CopyCited 63 times | Published | Supreme Court of Florida | 1975 Fla. LEXIS 3808
...duties. "The Legislature has recently passed an act entitled the Florida Correctional Reform Act of 1974, with an effective date of July 1, 1974. The act was signed into law on May 31, 1974. Section 28 of the Florida Correctional Reform Act creates Section 944.292 of the Florida Statutes to read as follows: `Suspension of civil rights....
CopyCited 54 times | Published | Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit | 1983 U.S. App. LEXIS 15509
...nduct charge, and has a good institutional record. Bradbury was sentenced on March 2, 1971. Thus, it is possible that the Department would release Bradbury, thereby enabling him to marry. Bradbury’s right to marry is not suspended by Fla.Stat.Ann. § 944.292 (suspension of civil rights upon conviction of a felony)....
CopyCited 16 times | Published | Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit | 1994 U.S. App. LEXIS 2491, 1994 WL 43475
...l release by the Parole Commission. Fla.Stat. §
940.05 (1988). Based on this statute, Owens contends that because he served his entire sentence on the previous convictions, his civil rights should be deemed automatically restored. 5 Florida Statute §
944.292 provides that “[u]pon conviction of a felony ......
CopyCited 15 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 2004 WL 1877369
...Farkash,
476 So.2d 305 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985) (cited in Mitchell, with apparent approval,
786 So.2d at 528). In Lloyd, a Florida inmate sought to bring a malpractice action against his former lawyer.
476 So.2d at 306. The trial court dismissed the action on the authority of section
944.292, Florida Statutes (1983), which suspended all civil rights of anyone convicted of a felony until those rights were restored by pardon or other affirmative action. Id. On appeal, we reversed, holding that section
944.292 was an unconstitutional violation of the access-to-courts provision to the extent that "it purport[ed] to deprive convicted felons of their right to bring civil actions in state courts...." Id....
CopyCited 13 times | Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal | 1996 WL 1113
...Accordingly, the state of Florida has the constitutional authority to deny basic civil rights, including the right to vote and to serve on a jury, to a person convicted of a felony. Calhoun v. Department of Health and Rehab. Servs.,
500 So.2d 674 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987); §
944.292, Fla....
CopyCited 13 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 1988 WL 2632
...1st DCA 1986). [2] Appellant acknowledges that in most situations a convicted felon is aware of his legal status because his presence is required at pronouncement of the judgment and sentence. [3] Appellant cites no authority to support this assertion. Section 944.292, Florida Statutes (1985), provides: Upon conviction of a felony as defined in s....
CopyCited 6 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 10 Fla. L. Weekly 2311
...BE-447. District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District. October 9, 1985. *306 Winston Lloyd, pro se. Jack J. Fine of Fine, Farkash & Parlapiano, Gainesville, for appellee. BARFIELD, Judge. The issue presented by this appeal is whether Fla. Stat. § 944.292 (1983) unconstitutionally infringes upon a convicted felon's right of access to the courts....
...The trial court dismissed the complaint on authority of Watts v. Buck,
454 So.2d 1079 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984). The facts in Watts are virtually identical to those in the instant case and the district court found there that the plaintiff's right to maintain the action was barred by Fla. Stat. §
944.292 (1983): Upon conviction of a felony as defined in s....
...Eckert Co., 42 A.D.2d 243, 346 N.Y.S.2d 2 (1973) (same); see generally Annot., 74 A.L.R.3d 680 (1976). Only Oregon has reached a contrary result. Boatwright v. *307 State Industrial Accident Commission, 244 Ore. 140, 416 P.2d 328 (1966). Our investigation of the history of Fla. Stat. § 944.292 does not convince us that our interpretation is at odds with legislative intent....
...or released from the custody of the department without parole, at which time such civil rights are automatically reinstated. The only civil rights which shall be suspended by conviction are the right to vote, hold public office, and serve on a jury. § 944.292 (1975)....
...ch public necessity can be shown. Kluger v. White,
281 So.2d 1, 4 (Fla. 1973). Since no alternative was provided to convicted felons and we do not believe that an overpowering public necessity for the suspension can be shown, we find that Fla. Stat. §
944.292 (1983), insofar as it purports to deprive convicted felons of their right to bring civil actions in state courts, violates Florida's Constitution....
CopyCited 5 times | Published | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal
...He raises two points, neither of which has merit, although one deserves comment. Defendant's conviction for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon was based on his violation of section
790.23, Florida Statutes (1981). Defendant points out that while section
944.292, Florida Statutes (1981), provides for suspension of a convicted felon's civil rights, it does not specifically define "civil rights." Thus, he argues, the statute should be construed in his favor by our holding that when his "civil rights" were suspended, his right to possess a firearm was not....
