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J. Layne Smith
Circuit Judge · Second Judicial Circuit Court
High confidence· verified July 25, 2026
Circuit Judge · Second Judicial Circuit Court
What applies in this courtroom
303 verified requirements and 6 rule deadlines govern practice before Judge J. Layne Smith across the judge, division, county, circuit, and statewide layers.
The tabs below show the judge-and-division layer only. The Full Premium Report assembles the complete stack — every requirement, deadline table, ruling intelligence, live case-type scan, and source appendix in one cited document.
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All Wakulla circuit criminal, civil, family, probate, guardianship + specified appeals
On this assignment since July 1, 2026
County Court cases previously assigned to Judge J. Layne Smith will be heard by various Leon County Court judges. Judge Smith has been appointed to the Circuit Court, and has no jurisdiction over previously assigned County Court cases.
J. Layne Smith was raised in Tallahassee where he attended school at Gilchrist Elementary, Raa Middle School, Leon High School, Tallahassee Community College, the Florida State University College of Business, and the Florida State University College of Law. He graduated law school in the top six percent (6%) of his class, ranked 10th out of 176 students.
Judge Smith has twenty-four years of private practice experience trying civil, criminal defense, and administrative cases. He has served our community as a special designated assistant public defender and as a special designated assistant statewide prosecutor. J. Layne Smith is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell. This rating is the highest one available regarding skills and ethics, and one that is bestowed on less than ten percent (10%) of all lawyers.
Judge Smith served four years in state government as General Counsel for the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation and for the Florida Lottery. He has been recognized by Florida Trend as one of Florida's Legal Elite.
Judge Smith previously served Florida as a Commissioner on the State Retirement Commission hearing disability and special risk cases. He is an adjunct professor at the Florida State University College of Law.
Published by the Second Judicial Circuit Court on this judge's own profile page and reproduced verbatim — BenchPath does not write or paraphrase judicial biographies. Read it on the court's site →
Verified against Judge J. Layne Smith's own court profile page, 2026-07-24.
Captured verbatim from the court's own published pages and orders during circuit verification. Chambers practices change without notice — confirm anything time-critical with the judicial assistant. Procedural information only; not legal advice.
Appeals from this courtroom go to the First District Court of Appeal (Tallahassee).
● LiveThat court's published bench (13): Joseph Lewis, Jr., L. Clayton Roberts, Lance E. Neff, Lori S. Rowe, M. Kemmerly Thomas, Rachel E. Nordby, Raymond F. Treadwell, Robert E. Long, Jr., Ross L. Bilbrey, Stephanie W. Ray, Susan L. Kelsey, Thomas D. Winokur, Timothy D. Osterhaus
Jurisdiction per § 35.043, Fla. Stat. (six-district alignment eff. Jan. 1, 2023).
Profile upgraded 2026-07-24: bio_url now points to this judge's own page (https://2ndcircuit.leoncountyfl.gov/smith.php), confirmed to name them before extraction. Biography captured verbatim from the court's page.
This tab lists judge-and-division rules only, and this judge's division publishes its practice at the county, circuit, and statewide layers instead — 303 verified requirements still govern this courtroom. The Full Premium Report assembles every one of them, cited.
See all 303 in the Full Premium Report →No judge-level deadline on record runs shorter than a statewide deadline with the same trigger. The sentinel compares quoted timing across every published rule scoped to this judge on each visit — a clean result today is re-earned tomorrow.
No judge-scoped deadlines on this tab. Deadlines are extracted only when the source rule text states them — we never infer or calculate dates the rule does not explicitly contain. 6 rule deadlines apply in this courtroom across all layers — assembled with citations in the Full Premium Report.
Timing shown here is quoted from the rule text. Compute your actual date against the court's calendar and the rule itself — not legal advice.
No verified ruling summary yet. BenchPath generates ruling summaries from opinion and docket corpora (CourtListener where covered) and publishes them only after human review — fabricated judicial analytics are exactly what this platform refuses to ship.
Use the live case-law search below to see what exists for this judge today.
How Florida’s appellate courts disposed of the 86 opinions in BenchPath’s corpus (February 24, 2016–July 22, 2026) that name this judge as the lower-tribunal judge — the courts’ own disposition labels, counted verbatim. This is a census of the appellate record we hold, not a complete case history, an affirmance rate, or a performance rating.
Florida appellate and Supreme Court opinions naming this judge as the lower-tribunal judge, taken verbatim from each court’s official slip opinion (source-hashed). Descriptive record, not a rating. Showing the 50 most recent; all 86 are counted in the outcome census above.
Parker v. Parker
No rule-level sources registered yet — judge-level provenance is listed in the Overview tab.
