In the past, courts sometimes allowed immediate review of orders denying a government’s motion to dismiss a case based on sovereign immunity. But a recent ruling by the Florida Supreme Court has ended this practice. The court said that certiorari review should only be allowed in rare cases where there is a serious legal mistake that will cause significant harm if not corrected right away. The court also said that if a government shows it didn’t have a duty to the person who is suing them, then they can’t be sued for negligence, and the question of whether they have immunity doesn’t even need to be addressed. This decision will have big effects on how cases against government entities are handled in Florida. In the case of Miami-Dade County v. Rodriguez, the Third District Court of Appeal stated that they will no longer review orders denying motions to dismiss or motions for summary judgment when the government denies liability based on an absence of duty. However, they will still review orders when immunity from suit is at issue. In this case, the court ruled that the county was immune from suit under the police emergency exception, after a man was shot by a police officer while responding to a burglary call at his business. The man alleged that the officers responded recklessly, but the court found that the county was immune from the lawsuit. The county said the police were allowed to shoot Rodriguez in self-defense because it was an emergency. Rodriguez said it wasn’t an emergency and the police made it worse. The trial court said the case could go to trial, so the county appealed. The Third District court agreed with the county, saying the police should be trusted to make decisions in emergencies. They stopped the trial using sovereign immunity, but they also asked the Florida Supreme Court to review it. The Florida Supreme Court made a decision in a case called Rodriguez v. Miami-Dade County. The court said that the lower court made a mistake in thinking it had the power to review the county’s claim of immunity from a lawsuit. The court also said that the lower court was wrong in thinking that a “police emergency exception” protected the county from being sued. The decision was based on previous cases that said that a request for review of a denial of immunity can only be granted in very specific circumstances. The court also suggested that the rules for when a request for review can be granted might need to be changed. The court said that just the cost and time of defending a lawsuit does not count as serious harm. The court also said that the district court didn’t think enough about whether the trial court made a big mistake. And the court said that the district court was wrong to use the emergency exception in this case because it wasn’t a real emergency. In a legal case, the court looked at a previous decision and said that it wouldn’t necessarily make the same decision in an emergency situation where police have to act quickly to prevent harm. The court also said that sovereign immunity only applies to certain decisions made by the police, and not to all of their actions. In another case, the court said that police can’t claim sovereign immunity if they create an emergency through their own negligence. Overall, the court ruled that the case didn’t fall into the emergency exception. The court ruled that government entities can’t always use sovereign immunity to avoid being sued for negligence by police officers. This means cases will have to go to trial instead of being dismissed early. This decision may not be in line with the reasons for sovereign immunity, which are to protect separation of powers, the public treasury, and government administration. The legislature could change the law to make it clearer that sovereign immunity is meant to protect government entities from being sued in the first place. The court might also change its decision in the future, or the rules for appealing cases like this. Essentially, a court ruling called Rodriguez v. Miami-Dade County will have a big impact on how local governments handle lawsuits. It means that local governments can’t easily appeal certain decisions, so they might feel more pressure to settle cases. However, they can still evaluate cases early on to decide which ones are worth fighting. This ruling will likely affect how lawsuits against local governments are handled in the future. We want lawyers to understand their responsibilities to the community, make the justice system better, and keep learning about the law.
Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/rodriguez-v-miami-dade-countythe-florida-supreme-court-clarifies-certiorari-review-in-sovereign-immunity-cases/
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