CopyCited 5 times | Published | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 1998 WL 329374
...concealed weapon. However, there is a statutory exception for those felons whose civil rights and firearm authority have been restored. Although appellant's civil rights and firearm authority had been restored in Connecticut, appellee maintains that section 944.292(1), Florida Statutes (1995), and section 8, article IV of the Florida Constitution work together to require appellant to apply to the Governor of Florida for restoration of his civil rights in this State....
...To the contrary, he arrived as any other citizen, with full rights of citizenship. Appellant must not now be required, twenty-five years later, to ask this State to restore his civil rights. They were never lost here. The two provisions that appellee contends require appellant to have his civil rights restored in Florida are section 944.292(1), Florida Statutes (1995), and section 8, article IV of the Florida Constitution. Section 944.292(1), Florida Statutes (1995), provides that, upon conviction of a felony, a person's civil rights are suspended in Florida until they are restored by a full pardon, conditional pardon, or restoration of civil rights under section 8, article IV of the Florida Constitution....
CopyCited 4 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal
...Although the Hearing Officer recommended that appellants be permitted to marry, the Department entered a final order denying appellants permission to marry on the grounds that the proposed marriage would adversely affect both prison security and Washington's rehabilitation interests and because Section
944.292, Florida Statutes (1979), automatically suspended Washington's right to marry. Although we conclude there is sufficient evidence to support the Department's determination that the proposed marriage would adversely affect prison security and Washington's rehabilitation interests, Section
944.292 does not automatically suspend the right of convicted felons to marry. Department of Corrections v. Roseman,
390 So.2d 394 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980). Section
944.292 provides: Upon conviction of a felony as defined in Section 10, Article X of the State Constitution, the civil rights of the person convicted shall be suspended in Florida until such rights are restored by a full pardon, conditional p...
...that the Department of Corrections has statutory authority to promulgate rules on the subject of marriages by prison inmates and that those rules were constitutionally valid although they are not applicable to the present appeal. Consequently, since Section 944.292 expressly limits the mechanism for restoration of civil rights automatically suspended by its operation to that provided in Article IV, Section 8, of the Florida Constitution and the Department of Corrections has authority to regulate inmate marriages, it naturally flows that the right to marry cannot be considered automatically suspended under the Statute. Therefore, we reverse the final order to the extent that it holds that Section 944.292 automatically suspends the right of convicted felons to marry noninmates....
...ds that the proposed marriage would adversely affect prison security and appellant Washington's rehabilitation interests, it is affirmed. Otherwise, to the extent the order finds appellant Washington's right to marry is automatically suspended under Section 944.292, it is reversed....
CopyCited 4 times | Published | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 11 Fla. L. Weekly 415
...Shortly before trial was to commence, Wanicka successfully moved to abate the action because McCuiston, in the interim, had been convicted of a felony and sentenced to state prison. Thus, Wanicka maintained, McCuiston had been divested of his civil rights by virtue of section
944.292, Florida Statutes (1983). In Watts v. Buck,
454 So.2d 1079 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984), we interpreted this statute as including the right to maintain a civil action. Statutes such as section
944.292 are commonly known as "civil death" statutes, from the common law notion that a convicted felon is civiliter mortuus....
...comparable "civil death" statutes. See, e.g., Hammett v. San Ore Construction Co., 195 Kan. 122, 402 P.2d 820 (1965); Boatwright v. State Industrial Accident Commission, 244 Or. 140, 416 P.2d 328 (1966). Until the adoption of the present version of section
944.292, the concept of "civil death" for convicted felons apparently was not recognized in Florida jurisprudence. See, e.g., Willingham v. King,
23 Fla. 478,
2 So. 851 (1887). As originally enacted in 1974, our statute provided that, "the only civil rights which shall be suspended by conviction are the right to vote, hold public office, and serve on a jury." §
944.292, Fla....
...In addition to the portions of the statute deemed objectionable by the supreme court, the 1976 legislature also deleted the specific and limited enumeration of the civil rights forfeited by convicted felons. So far *491 as we know, Watts represents the first time an appellate court in this state was called upon to interpret section 944.292 as amended. In the instant case, petitioner calls upon this court to revisit section 944.292 in light of a recent decision from another District Court of Appeal declaring the statute unconstitutional....
...The appellant in Lloyd, like the petitioner in Watts, was a state prisoner who sued his attorney for malpractice. The trial court dismissed Lloyd's complaint, in part, on the authority of Watts, and Lloyd appealed. The first district did not quarrel with our literal reading of section
944.292, but found that the result "runs afoul of constitutional provisions guaranteeing access to the courts" and held section
944.292 unconstitutional "insofar as it purports to deprive convicted felons of their right to bring civil actions in state courts." Lloyd,
476 So.2d at 308. We agree with the decision in Lloyd and hold that section
944.292, Florida Statutes (1983), violates the constitutions of both the United States and state of Florida....