Research connectors
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All Wakulla circuit criminal, civil, family, probate, guardianship + specified appealscurrent
July 1, 2026 — present
assignment source →No source changes detected for this judge yet — when the underlying court pages move, it shows up here first.
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Farmer v. State of Florida
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
John A. Barley vs D's Construction Co., Inc., Keith Lawson Company, Inc., Amerisure Insurance Company, and Nationwide Insurance Company of Florida, Inc.
First District Court of Appeal · Leon County
Disposition (court’s label): Dismissed
Secretary of State Cord Byrd, et al. VS Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute, Inc., et al.
First District Court of Appeal · Leon County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Opinion
J.B., A Child vs State of Florida
First District Court of Appeal · Leon County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
U.S. Bank National Association, etc. et al. v. Routa, etc.
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Bauer v. Florida Department of Law Enforcement
First District Court of Appeal · Leon County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Johnson v. Panacea Waterfronts Florida Partnership, Inc.
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Pearson v. City of Tallahassee
First District Court of Appeal · Leon County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Randall Garrett Phillips v. State of Florida
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Opinion
Sprague v. Keim, Estate of John Joseph Joubert, Jr., a/k/a John J. Joubert, Jr.
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Odom v. Cole
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Authored Opinion
Clarence L. Frazier VS Ricky D. Dixon, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Opinion
U.S. Bank National Association, as Trustee for the C-Bass Mortgage Loan Asset-Backed VS Iftikhar Qadir, et al.
First District Court of Appeal · Leon County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Authored Opinion
Litchford v. Michalski
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Caranna, et al. v. Glass, in his official capacity, and Florida Department of Law Enforcement
First District Court of Appeal · Leon County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Authored Opinion
J.B., A Child vs State of Florida
First District Court of Appeal · Leon County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
Harris v. State of Florida
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Authored Opinion
Montanez v. Florida Department of Law Enforcement
First District Court of Appeal · Leon County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Patrick Stuart Jr. VS Florida Department of Corrections
First District Court of Appeal · Leon County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Aaron Shaw v. Florida Department of Corrections
First District Court of Appeal · Leon County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Murray v. State of Florida
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Cotterman v. State of Florida
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Johnson v. Dixon
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Farmer v. State of Florida
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Levin v. Dep't of Corr.
First District Court of Appeal · Leon County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Andrew R. Moody, Father v. Natalia Yevgenyevna Moody (n/k/a Natalia Yevgenyevna Arrington), Mother
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Selway v. Florida Commission on Offender Review
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
LaMore v. State of Florida
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Opinion
Ible v. Wells Fargo Bank, Citigroup Mortgage Loan Trust, et al
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Opinion
Whitlow v. Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, Inc.
First District Court of Appeal · Leon County
Disposition (court’s label): Non-Dispositive
Cynthia Williams v. Publix Super Markets, Inc.
First District Court of Appeal · Leon County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Babcock v. State of Florida
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Ible v. Wells Fargo Bank, Citigroup Mortgage Loan Trust, et al
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Opinion
Williams v. Williams
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Brewer v. Florida Department of Corrections
First District Court of Appeal · Leon County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Siegel v. Department of Corrections
First District Court of Appeal · Leon County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Shavers v. Dixon et al.
First District Court of Appeal · Jefferson County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Thomas MacKey v. Ricky D. Dixon, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Citation
Eric Bettermann VS Richard L. Swearingen, acting in his official capacity as Commissioner
First District Court of Appeal · Leon County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
State of Florida Department of Revenue VS Verizon Communications Inc. & Affiliates, foreign corporations
First District Court of Appeal · Leon County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Authored Opinion
Westerlund v. State of Florida
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Verizon Communications Inc. & Affiliates VS State of Florida Department of Revenue, an agency of the State of Florida
First District Court of Appeal · Leon County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Authored Opinion
Robert F. Poole vs Ricky D. Dixon, Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, et al.
First District Court of Appeal · Leon County
Disposition (court’s label): Dismissed
Sarah Michael Iarussi a/k/a Sarah Michael VS LobbyTools, Inc.
First District Court of Appeal · Leon County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Authored Opinion
Moody v. Arrington
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Parker v. Parker
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Teresa Moon-Vileno, an individual, and Deborah Lynn Felty, an individual VS Florida Association of Court Clerks, Inc., a Florida Not for Profit Corporation, FACC
First District Court of Appeal · Leon County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Authored Opinion
Denmark v. Miller, et al.
First District Court of Appeal · Wakulla County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Per Curiam Affirmed
Pensacola Care, Incorporated and Quest Management Group, Inc. vs Estate of Xaiven Williams by and through Linda Williams, Personal Representatives
First District Court of Appeal · Leon County
Disposition (court’s label): Dismissed
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Case-law search
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