About
The Florida Litigator follows changes in the law and court procedures that Florida commercial litigators are likely to encounter. It brings statutory developments, court decisions, procedural rules, and local practice information together in a searchable archive, with links to the underlying sources.
What the site follows
The research focuses on civil procedure, jurisdiction, contracts, business entities, commercial transactions, property, foreclosure, collections, remedies, evidence, appellate practice, and court administration. The research database retains the entire Florida Statutes compilation; substantive updates emphasize matters relevant to commercial civil litigation.
Court coverage includes the Florida Supreme Court, all six district courts of appeal, and the circuit and county courts serving Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau, Putnam, St. Johns, and Union counties. The personnel directory collects judicial assignments, chambers and clerk contacts, judicial-assistant information, and links to individual judicial procedures and governing court rules.
Sources and research method
Sources consulted include the Florida Statutes on Online Sunshine, official session laws and legislative materials, court opinions and rulemaking publications, circuit administrative orders, judges’ official procedure pages, clerk websites, The Florida Bar’s rule compilations, and relevant Florida Administrative Code and Register materials. CourtListener provides an additional resource for finding and accessing legal materials.
Each research run searches for new or revised material and saves the available source documents, links, retrieval times, and stated publication or effective dates. Findings are compared with the last finalized report—or a specified starting date—to identify changes for review. Selected developments are then summarized under the report’s subject headings, with links back to their sources.
A saved document and a substantive review are recorded separately. When official sources disagree, the research preserves their statements and identifies the discrepancy without deciding which authority controls. Historical reports are reconstructed only to the extent supported by available evidence; current contacts and procedures are not treated as proof of their earlier contents.
Publication schedule
Research runs generally take place once a week, usually on Sundays, unless an update has already been published earlier that week. The schedule may vary. Regular weekly reporting periods run Monday through Sunday; each published report identifies the period it covers.
The archive opens to the latest published update. Date filters find reports whose reporting periods overlap the selected range; they do not initiate a new research run.
About the creator
Cade Spivey is an attorney and a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and Wake Forest University School of Law. His professional background includes both legal and military experience. He created The Florida Litigator to make it easier to follow the legal developments and court procedures that matter in Florida commercial litigation.
Thank you
Thank you to CourtListener and Free Law Project for their work making legal information easier to find and freely accessible. If you find these resources useful, please consider donating to support their work and help improve access to the law.