The Florida Sixth District Court of Appeal (DCA) is headquartered in Lakeland,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

History

In November 2021, the

Florida Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Florida is the highest court in the U.S. state of Florida. It consists of seven members: the chief justice and six justices. Six members are chosen from six districts around the state to foster geographic diversity, and one ...

recommended adding a sixth DCA. The recommendation came following work by the ''District Court of Appeal Workload and Jurisdiction Assessment Committee'', requested by then-Chief Justice

Charles Canady Charles Terrance Canady (born June 22, 1954) is an American attorney and judge serving on the Supreme Court of Florida since 2008. He previously served two two-year terms as Chief Justice, from 2010 to 2012 and from 2020 to 2022. Prior to his ap ...

. The Legislature proposed bill HB 7027, based on the committee's recommendation, which was then passed and signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in June 2022, creating the Sixth District Court of Appeal, the first new appellate court since the 1979 creation of the Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal. The effective date for the creation was January 1, 2023. The law also realigns four judicial circuits into different, pre-existing districts. The Sixth District Court of Appeal will be composed of cases from the following counties and circuit courts: Orange and Osceola (Ninth Circuit from 5th DCA); Hardee, Highlands and Polk (Tenth Circuit from 2nd DCA); and Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee (Twentieth Circuit from 2nd DCA).

Operation

As of January 1, 2023, the Second DCA moved to St. Petersburg and the Sixth DCA took their spot in Lakeland. Sixth DCA judges are free to decide every legal issue on their docket without regard to precedent unless the Florida Supreme Court has a binding precedent. While judges in the Ninth, Tenth, and Twentieth Judicial Circuits may need to choose between precedents from any district court of appeal, judges in the Sixth District Court of Appeal have the power to rule in opposition to the ruling of another DCA, or instead of adopting the ruling of another district, they may create new law..

Chief Judges

Judges who have served as Chief Judge of the Sixth DCA include: None

Active Judges

Judges who are currently serving on the Sixth DCA include:

Senior Judges

Senior judges are appointed to temporary judicial duty. Judges who are on senior status at the Sixth DCA include: *none

External links

Website of the Florida District Courts of Appeal

Florida Sixth District Court of Appeal Website

References

{{Florida Court System Florida appellate courts 2023 establishments in Florida Courts and tribunals established in 2023