ITEM 3.01 | REMEDIES FOR FRAUD ON THE COURT
Although a finding of fraud on the court generally has been premised on a proven outright lie on a critical issue or the intentional destruction or alteration of determinative evidence, whatever scheme or fraud a court finds must be supported by clear and convincing evidence that goes to “the very core issue at trial.”3
A trial court’s decision on whether to dismiss a case for fraud on the court is reviewed under a somewhat narrowed abuse of discretion standard, to take into account that the dismissal must be established by clear and convincing evidence.4 For the trial court to properly exercise its discretion, there must be an evidentiary basis to dismiss the case. An evidentiary hearing is almost always necessary to provide clear and convincing evidence to support dismissal for fraud, even where neither party requests the hearing.5 In a recent case, the third district court of appeal remanded the case to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing where the trial court had dismissed the case with prejudice based on fraud on the court.6
Footnotes
2 Cox v. Burke, 706 So. 2d 43, 46 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998).
3 E. I. Dupont DeNemours & Co. v. Sidran, 140 So. 3d 620, 623 (Fla. 3d DCA 2014).
4 Gautreaux v. Maya, 112 So. 3d 146, 149 (Fla. 5th DCA 2013).
5 Gilbert v. Eckerd Corp. of FL, Inc., 34 So. 3d 773(Fla. 4th DCA 2010).
6 Diaz v. Home Depot USA, Inc., 137 So. 3d 1195 (Fla. 3d DCA 2014).
You might need to reference it during your pursuit of justice.
For instance, you might need to examine this item in order to protect yourself from organizations/judges/lawyers who break the law (see this example of a Florida judge who outright committed perjury).
Nevertheless – and as always – please get the justice you deserve.
Sincerely,
www.TextBookDiscrimination.com
