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Florida Supreme Court Clarifies Discovery Requirements and Procedures

Mihaela Cabulea

Partner | First-Party Coverage, Third-Party Coverage, Extra-Contractual, Casualty Defense Litigation, Product Liability, Appellate, Arson & Fraud, Class Action, Construction, Employment Law, Specialty Trial Team
813-281-1900
mcabulea@butler.legal

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June 25, 2025

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The Florida Supreme Court recently amended Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.280(f) to clarify the timing of initial disclosures and discovery procedures. In re Amendments to Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.280(f), No. SC2025-0697, 2025 WL 1710912, at *1 (Fla. June 19, 2025). The court previously amended rule 1.280 in its opinion adopting civil case management amendments, to include the following sentence: “A party may not seek discovery from any source before that party’s initial disclosure obligations are satisfied, except when authorized by stipulation or by court order.” In re Amends. to Fla. Rules of Civ. Proc., 402 So. 3d 925 (Fla. 2024) (emphasis added). The Florida Bar’s Civil Procedure Rules Committee proposed an amendment to the rule because some litigants have refused to respond to discovery requests, claiming that initial disclosure obligations were not legally “satisfied,” notwithstanding service of initial disclosures. The Florida Supreme Court amended the rule to avoid any unnecessary delays in compliance with discovery requests. The current amended rule provides as follows:

(f) Timing and Sequence of Discovery.

(1) Timing. A party may not seek discovery from any source before that party’s initial disclosures are served on the other party, except when authorized by stipulation or by court order.

The amendment became effective on June 19, 2025. In its opinion adopting the amendment, the court noted that the Committee also proposed amendments to rule 1.280(k) (Signing Disclosures and Discovery Requests; Response; and Objections). The court did not adopt those amendments but instead asked the Committee to file a new report to address the proposed amendments to subsection (k) in a new case.  In re Amendments to Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.280(f), No. SC2025-0697, 2025 WL 1710912, at *1, n.2 (Fla. June 19, 2025). Stay tuned for further amendments to the rule.

For any additional questions, please contact Mihaela Cabulea.