Civil Cases

I read, with interest, the article in the January Bar News regarding the Supreme Court considering wide-ranging changes aimed at streamlining civil cases.

I have now practiced law for 42 years and tried my share of cases. I have been a board­ certified civil trial lawyer since 1993. In my early years, civil trials were fairly frequent. However, since the passage of the proposal for settlement rule and the advent of mediation, civil trials are few and far between. I have friends that are circuit judges in Northwest Florida. It appears that there are only three to six civil jury trials a year, per judge, even in non-COVID years.