Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...remarks during closing argument did not constitute reversible error. Rodgers argues that the Ryce Act, on its face and as applied, violates equal protection because the State failed to create administrative rules to implement the Act as required by section 394.930, Florida Statutes (2000), before Rodgers' trial took place in January 2001. The State responds that the Department of Children and Families promulgated administrative rules pursuant to section 394.930 and those rules became effective on October 7, 2001, citing Florida Administrative Code Chapter 65E-25....

...at the evidence is not reliable. However, hearsay evidence may not serve as the sole basis for the involuntary civil commitment of a person subject to the proceedings. (b) No rule adopted by the Department of Children and Family Services pursuant to section 394.930, Florida Statutes, as amended, shall constitute (1) an evidentiary predicate for the admission of any testimony of physical evidence; (2) a basis for excluding or limiting the presentation of any testimony or physical evidence; or (3)...

...final judgment which shall be appealable pursuant to the applicable Rules of Appellate Procedure. NOTES [1] The Legislature, in Chapter 99-222, Laws of Florida, renumbered sections 916.30 through 916.49, Florida Statutes, as sections 394.910 through 394.930....

...an appropriate facility for housing pretrial detainees. This requires an interpretation of what constitutes an "appropriate secure facility" under section 394.915. No administrative remedies currently exist to adequately address this issue. Although section 394.930(4) authorizes DCF to adopt rules for the designation of secure facilities and such rules potentially could provide a viable avenue for administrative review of whether a particular facility is an "appropriate secure facility" within the meaning of the Act, DCF apparently has not adopted such rules....

...under rule 4.460 are governed by Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.850. (3) - (5) [NO CHANGE] - 24 -  (b) Department of Children and Family Services Rules. No rule adopted by the Department of Children and Family Services pursuant to section 394.930, Florida Statutes, as amended, shall constitutes (1) an evidentiary predicate for the admission of any testimony of physical evidence; (2) a basis for excluding or limiting the presentation of any testimony or physical evidence; or (3...

...Although the requested instruction tracks the language of an administrative code provision, where an agency adopts a rule that conflicts with a statute, the statute prevails. Johnson v. State, 709 So.2d 623, 624 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998). Moreover, the specific authority for the code provision is section 394.930, Florida Statutes. Section 394.9155 states in relevant part, that: Rules adopted under s. 394.930 shall not constitute: (a) An evidentiary predicate for the admission of any physical evidence or testimony; (b) A basis for excluding or otherwise limiting the presentation of any physical evidence or testimony in judicial proceedings unde...

...under rule 4.460 are governed by Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.850. (3) - (5) [NO CHANGE] - 24 -  (b) Department of Children and Family Services Rules. No rule adopted by the Department of Children and Family Services pursuant to section 394.930, Florida Statutes, as amended, shall constitutes (1) an evidentiary predicate for the admission of any testimony of physical evidence; (2) a basis for excluding or limiting the presentation of any testimony or physical evidence; or (3...

...en and Families. See Dep’t of Corrs. v. Adams, 458 So.2d 354, 356 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984) (explaining that individual facilities acting under agency guidance are not themselves “agencies” for purposes of the Administrative Procedure Act); see also § 394.930, Fla....