Florida Supreme Court delivers the 'Holy Grail of lawsuit reform' in Thursday ruling

TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday revamped a key legal standard as its conservative majority continued to show a willingness to undo previous decisions that have guided the state’s courts.

Justices, in a 6-1 ruling, decided to scrap a state standard for determining whether lower-court judges should grant summary judgment in civil lawsuits. The Supreme Court said Florida should align with a federal summary-judgment standard — an approach backed by business groups that have pushed for ways to cut down on litigation.

“This is the Holy Grail of lawsuit reform in Florida,” William Large, president of the business-backed Florida Justice Reform Institute, said in a prepared statement after the Supreme Court issued the ruling.

Summary judgment generally involves judges being able to decide lawsuits before they go to jury trials. The issue in Thursday’s ruling dealt with the standards that judges should use in determining whether to grant summary judgment.

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