On December 31, 2020, the Florida Supreme Court amended Rule 1.510 to adopt the federal summary judgment standard. Jason Gonzalez, who urged the change on behalf of business-association clients, wrote one of the first practitioner explainers of the new rule.
Few procedural changes in recent memory have mattered as much to Florida litigants as the Supreme Court’s decision to align the state’s summary judgment standard with the federal one. The amendment to Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.510 was adopted on the last day of 2020 and took effect on May 1, 2021. Jason Gonzalez had advocated for the change in two amicus briefs filed for business-association clients, and shortly after the Court acted he and his then-colleague Rachel Procaccini published an explainer on the Federalist Society’s blog, with a companion analysis in the Society’s State Court Docket Watch series.
The piece opens with the case that forced the question: Wilsonart, LLC v. Lopez, a fatal-crash case in which dash-camera video contradicted the eyewitness account, yet the Fifth District Court of Appeal felt bound to reverse summary judgment under Florida’s traditional “slightest doubt” standard. Rather than carve out an exception for video evidence, the Court chose to adopt the federal standard articulated in the Celotex trilogy, joining the federal courts and most other states.
The authors then isolate what actually changed. First, the same standard now governs summary judgment and directed verdict. Second, the moving party no longer has to conclusively disprove the other side’s case; the burden framework follows federal practice. Third, the inquiry is whether a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the non-moving party — not whether any conceivable “triable issue” can be identified. The Court explained that its goal was “to improve the fairness and efficiency of Florida’s civil justice system” and to relieve parties of the expense of meritless litigation, and it invited public comment on whether ancillary amendments would be needed before the rule took effect.
Five years on, the piece holds up as a clean primer on a reform that reshaped how motions are briefed, how discovery is planned, and how cases are valued in Florida courts. It is also a reminder that appellate advocacy is not only about the case at hand; sometimes the brief changes the rule.
Read the article: Florida Adopts the Federal Summary Judgment Standard — Jason B. Gonzalez and Rachel Procaccini, FedSoc Blog, April 2, 2021
Companion analysis: State Court Docket Watch: In re Amendments to Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.510 — The Federalist Society, April 1, 2021
About Jason Gonzalez
Jason Gonzalez is a founding shareholder of Lawson Huck Gonzalez and one of Florida’s most experienced appellate and litigation attorneys. A former General Counsel to the Governor of Florida, he represents businesses and state agencies in state and federal courts and has served on the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission and as chairman of two other judicial nominating commissions.
Publication spotlights summarize work our attorneys have published elsewhere; the views expressed in the original pieces are the authors’ own. Insights posts are offered for general information and are not legal advice.
