Pitfalls Of Relying On Evidence Previously Filed "For Any Purpose" When Opposing Summary Judgment

Your opponent files a motion for summary judgment. At a hearing on the motion, you point to an affidavit in the record to show that material questions of fact exist. Long before your opponent moved for summary judgment, you had filed that affidavit along with a notice stating your intent to rely upon the affidavit "for any purpose" permitted by the rules of civil procedure and the rules of evidence.

The trial judge grants the summary judgment motion over your objection. Is your reliance on the affidavit preserved?

A Florida rule of civil procedure complicates this question and affected the answer in State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Figler Family Chiropractic, P.A., 189 So. 3d 970 (Fla. 4th Dist. Ct. App. 2016). Unlike its federal rule counterpart, the Florida summary judgment rule requires that a party opposing a summary judgment motion file a notice identifying any summary judgment evidence on which the party relies.