Effective July 1, 2008, new court filing fees went into effect in Florida state courts that make filing a claim, including a counterclaim or cross-claim, substantially more expensive in certain cases. Most notably, the filing fee for county court evictions increased from $80 to $270, a 238% increase. Additionally, there was previously no fee assessed for filing a counterclaim or cross-claim, but there is now: $295.00. This means that a defendant who wishes to "counter sue" a plaintiff must now pay slightly more than the plaintiff in filing fees in order to assert a claim against the plaintiff in the same lawsuit. It also means that landlords are likely to do more to try and resolve a claim before filing an eviction action against a tenant, or perhaps engage in "self-help" to ensure that non-paying tenants vacate.
This development is not surprising, given the lack of funding that has been provided to our state court system by the Florida legislature. It is also unlikely to curtail the filing of most lawsuits because, except in eviction cases, filing fees are not substantial enough to serve as a deterrent to filing suit. What is probably of greatest concern is that landlords may attempt to avoid paying the filing fees in eviction actions by taking matters into their own hands, and forcing tenants out by other means. If this occurs, we may see an increase in civil actions against landlords by tenants that claim the landlord violated Florida's landlord-tenant statutes by doing things such as turning off utilities, changing locks, or blocking access to rental units, all of which are prohibited.
There is no doubt that our courts need more funding, the state court system is already operating on a shoestring budget as it is. However, increasing fees is a short term fix to a long-term problem. Electronic case management and filing (ECMF), already being used by most federal courts, is a means by which we can reduce or eliminate the need for future rate increases. Once an initial pleading is filed, ECMF permits the parties and/or attorneys for the parties to file documents with the clerk of the court electronically, bypassing the need for the clerk's office to process the vast amount of paper that is being processed now. It also reduces the cost, and increases the speed, of litigation - a benefit to both plaintiffs and defendants.
The Florida State Court system is working on implementing ECMF, but again, the problem is funding. It amounts to a "chicken and egg" dilemma, where the State is required to invest money in order to save money. Of all of the worthwhile projects that deserve funding, ECMF should be at the top of the list. Perhaps when the new filing fees begin to impact the pocketbooks of attorneys and their clients, we may see a greater interest in addressing our court funding shortfall.
