clerk of court is hereby authorized and directed to change the case status when one of the following occurs in a case:
   1. From “Active” to “Inactive”
      1. Suggestion of Bankruptcy
      2. Notice of Appeal (post judgment)
      3. Abatement
      4. Department of Justice hold
   2. From “Inactive” to “Active”
      1. Order Lifting Bankruptcy
      2. Resolution of Appeal (post judgment)
      3. Resolution of Abatement
      4. Release by Department of Justice
3. Designation by Court Order– The court may designate a case as “inactive” when court activity is suspended pending resolution of an issue external to the court or because of an issue that does not directly involve the court. When the Court designates a case to be “inactive” an Order of Case Status Change should be filed and should state the reason for the change and shall be filed with the clerk. Conversely, the Court may designate an “inactive” case to be “active” by filing an Order of Case Status Change with the clerk that includes the stated reason for changing the case status.
   1. From “Active” to “Inactive”
      Examples of events that would change a case status may include, but are not limited to:
      1. Mediation Referral
      2. Resolution of case requires resolution of a related case (parties must provide the court with a signed stipulation and proposed order)
      3. On-going settlement negotiations or agreement by both parties (parties must provide the court with a signed stipulation and proposed order)
      4. Summary Jury Trial
      5. Arbitration
      6. Other Alternative Dispute Resolution
      7. Upon meeting any other criteria which the court deems designates the case “inactive”.
   2. From “Inactive” to “Active”
      Examples of events that would change a case status from “inactive” to “active” may include, but are not limited to:
      1. Mediation completed
      2. Resolution of a related case (parties must provide the court with a signed stipulation and proposed order)
      3. Settlement (parties must provide the court with a signed stipulation and proposed order)
      4. Resolution of Summary Jury Trial
      5. Resolution of Arbitration
      6. Resolution of Other Alternative Dispute Resolution
      7. Upon meeting any other criteria which the court deems designates the case “active”.
4. This order is effective immediately.

Done and ordered in Chambers, Sarasota County, Florida, this 2^nd day of August, 2019.

Kimberly C. Bonner
Chief Judge