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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D">I’m hearing the bill has gotten through committee without any “NO” votes and that the bill will likely pass the House with unanimous vote on Monday. Not sure
 on the Senate side.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:12.0pt"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black">Gary L. Brown</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#535A61"> </span><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#535A61">|</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#535A61"> Partner<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:12.0pt"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#535A61">Board Certified in Construction Law</span></b><b><span style="color:#1F497D">
</span></b><b><span style="color:#1F497D"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#002060">SAUL EWING ARNSTEIN & LEHR LLP</span></b><span style="color:#1F497D"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#535A61">200 E. Las Olas Blvd., Suite 1000 </span><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#535A61">|</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#535A61"> Fort
 Lauderdale, FL 33301 </span><span style="color:#1F497D"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#535A61">Tel: 954.713.7615 </span><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#535A61">|</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#535A61"> Fax: 954.713.7715
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:12.0pt"><u><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#0536B3"><a href="mailto:gary.brown@saul.com"><span style="color:blue">gary.brown@saul.com</span></a></span></u><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#0536B3"> </span><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#535A61">|</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#0536B3"> <u><a href="http://www.saul.com"><span style="color:blue">www.saul.com</span></a></u>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:red">* Please note that our Firm name and my email address have changed.</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:red"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif""> clc-discussion-bounces@lists.flabarrpptl.org [mailto:clc-discussion-bounces@lists.flabarrpptl.org]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Barry Kalmanson<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, February 28, 2018 4:02 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> clc-discussion@lists.flabarrpptl.org<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [CLC-Discussion] IMMEDIATE ATTENTION -- HB 7061 / SB 1384 / jurisdictional limits of county courts<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">All,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> I’d like to bring your attention to a pair of bills with substantial negative unintended consequences.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><br>
HB 7061 and SB 1384 raise the jurisdictional limit for county courts from $15,000 to $50,000. This also means that circuit courts, rather than District Courts of Appeal, would handle appeals on cases up to $50,000.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">HB 7061 is on Special Order for this Friday. SB 1384 is stuck in Approps. I believe the incoming Senate leadership is more sensitive to the problems with this legislation,
 so that is a good place for input if you agree this is a bad (or at least not fully cooked) bill.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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Here’s a statement I just received analyzing the issue:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">“Changing the jurisdictional limit for county and circuit courts will negatively impact our judicial system in ways we should avoid. Currently, issues handled in
 circuit court above $15,000 are appealed to the District Courts of Appeal, but HB 7061 and SB 1384 will put appeals on matters up to $50,000 back into the circuit courts.”<br>
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“Our circuit courts may not be able to handle the results. Parties who might not bother to appeal a $15,000 decision may think differently about $50,000, and that will have a caseload impact. Meanwhile, unlike judges on the five DCAs, circuit court judges won’t
 have law clerks to help them with the higher workload."<br>
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“In addition, the business community wants the consistency and transparency of the DCA appellate process. These bills will lead to twenty circuits worth of appeals to search and reconcile, rather than the five DCAs."<br>
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“Finally, DCA judges are required to have at least ten years experience, and usually have much more, and they are simply better prepared to handle the complexity that comes with higher dollar cases."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">Please contact your legislators<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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    <br />
    <div><font size="1"><font color="#0000ff"><font face="Tahoma" color="#000000">"Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP (saul.com)" has made the following annotations:</font></font></font></div>
    <div><font face="Arial" size="2">+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+<br /></font></div>
    <div><span class="422220113-20062005"></span><font face="Arial" size="1">This e-mail may contain privileged, confidential, copyrighted, or other legally protected information. If you are not the intended recipient (even if the e-mail address is yours), you may not use, copy, or retransmit it. If you have received this by mistake please notify us by return e-mail, then delete.</font></div>
    <div><font face="Arial" size="2">+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+<br /></font></div>
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