Florida goes to the Supreme Court

[Pratique]

3 hours ago, coffeebean said:

Does it matter where the location is? Color me naive.

It is less about the physical location as it is about forum shopping. It is well known that where possible litigants try to choose courts that are potentially "friendlier" to their cases or have so-called "rocket dockets" to move things along quickly. Although it is somewhat of a crapshoot there is some basis for it when you analyze the past rulings and paces of certain judges. There has been some judicial reform to cut down on interstate forum shopping but I don't think it applies in this scenario since it involves two federal courts in the same state.

[songbird1329]

On 8/2/2021 at 6:01 PM, Pratique said:

It is less about the physical location as it is about forum shopping. It is well known that where possible litigants try to choose courts that are potentially "friendlier" to their cases or have so-called "rocket dockets" to move things along quickly. Although it is somewhat of a crapshoot there is some basis for it when you analyze the past rulings and paces of certain judges. There has been some judicial reform to cut down on interstate forum shopping but I don't think it applies in this scenario since it involves two federal courts in the same state.

Um, yes, it matters.

 

I practice law in New York.

 

US District Court for the Eastern District of New York has two court houses.  The main court house is located in Brooklyn, NY.  The second court house is in suburban Central Islip.  As a defense attorney I’ll fight tooth and nail to keep a case in Central Islip, because the jury pool tends to be more suburban and conservative.  Brooklyn juries have been known to be much more plaintiff friendly.  

 

I don’t know much about the differences between Southern District of Florida and Eastern District of Florida, but I’m sure there are Florida attorneys who’d be happy to educate me.

[At Sea At Peace]

6 hours ago, songbird1329 said:

I don’t know much about the differences between Southern District of Florida and Eastern District of Florida, but I’m sure there are Florida attorneys who’d be happy to educate me.

 

Agree, it is a really common practice. 

 

Here are the three US District Court geographic boundaries in Florida.  Some say the Middle District is preferred by the State of Florida, but all three have similar appointment factors (which doesn't necessarily mean conservative et al as you mentioned, but certainly could IDK), with the Northern District the most unbalanced (in those factors) hosts the State Capitol and was not the forum of choice for Florida's initial litigation.

 

The Middle District represents 58-60% of Florida's population.

 

Of note, all are under the Appeal jurisdiction of the 11th.