The Florida Supreme Court issued orders in May that substantially changed the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure. While these modifications are many, this article will focus on some of the biggest changes that will impact civil litigators across the state. These changes take effect Jan. 1, 2025, a date rapidly approaching.

Hearings on Motions for Summary Judgment

The first change, contained in Florida Supreme Court Order No. SC2024-0662, amends Rule 1.510, which governs motions for summary judgment, their responses and related hearings. The prior version of the rule, still in effect, requires the moving party to file and serve its motion for summary judgment “at least 40 days before the time fixed for the hearing.” This 40-day waiting period was often a bane of the moving party’s existence in situations where it was able to file the motion before case-specific deadlines by which all dispositive motions be heard, but where the rule’s waiting period would push the hearing past the deadline and preclude the motion from being heard at all.