Bell Transport, LLC v. Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
The Department seized a truck under the Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act on December 17, 2021, and filed its ex parte probable cause application on January 6, 2022. The Second District held the filing was untimely because December 30, 2021 (and arguably December 22) were 'business days' under section 932.703(2)(a) notwithstanding the governor's announcement closing state offices, and reversed the ex parte probable cause order.
Key facts
- The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles seized Bell Transport's truck on December 17, 2021, under the Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act.
- The Department filed an ex parte probable cause application on January 6, 2022, which was twenty business days after the seizure.
- +2 more key facts with a free trial
Why it matters
The opinion supplies a transferable rule of statutory time computation: undefined 'business day' deadlines are measured by ordinary meaning, not by whether the filing party's own offices (or state offices generally)… — full analysis with a trial
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