Johnson v. Rollins
In a paternity case, the general magistrate set the mother's timely-filed (40 days pre-trial) continuance motion for hearing at the same time as the one-hour final hearing, refused remote appearance, denied the continuance, and immediately tried the case with only the father testifying inishing with an order giving the father 289 overnights and requiring the child's return from Texas. The Fourth District reversed, holding the handling and denial of the continuance was a manifest injustice amounting to abuse of discretion, and that the timesharing award was both unpled relief and unsupported by competent substantial evidence.
Key facts
- Mother and father disputed parental timesharing and child custody; father sought equal timesharing while mother opposed.
- General magistrate scheduled hearing on mother's timely-filed continuance motion for the same time as the one-hour final hearing, denied remote appearance, denied the continuance, and conducted trial with only father present and testifying.
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Why it matters
Useful authority for challenging the scheduling practice of hearing continuance motions contemporaneously with trial inifying that docket-management choices can themselves be an abuse of discretion even where denial of… — full analysis with a trial
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