It is difficult to ask a party filing an initial civil lawsuit also to choose an appellate court. Trial attorneys are arguably more concerned with jury pools than with the philosophy and differences between various appellate courts. Yet, overlooking this point can be costly. Florida offers different appellate remedies from its federal counterpart, and at distinctly different times.
For instance, the Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure permit immediate appeals of class certification orders. The federal rules do not—appeals are at the federal court’s discretion. As counsel for a newly served class-action defendant, your knee-jerk reaction might be to remove this class-action lawsuit from state court to federal court. Is this wise, however, when your priority is to ensure that this lawsuit does not proceed as a class action? By remaining in state court, you have the immediate right to appeal the class certification order. Unfortunately, this right is not available in federal court. At bottom, then, a party’s failure to consider appellate remedies from a lawsuit’s inception could deprive that party of valuable appellate options. Even worse, ignoring this issue might provide your opponent with appellate rights that otherwise would not have been available.