Estate and Succession Planning
Dean Mead’s Estate and Succession Planning Department is one of the largest and most respected groups of estate planning attorneys in Florida. We are frequently…
Published: February 18, 2024
As part of its ongoing revisions of the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, on February 6, 2025, the Supreme Court of Florida revised Rule 1.730 (Completion of Mediation), adopting amendments proposed by the Florida Bar’s Civil Procedure Rules Committee.
The rule change becomes effective on April 1, 2025. Rule 1.730 previously required any agreement reached in a court-ordered mediation to be reduced to writing and “signed by the parties and their counsel, if any.” The Court’s February 6th Order amended Rule 1.730 to delete the requirement that counsel for each party sign a court- ordered mediation agreement because this is not required by the mediation statute (Fla. Stat. § 44.404).
The Court also amended the rule to allow a party’s representative having full authority to settle under Rule 1.720(c) (Mediation Procedures; Party Representative Having Full Authority to Settle) to sign in place of the party. Rule 1.720(c) defines a “party representative having full authority to settle” as “the final decision maker with respect to all issues presented by the case who has legal capacity to execute a binding settlement agreement on behalf of a party.”
This is further clarified in subpart (e) of the rule, which requires a Certificate of Authority for court-ordered mediations. Subpart (e) requires each party to file and serve a written notice “identifying the person or persons who will appear at the mediation conference as a party representative or as an insurance carrier representative, and confirming that those persons have [full authority to settle].” (emphasis added)
Regarding the signature of the party’s representative, the May 22, 2024 Report of the Civil Procedure Rules Committee provides:
During its review, the Committee received an additional request for amendment from a Committee Member asking the Committee to consider accepting the signature of the defendant’s insurer in place of the defendant’s signature on mediation settlement agreements. . . . There are cases in which the insurer appears at mediation for the defendant with full settlement authority, but the defendant (the insured), is not present.
To address this concern, the committee recommended that the language of the rule be amended to require that a mediated settlement agreement be “signed by each party or the party’s representative having full authority to settle under rule 1.720(c).”
The Court adopted this language verbatim, amending the first sentence of Rule 1.730(b) to the following: “(b) Agreement. If a partial or final agreement is reached, it must be reduced to writing and signed by each party or the party’s representative having full authority to settle under rule 1.720(c).” As a result, it now seems clear that the signature of a defendant’s insurer on a mediation settlement agreement, in place of the defendant’s signature, is acceptable under the rule.
