D. G. v. State of Florida

DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA SECOND DISTRICT

D.G.,

Petitioner,

v.

STATE OF FLORIDA,

Respondent.

No. 2D2023-2254

April 23, 2025

Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the Circuit Court for Pasco County; James R. Stearns, Judge.

Blair Allen, Public Defender, and Lisa Martin, Assistant Public Defender, Bartow, for Petitioner.

James Uthmeier, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Lydon William Schultz, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Respondent.

LaROSE, Judge. D.G. petitions for a writ of certiorari to quash the trial court's "Order Denying Defense Exception."¹ This order does not commit D.G. to

involuntary inpatient placement. See generally § 394.467(7), Fla. Stat. (2023). Nor does the order adopt or reject a magistrate's report and recommendation. Cf. Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.490(h); Richardson v. Starling, 56 So. 3d 866, 868 (Fla. 1st DCA 2011) (holding that the trial court abused its discretion by "modifying Appellant's child support obligations without benefit of the magistrate's report and recommendations"). In fact, no such written report and recommendation exists. The order merely denies D.G.'s exceptions to a nonexistent magistrate's report. Without an order of involuntary commitment, D.G.'s petition is premature. Thus, D.G. fails to satisfy the jurisdictional prongs for certiorari. See generally Plantz v. John, 170 So. 3d 822, 824 (Fla. 2d DCA 2015). We dismiss the petition for lack of jurisdiction, without prejudice to appeal or to seek a writ of certiorari of any rendered involuntary commitment order. Dismissed without prejudice.

ROTHSTEIN-YOUAKIM and ATKINSON, JJ., Concur. Opinion subject to revision prior to official publication.

Footnotes

[1] D.G. initially filed a direct appeal of the order. Following D.G.'s unobjected-to request, we treat this appeal as a petition for writ of certiorari. See Fla. R. App. P. 9.030(b)(2)(A); Fla. R. App. P. 9.040(c); Langsetmo v. Metza, 306 So. 3d 112, 114 n.1 (Fla. 4th DCA 2020); Murison v. Coral Park Props., Inc., 64 So. 3d 1288, 1289 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011).