After a multi-year effort, the Florida Supreme Court has affirmed numerous substantive changes to the rules of Civil Procedure, including Rule 1.820(h), instituting substantive changes in the procedure for rejecting a non-binding arbitration order. Since the amendment, if a party wishes to reject the arbitration decision, a request for trial and a notice of rejection of the arbitration decision is required. Prior to July 1, 2024, no specific notice of rejection was required; the “some notice” requirement, such as a notice for Trial de novo, provided fair notice that the arbitration order was rejected. Now, a failure to file a notice of rejection of the arbitration decision and request for trial in the same document within 20 days of the arbitration decision will result in the court entering an order enforcing the terms of the arbitration decision.
(h) Notice of Rejection of the Arbitration Decision and Request for Trial. To reject the arbitration decision, within 20 days of service of the arbitrator(’s)(s’) written decision, any party must file a notice of rejection of the arbitration decision and request for trial in the same document. No action or inaction by any party, other than the filing of the notice, will be deemed a rejection of the arbitration decision. If a notice of rejection of the arbitration decision and request for trial is filed by any party, any party having a third-party claim at issue at the time of arbitration may file a notice of rejection of the arbitration decision and request for trial within 10 days of service of the first notice of rejection of the arbitration decision and request for trial. If a notice of rejection of the arbitration decision and request for trial is not made within 20 days of service on the parties of the decision, the decision must be referred to the presiding judge, who must enter such orders and judgments as may be required to carry out the terms of the decision as provided by section 44.103(5), Florida Statutes.
This change has resulted in mistakes and litigation.
In People’s Trust Insurance Company v. Hernandez, 4D2024-3274 (Fla. 4th DCA March 26, 2025), the Fourth District held that a party seeking to reject a non-binding arbitration award and proceed to trial must strictly comply with Rule 1.820(h)’s requirement of filing a notice of rejection of the arbitration award and request for trial in the same document. After the arbitrator returned its decision on the plaintiff’s first-party property damage claim, the plaintiff filed a Motion for Trial De Novo but did not include a notice of rejection of the arbitration decision, as required by the amendments to rule 1.820(h). The trial court denied the insurer’s motion to enforce the arbitration decision, but the Fourth District reversed, agreeing with the insurer that the plaintiff’s motion was deficient because it did not expressly reject the arbitration decision. The court rejected the plaintiff’s argument that its motion substantially complied with rule 1.820(h), relying on the rule’s requirement that a party must file the notice of rejection and request for trial “in the same document,” and the provision that “[n]o action or inaction by any party, other than the filing of the notice, will be deemed a rejection of the arbitration decision.” The court cited to Lawnwood Medical Center, Inc. v. Rouse, 394 So. 3d 51 (Fla. 4th DCA 2024), where the court ruled that Rule 1.820(h) would be strictly enforced, and parties must take care to comply with its requirements if they decide to reject a nonbinding arbitration award and proceed to trial. The court refused to resurrect the “some notice” standard established in Nicholson-Kenny Capital Management, Inc. v. Steinberg, 932 So. 2d 321 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006), observing that doing so “would erroneously reopen a door which we had correctly closed.”
In summary, the Rule changes have been confirmed to require the addition of a formal statement of rejection of the arbitration decision by the party moving for trial. Without such a formal rejection in the same pleading, the presiding judge must enter an order of judgment, and the parties are bound to the arbitration decision.
