Summary
The Fourth District Court of Appeal of Florida affirmed the county court’s judgment in a per curiam decision. Judge Lott concurred separately to discuss concerns about Florida’s use of per curiam affirmances and to advocate for a possible selective-publication system that would permit nonprecedential opinions explaining the court’s reasoning.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the appeal should be summarily affirmed without a written majority opinion.
- Whether Florida should adopt a selective-publication system permitting short, nonprecedential written appellate opinions.
Key quotations
“The PCA, and its cousin the “citation PCA,” are the lone exceptions to the precedent rule.” (3)
““[A] per curiam affirmance decision without written opinion has no precedential value and should not be relied on for anything other than res judicata.”” (3)
“This is all quite hypothetical for now. It does not appear that any mechanism for selective publication could come about without concerted change to Supreme Court precedent and the appellate rules.” (6)
Factual background
The opinion contains no substantive factual background concerning the underlying criminal case. The appeal was resolved by summary affirmance, and the separate concurrence addresses appellate publication and disposition practices rather than the underlying facts.
Procedural history
Mayfield appealed a county-court judgment in a misdemeanor case. The Fourth District issued a per curiam summary affirmance. Judge Lott joined the summary affirmance and filed a separate concurrence discussing Florida's per curiam affirmance practice and the possibility of selective publication.