...Estelle,
551 F.2d 68, 70 (5th Cir.1977) ("[R]easonable access to the courts must include access in general civil legal matters."); Souza v. Travisono,
368 F. Supp. 959 (D.R.I. 1973). We must conclude, therefore, that the right of access to the courts cannot be reconciled with such all-encompassing statutory provisions as section
944.292....
...There, a statute suspending civil rights, including the right to initiate civil actions, was held to violate both the due process and equal protection clauses of the fourteenth amendment. See also Bilello v. A.J. Eckert Co., 42 A.D.2d 243, 346 N.Y.S.2d 2 (1973). We also hold that section 944.292 violates article 1, section 21, of the Florida Constitution, which guarantees access to the courts to "all persons." [1] A comparable provision has been included in all Florida's Constitutions since 1838....
...Cloniger,
294 So.2d 344 (Fla. 1st DCA 1974). G.B.B. Investments. "The law abhors the denial of access to the courts for any other reason than a wilful abuse of the processes of the court." Rashard v. Cappiali,
171 So.2d 581, 583 (Fla. 3d DCA 1965). In holding section
944.292 unconstitutional, we find no compelling rationale for overriding the right of access....
CopyCited 3 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal
...not be convicted under the statute. The trial judge denied the motion and appellant pled nolo contendere to the charge conditioned upon his right to appeal the denial of the motion. This appeal followed appellant's conviction. Appellant argues that § 944.292, Florida Statutes (1979) provides that a felon's "civil rights" shall be suspended unless reinstated by the Governor....
...He urges that because the statute does not define "civil rights", the term is ambiguous and should be construed in his favor, to wit, that the "civil rights" suspended do not included the right to possess a firearm. He further argues that although current Florida law does not define "civil rights", the former law, §
944.292, Florida Statutes (1975) (declared unconstitutional on unrelated grounds in In re: Advisory Opinion of the Governor Civil Rights,
306 So.2d 520 (Fla....
CopyCited 2 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 1990 WL 146766
...the file shall be forwarded to the appropriate [judge of compensation claims] who shall, after service of notice to the parties by regular mail ... and opportunity for hearing, dismiss the claim or petition, unless a party shows good cause why the claim or *994 petition should remain pending. [emphasis added] Section 944.292(2), Florida Statutes, as amended in 1988, provides that the suspension of a prisoner's civil rights "shall not be construed to deny a convicted felon access to the courts, as guaranteed by s....
...The Lloyd case holds (
476 So.2d at 308): Since no alternative was provided to convicted felons [for redress of injuries] and we do not believe that an overpowering public necessity for the suspension [of access to court] can be shown, we find that Fla. Stat. §
944.292 (1983), insofar as it purports to deprive convicted felons of their right to bring civil actions in state courts, violates Florida's Constitution....
CopyCited 2 times | Published | Florida 3rd District Court of Appeal | 12 Fla. L. Weekly 197
CopyCited 1 times | Published | District Court, N.D. Florida | 2016 WL 1122884, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36121
...l predicate of it. In short, I have not decided thbt the JCI inmates lack political equality with their “neighbors” in Jefferson County — the State of Florida has. Florida has explicitly deprived the JCI inmates of their voting rights, • see § 944.292(1), Fla....
CopyPublished | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 9 Fla. L. Weekly 1909, 1984 Fla. App. LEXIS 14944
...We deny the petition. As to the first point, we find no clear departure from the essential requirements of law in the trial court’s ruling that petitioner’s right to maintain this particular action constitutes one of the civil rights suspended under section 944.292, Florida Statutes (1983)....
...1975), misplaced to the extent that the cited opinion addresses a statutory predecessor to the current provision which specifically provided that the “only civil rights which shall be suspended by conviction are the right to vote, hold public office, and serve on a jury.” See § 944.292, Fla.Stat....
...ment of counsel. See In the Interest of D.B.,
385 So.2d 83, 89 (Fla.1980); McKay v. Jenkins,
405 So.2d 287, 288 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981). Accordingly, the petition for writ of cer-tiorari is DENIED. HOBSON, A.C.J., and BOARDMAN and DANAHY, JJ., concur. . Section
944.292, Florida Statutes (1983), provides: Suspension of civil rights....
...X of the State Constitution, the civil rights of the person convicted shall be suspended in Florida until such rights are restored by a full pardon, conditional pardon, or restoration of civil rights granted pursuant to s. 8, Art. IV of the State Constitution. . Section 944.292, Florida Statutes (1975), provides: Suspension of civil rights....
