Florida Statutes

Fla. Stat. § 90.604 (2025)

Lack of personal knowledge.

✓ 2025 Florida Statutes — current through the 2025 Regular Session
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90.604 Lack of personal knowledge.Except as otherwise provided in s. 90.702, a witness may not testify to a matter unless evidence is introduced which is sufficient to support a finding that the witness has personal knowledge of the matter. Evidence to prove personal knowledge may be given by the witness’s own testimony.
History.s. 1, ch. 76-237; s. 1, ch. 77-77; s. 22, ch. 78-361; s. 1, ch. 78-379; s. 483, ch. 95-147.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 54 cases (10 in the last 5 years), 1980–2025 · leading case: Rivera v. State, 859 So. 2d 495 (Fla. 2003).
Rivera v. State, 859 So. 2d 495 (Fla. 2003). · cites it 6× “See § 90.604, Fla. Stat. (2001). Second, testimony about Miriam's own drug abuse would not prove or disprove a material fact as to Rivera's drug use.”
Orton v. State, 212 So. 3d 377 (Fla. 4th DCA 2017). · cites it 6× “On the other hand, a speculation objection is rooted in section 90.604, Florida Statutes, which requires a witness to have personal knowledge of any matter testified to.”
State of Florida v. Eric Lucas, 183 So. 3d 1027 (Fla. 2016). · cites it 4× “See § 90.604, Fla. Stat. (2015). If a defendant alleges in a rule 3.”
State of Florida v. Donna Horwitz, 191 So. 3d 429 (Fla. 2016). · cites it 2× “…the requisite personal knowledge to testify regarding Horwitz’s silence in the presence of some of the witnesses. See § 90.604, Fla. Stat. (2011).”
L.L. v. State, 189 So. 3d 252 (Fla. 3d DCA 2016). · cites it 2× “witness’s personal knowledge,-section 90.604, Florida Statutes, and perceptions, section 90.”
& SC13-1787 Steven Douglas Hayward v. State of Florida & Steven Douglas Hayward v. Julie L. Jones, etc., 183 So. 3d 286 (Fla. 2015). · cites it 4× “Section 90.604, Florida Statutes (2007), • provides that a witness may not testify to a matter unless evidence is introduced sufficient to support a finding that the witness has personal knowledge of the matter.”
Serrano v. State, 15 So. 3d 629 (Fla. 1st DCA 2009). · cites it 4× “See § 90.604, Fla. Stat. (2006). *639 Although the questions at issue, if taken further, might well have entered the province of expert opinion testimony, we cannot conclude the trial court committed an abuse of discretion in permitting the lay witnesses to testify regarding…”
Roman v. State, 475 So. 2d 1228 (Fla. 1985). · cites it 2× “We need go no further than section 90.604, Florida Statutes (1981): 90.”
Victorino v. State, 127 So. 3d 478 (Fla. 2013). · cites it 2× “Speculative Lay Opinion Evidence Relying on section 90.604, Florida Statutes (2006), which provides that a “witness may not testify to a matter unless .”
Richard Allen Johnson v. State of Florida, 135 So. 3d 1002 (Fla. 2014). · cites it 2× “See § 90.604, Fla. Stat. (2006). Counsel cannot be deficient for failing to raise a merit-less objection.”
Roseman v. Town Square Ass'n, Inc., 810 So. 2d 516 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002). · cites it 2× “Section 90.604, Florida Statutes (1999), prohibits testimony by a witness who does not have personal knowledge of a matter.”
Doctors Co. v. State, Dept. of Ins., 940 So. 2d 466 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006). · cites it 2× “See § 90.604, Fla. Stat. (2005). [2] Mr. Buttner also admitted that he had relied on information from other consultants in his firm in forming his opinion.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.

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