Florida Case Law Search: Search Florida Case Law, Court Opinions, and Precedent
Florida added a sixth District Court of Appeal in 2023 and redrew the district map with it, so which DCA binds your trial court may not be the one you remember. Ask in plain English and get the on-point Florida authority with a citation you can check.
How courts have ruled
Sample results, illustrative only. Informational research, not legal advice. Verify every citation.
In short
Florida case law search means finding decisions of the Supreme Court of Florida and the District Courts of Appeal that control your issue. With Cases you describe the question in plain English, such as whether a Florida residential lease can waive the landlord's duty to repair, and you get on-point Florida precedents back as headnote cards with a plain-English summary, the holding, and a real citation you confirm in the official reporter. Two features define Florida research. First, under Pardo v. State, 596 So. 2d 665 (Fla. 1992), a District Court of Appeal decision binds every trial court in the state where no contrary DCA decision exists, so an out-of-district DCA opinion can control your circuit court until your own DCA rules otherwise. Second, Florida reorganized its appellate map effective January 2023, creating a Sixth District Court of Appeal and reassigning counties among the districts, so the district that governs a given county may have changed. Cases is informational research, not legal advice. Verify every citation before you rely on it.
Who binds whom
Which Florida court binds your case, and where the opinion is published
| Court | Precedential weight | Reporter |
|---|---|---|
| Supreme Court of Florida | Highest court. Binds every court in Florida. | So. 3d |
| District Courts of Appeal (6 districts) | Intermediate appellate courts. A DCA decision binds all Florida trial courts where no contrary DCA decision exists. | So. 3d |
| Circuit and county courts | Trial courts. Decisions are not binding precedent. | Generally unreported |
| Eleventh Circuit and Florida district courts | Bind on federal questions. Persuasive only on questions of Florida law. | F.4th, F. Supp. 3d |
Example citation format: Pardo v. State, 596 So. 2d 665 (Fla. 1992). Learn to read the parts in our guide to reading and writing legal citations.
How to search
Three steps from a Florida legal question to an on-point case you can cite
01
Ask the question, not the keyword
Describe the Florida issue the way you would explain it to a colleague. No terms and connectors, no proximity operators, no guessing at the phrasing a headnote editor used.
02
Read the holding on the card
Each result comes back as a headnote card with a plain-English summary and the holding, so you can tell in seconds whether the case is on point before you open the full opinion.
03
Verify the citation at the source
Every card shows a real citation. Confirm it in the official reporter and check it is still good law. You stay the gatekeeper on anything that goes into a filing.
Where it earns its keep
Florida research areas where finding the on-point case is the whole job
Property insurance and first-party claims
Florida's property insurance litigation, including assignment of benefits and the 2022 and 2023 statutory reforms, produces a fast-moving body of appellate authority where recency matters a great deal.
Condominium and HOA disputes
Chapter 718 and the post-Surfside structural integrity reserve rules have generated new questions that trial courts are answering with limited appellate guidance so far.
Personal injury and comparative fault
The 2023 tort reform package changed the negligence landscape, which means older Florida authority must be checked against the current statute before you rely on it.
Free Florida case law sources, and where they run out
You can read Florida appellate opinions for nothing. The state courts publish them, Google Scholar indexes them, and CourtListener carries them with a usable search. If you already know the case you want, a free source will get you the text in under a minute, and there is no reason to pay for that.
Free sources run out in two places. The first is finding a case you do not already know about: keyword search over raw opinion text rewards whoever guesses the court's vocabulary, and a Florida opinion that decides your exact issue in different words stays invisible. The second is verification. None of the free options tells you whether a case has been overruled, distinguished into nothing, or superseded by statute, which is the check that keeps a brief out of trouble.
Cases sits in the first gap. You ask in plain English, you get on-point Florida precedent with the holding on the card, and you get a real citation to confirm at the source. It is priced on the page starting at 29 dollars per month, not quoted after a sales call like the incumbents, and you can read the honest comparison on our Westlaw alternative page. It is informational research, not legal advice, and you verify every citation before you rely on it.
Questions researchers ask
Florida case law research, answered
How do I search Florida case law?
To search Florida case law, describe the issue in plain English, then confirm which District Court of Appeal now covers your county, since the districts were redrawn in 2023. Work down from the Supreme Court of Florida to the DCAs. The Florida Supreme Court and DCA websites publish opinions free, as do Google Scholar and CourtListener. Verify each citation in the official reporter before relying on it.
Are Florida DCA decisions binding on all trial courts?
Yes, with a wrinkle. Under Pardo v. State, 596 So. 2d 665 (Fla. 1992), a decision of any District Court of Appeal binds all Florida trial courts unless the DCA covering that trial court has decided the issue differently. So a Second DCA opinion controls a circuit court in another district that has no contrary authority of its own. When two DCAs conflict, the Supreme Court of Florida can take the case to resolve the conflict.
How many District Courts of Appeal does Florida have?
Six. Florida operated with five District Courts of Appeal for decades, then added a Sixth DCA effective January 1, 2023, following a recommendation to rebalance caseloads. The change also reassigned counties among districts, so if you are relying on which DCA governs a county, confirm it against the current map rather than memory or an older source.
Where can I find Florida case law for free?
The Supreme Court of Florida and each District Court of Appeal publish their opinions on the state courts website at no cost, and Florida law libraries link to the same feeds. Google Scholar and CourtListener also carry Florida appellate opinions. None of these free options includes a citator, so a separate check that a case is still good law remains necessary before you cite it.
What reporter is Florida case law published in?
Florida appellate opinions are published in the Southern Reporter, currently the third series (So. 3d). Florida no longer maintains a separate official state reporter, so So. 3d is the cite you will use, with the court and year in the parenthetical, for example (Fla. 1992) for the Supreme Court of Florida and (Fla. 2d DCA 2021) for a District Court of Appeal.
Search Florida case law in plain English
Ask the way you would say it out loud and get the on-point Florida precedents, each with a summary, the holding, and a citation you can check. Informational research, not legal advice.