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26 verbatim mandatory provisions from Rule 3.
Thirteenth Judicial Circuit. Check the order's own effective and rescission dates before relying on it. Procedural information only; not legal advice.
Verbatim from the order's own text layer, harvested 2026-07-24; whitespace normalised only. No OCR was used. Only sentences containing mandatory language (shall, must, may not, no later than, within N) are reproduced — the full document is in custody and is the controlling text. • The governing administrative order specifies classes of . "mandatory" cases which must be assigned to Business Court. • A plaintiff filing a mandatory case must completeand electronicallyfile, along with the complaint, the form entitled "Civil:CoverSheet and Addendumfor Business Court Case" locatedat :http:/Jwww.fljudl3.org/Forms.aspx.The Clerk will then assign the case to Business Court Division "L." Page l of 7 - Local Rule 3 (BusinessCourtProcedure) -- 1 of 7 -- r . 3,5. • The Business Court judge wiJl then make ~ determination and, If he or she finds transfer appropriate, the Business Courtjudge wj]l enter the order oftran$fer. 3.6. .Notification of Settlement , When uuy causepending in BusinessCourt is settled, all attorneys or unrepresentedparties of record mu.st notify the Business Court judge or the judge's designee within 24 hours of the settlementand must advise the court of the party who will prepare and present thejudgment; dismissal or. stipulation of dismissal and when such filings will be presented. 3.7. • Before filing anymotion, the r;novingparty must cop.ferin person or telephonicallywith counselfor the opposing party in a good faith effort to resolve the issues raised by the motion and must file with the motion a statement certifyingthat the movingpartyhas conferred with opposing counsel and that counsel have been unable to agree on the resolution of the motion._Coun·sel must respond promptly to efforts by opposingcounselwho Wishto confer to resolve motions prior their filing;Prior-to filtng a motion to dismiss-for failure to state a cause of action, counsel must notify opposingcounsel in writing ofthe intention to file a motion to dismissand must identifythe reason(s) counsel will allege that the complaint fails to state a c~use of action.If requested, counsel will stipulate to the filii1$.of an amendedcomplaint.in lieu of filing the motion. • No conference is required prior to the filing of a motionfor injunc_tive relief without notice, for summaryjudgment, or to permit maintenance of a class action. 3.8. • All substantive motions must be accompaniedby a memorandumof law, which must not exceed 25 pages in length. • A memorandumin opposition may be filed within 10 days thereafter and must not exceed 25 pages in length. • A reply memorandti'mmay be filed within S days following the fiJing of a memorandumin opposition,which must not exceed 5 pages in length and must address only those matters raised in the memoranda.inopposition. • Promptly after filing a motion, if the motion is contested.and the hearing is not waived, the moving party must initiate the scheduling of a hearing. • The.parties must confer and, if possible,set the motion for hearing ata mutually agreeabletime at -ie.ast5 business days after the time has expired for the filing of a reply memorandum.If the parties are unable to agree on a hearing date, they must promptly advise the court and .thecourt will set the hearing. • A motion requiring a hearing under this subdivisionmay be deemed abandonedand deniedwithout prejudice if a notice ofhearin~ on the motion is not filed within 45 days of its filing. 3.11. • Within 60 days following the service of a complaint in the Business Court Division or within 30 days followingthe transfer of a case to the Business Court Division, counsel for the respectiveparties must meet in.person or telephonicallyto prepare and thereafter file a Case Management Report. • The p;mies mμst cooperate in the schedulingof a case management conference,.following whiphplaintiffs counsel must coordinate,schedule,and notice a case managementconference at a time reasonablyconvenientto the parties. 3.13.. • The-parties must meet in person or by telephone to discuss and:preparea Case ManagementReport, which must be submitted to the court:no later than 5 days before the case managementconference. • The parties' Case ManagementReport must address those matters set fo_rthin rules 1.2.00(a)and 1.201 of the Florida Rules of Civil Procedureas well as the following: • (e) The time period after the close of discoverywithin which dispositive motions must be filed, briefed and argued and a tentative schedulefor such. activities; • The Handbook can be found on the website of the Trial LawyersSection of The Florida.Bar (http://www.flatls.org/). 