CopyPublished | Supreme Court of Florida | 1976 Fla. LEXIS 4360
Constitution, art. IV § 8 and art. VI § 4 (1975); Section 944.-292, Florida Statutes (1975) (“civil rights which
CopyPublished | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal | 2006 Fla. App. LEXIS 7766, 2006 WL 1329387
...is one discrepancy. He lists the dates of his various felony convictions and two appear to have occurred after 1995. In the same petition, however, he states that his civil rights have never been suspended and, if they have, they have been restored. Section 944.292(1), Florida Statutes, states, “[u]pon conviction of a felony ......
CopyPublished | District Court, N.D. Florida
...shall be qualified to vote or hold office until restoration of civil rights." FLA. CONST. art. VI, § 4 (a) (emphasis added). "[T]he civil rights of the person convicted shall be suspended in Florida until such rights are restored ..." FLA. STAT. ANN. § 944.292(1) (emphasis added)....
...IT IS ORDERED: 1. For the reasons set forth in its prior order, ECF No. 144, dated February 1, 2018, and this Order, the Clerk shall enter judgment stating: a. " FLA. CONST. art. VI, § 4 (a), FLA. CONST. art. IV § 8, FLA. STAT. §
97.041(2)(b), FLA. STAT. §
944.292(1), and the Florida Rules of Executive Clemency, violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution to the extent these provisions provide the Executive Clemency Board unfettered discretion to grant or deny resto...
CopyPublished | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 11 Fla. L. Weekly 625, 1986 Fla. App. LEXIS 6853
FERGUSON, Judge. We agree with the first and second districts 1 that Florida’s so-called “civil death” *470 statute, section 944.292, Florida Statutes (1985), to the extent that it deprives a person convicted of a crime of bringing or defending a civil action in the courts of this state until his civil rights are restored, is unconstitutional....
CopyPublished | Florida 3rd District Court of Appeal | 11 Fla. L. Weekly 1375, 1986 Fla. App. LEXIS 8379
PER CURIAM. We grant the petition for certiorari and quash the court’s order of December 12, 1985 suspending the plaintiff’s cause of action. We join with our sister courts in holding that Section 944.292, Florida Statutes (1983) is unconstitutional as construed by the trial court to bar the appellant, who has been convicted of a felony and not had his “civil rights” restored under any of the procedures set out in the statute, from...
CopyPublished | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 11 Fla. L. Weekly 1350, 1986 Fla. App. LEXIS 8302
Florida’s courts was suspended pursuant to section
944.292, Florida Statutes (1983), and Watts v. Buck
CopyPublished | Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
...VI, § 4(a) (amended 2018) (“[A]ny disqualification from voting arising
from a felony conviction shall terminate and voting rights shall be restored upon completion of
all terms of sentence including parole or probation.”).
4
The legislature amended Fla. Stat. § 944.292(1) by adding the following sentence:
“Notwithstanding the suspension of civil rights, such a convicted person may obtain restoration
of his or her voting rights pursuant to s....
CopyPublished | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 11 Fla. L. Weekly 500, 1986 Fla. App. LEXIS 6434
...Appellant, a convicted felon, filed a petition for name change in the Tenth Judicial Circuit. The trial court entered an order abating the petition until appellant’s civil rights were restored. The court entered its order on the basis of Watts v. Buck,
454 So.2d 1079 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984), in which we held that section
944.292, Florida Statutes (1983), prevents a convicted felon from maintaining a civil action in Florida’s courts until his civil rights have been restored....
...Wanicka,
483 So.2d 489 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986), however, decided subsequent to Watts , we agreed with the decision of our sister court in Lloyd v. Farkash,
476 So.2d 305 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985). In Lloyd , the first district did not challenge our interpretation of section
944.292, but found that the result Violated constitutional provisions guaranteeing access to the courts....
CopyPublished | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal
...We need not
reach this alternative rationale as we affirm the trial court’s order
on the grounds set forth therein.
3
the approval of two cabinet members, grant full or conditional
pardons or restore civil rights. See also §
940.01(1), Fla. Stat.
(2023) (stating the same); §
944.292(1), Fla....
...Yet, by adopting Bailey’s
position, we would elevate another state’s treatment of federal
felony convictions above Florida’s treatment of the convictions, and
in doing so we would substitute Missouri’s statute (section
561.021.2) for Florida’s constitutional and statutory provisions
(article VI, section 4(a) and section 944.292(1))....
CopyPublished | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 1983 Fla. App. LEXIS 22591
appeal that the civil rights suspended under section
944.292, Florida Statutes (1979),1 do not include possession
