Monroe County

Sixteenth Judicial Circuit (Circuit 16) · official circuit site ✓

Rules that apply here (county → circuit → statewide)

Preview of 25 instruments. All 53 county-scoped rules → search all three layers.

Sixteenth Circuit — AO 2.004/26-2 controls circuit assignments July 1–December 31, 2026 (term-limited)

AO 2.004/26-2 (Circuit Court Division Assignments; Official Headquarters), signed June 24, 2026 by Chief Judge Timothy J. Koenig, sets every circuit judge's division and official headquarters for July 1 through December 31, 2026, and rescinds AO 2.004/26-1 on July 1, 2026. Official headquarters: Jones, Koenig and Helms in Key West; Morgan at Plantation Key. County assignments run under AO 2.005/25-2 (eff. Oct 20, 2025), and all four county judges additionally carry temporary all-division circuit authority under AO 12.003/26-2 for the same period. NOTE: this order is EXPRESSLY TERM-LIMITED and expires December 31, 2026.

High confidence· verified July 26, 202616th Cir. Admin. Order 2.004/26-2 (signed June 24, 2026; eff. July 1–Dec. 31, 2026), pp. 4-5

Case ManagementMonroe County

Sixteenth Circuit — civil track assignment within 120 days; streamlined trial projected at 310 days, general at 480 (AO 3.010)

AO 3.010 (Order Adopting and Implementing the Civil Differentiated Case Management Plan), effective January 1, 2025, expressly rescinded the prior plan AO 2.072/21-1. It requires the PRESIDING JUDGE — not counsel — to review each covered civil case and assign it to the complex, streamlined, or general track by entering an initial case-management order within 120 days after commencement. Streamlined cases project trial at 310 days from filing; general cases at 480 days.

High confidence· verified September 9, 202616th Cir. Admin. Order 3.010 (eff. Jan. 1, 2025), pp. 1-2, 6, 9

ServiceMonroe County

Sixteenth Circuit — plaintiff's attorney must serve the case-management order on each defendant, and on any new party within 5 days (AO 3.010)

AO 3.010 imposes no at-filing form on counsel, but once service is obtained the plaintiff's attorney must serve a copy of the case-management order on each defendant, and must serve any new party within five days of service of pleadings on that party.

High confidence· verified September 9, 202616th Cir. Admin. Order 3.010, p. 2

Judge PreferencesMonroe County · Judge Derek A. Lewis

Judge Derek A. Lewis (16th Cir., Monroe) — STILL REQUIRES AI disclosure and certification on his profile, after the June 15, 2026 statewide preemption

Judge Lewis's live division-procedures profile (section P, "Use of Artificial Intelligence") requires any attorney or pro se litigant filing AI-assisted work to include a certification of personal review and verification AND to disclose the AI use on the face of the document, with sanctions up to contempt, striking of pleadings or dismissal, fines and attorney's fees, and referral to The Florida Bar. BenchPath re-verified this language live on 2026-07-24. AOSC26-12, effective June 15, 2026, bars courts from imposing AI disclosure or certification requirements "whether through local administrative orders, court policies, judicial practices and procedures, or other means" — a judge's published practices and procedures are squarely within that bar. The requirement is therefore PREEMPTED and unenforceable, but it remains posted; BenchPath tracks it verbatim rather than deleting it. Note the 16th adopted NO circuit-level AI order at all — this is purely a judge-level survivor.

High confidence· verified September 9, 2026Judge Derek A. Lewis, Division Procedures §P (Use of Artificial Intelligence), keyscourts.net — live 2026-07-24

Courtesy CopiesMonroe County · Chief Judge Timothy J. Koenig