3.17, DiscQvery- Experts, Discovery with respect to expertsmust be conducted within the discoveryperiod established.by the Case ManagementOrder.At ·least 30 days before ¢e deposition of anyexpert (or, ifno deposition-is required, within the · time set by .the c·ourt), the party who retained the expert.must produce anexpert report which discloses, at a minimum, the expert's opinionsand the bases and facts underlying s.uch opinions;the.data or other informationconsiqeredby t.hewitness in f<;mningthe opinions;any exhibits to be used asa sl.llllll)aryof or support for the opinions; the qualifications.of the witness, including a list of:publicationsauthored by thewitness within the precedingten years; the compensation_paid for the expert's work and expected costs for his or her testimony;and.a listing of any other cases in which the witness h~stestified as an expert at trial or by depositionor affi.davitwithin the-precedingfouryears. 3.18. • Motions seeking im exten$j()n- of.the discoveryperiod must be presentedprior to the expiration of the time within which discoveryis required to be completed.S.uch motions must-set forth good causejustifying the additionaltime or additional disc(}yeryand will only be granted upon a showing of goodcause. 3.19. • A party-must not file documentsunder seal withouthaving first obtained an order granting leave·of court to file documentsunderseal based upon a showing of particularizedneed·in accordance with Floridalaw. 3.20. • Mediation, The parties in all cases assigned to Business Court must be ordered to attend mediationto be conductedby a mediator who theparties agree upon or who the -court assigns. • On or before the date establishedin the Case ManagementOrder,lead trial counsel for all parties and any self-represent~dpartie$ must meet togetherin person for the purpC>seof preparinga Joint_FirtalPretrial Statementthat is in substantial compli_ancewith the ·uniform Pretrial ConferenceOrder applicableto civil cases in ·this circuit and strictly conformsto the requirements-of this section. • The case must be fully ready"for trial when the Joint Final Pretrial Statementis filed. • Lead trial counsel for all parties, or the parties themselvesif unrepresented,must sign the Joint Final Pretrial Statement. • Plaintiff's counselhas the primaryresponsibilityfor coordinating the meeting of lead trial counsel and seJf..representedparties and the filing of a Joint Final Pretrial Statement andre.latedmaterial.If a rion-lawyer plaintiff is self-represented,then defense counsel must coordinatecompliance.If counsel is unable to coordinate such compliance, coun~elmust timely notify the court by written motion or request for a status conference. 3.24. • Lead trial counseland local counsel for each party, rogetherwith all parties, must attend the final pretrial ~~nference in person unlesspreviouslyexcusedby thecourt_. 3.25. • Pretrial- Substanceof Final Pretri:d Confe)'.~nce.At the final pretrh1l conference, all counsel and parties must be prepared and authorizedto address the foilowing matters: the fonnulation and simplificationof the issues; the elimination . of frivolousclaims or.defen~e.s; admitting facts and documentsto avoid unnecessary proof; stipulating to the authenticityof.documents;obtainingadvance rulings from the court on the admissibilityof evidence;settlementand the use of special:procedures to assist in resolving the dispute; disposingof pending motions; establishing a reasonable limit on the time allowed for presentingevidence and Page 6 of 7 -Local Rule 3 (Business CourtProcedure) -- 6 of 7 -- argument; and such othermatters as may facilitatethejust, sp~edy,and inexpe)lsive· disposition of the actions. · · 3~26.
The governing administrative order specifies classes of . "mandatory" cases which must be assigned to Business Court.
Reviewer note: Document sha256: dbb768c002b9540d28f875134d4ce088ccd35205bac3b5aba60e9081dafa43a2 (2115590 bytes). BenchPath harvested this circuit itself because no research corpus existed for it. Extraction is conservative: mandatory-language sentences only, so this rule is a faithful subset of the order, never a summary of it.
The Eighteenth Judicial Circuit (Seminole and Brevard) requires cover letters in PDF format and proposed orders in .docx format using DJMCA formatting codes, submitted through the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal.
Florida attorneys must file court documents electronically through the statewide Florida Courts E-Filing Portal (myflcourtaccess.com). Self-represented litigants may e-file through the same portal. Local circuits layer their own formatting and routing quirks on top.
Effective June 15, 2026, every signer of a Florida court filing — attorney or self-represented — represents that "the legal authorities identified exist and are accurately cited," with express sanctions (reprimand, contempt, striking, dismissal, costs, fees) for violations. Companion order AOSC26-12 preempts ALL circuit- and judge-level AI disclosure/certification requirements.