The Florida Supreme Court is currently considering whether a successful Stand Your Ground Motion in a criminal case would be a bar to a future civil action.
In Florida, a person is justified in using or threatening to use deadly force if he or she reasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony. A person who uses or threatens to use deadly force in accordance with this subsection does not have a duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground if the person using or threatening to use the deadly force is not engaged in a criminal activity and is in a place where he or she has a right to be. Fla. Stat. § 776.012(2).
Stand Your Ground may be raised both in a criminal prosecution, as well as an affirmative defense in a civil suit. Currently, there is a disagreement among the District Court of Appeals in the State of Florida with regards to Stand Your Ground and its application in a civil case after a successful criminal defense.
The Second District Court of Appeal concluded that when someone successfully demonstrates immunity from criminal prosecution under Florida’s so-call Stand Your Ground law, section 776.032(1) Florida Statutes (2008), he does not have to prove it again in a subsequent civil suit, as the same immunity applies in the civil action as well. Patel v. Kumar, 41 Fla. L. Weekly D1542 (2nd DCA, 2016)
However, the Third District Court of Appeal in Flemmings had previously stated that a similarly situated defendant would have to litigate the issue of his immunity in a civil action notwithstanding that he had successfully done so in a previous criminal prosecution arising from the same incident. Professional Roofing & Sales, Inc. v. Flemmings, 138 So.3d 524 (Fla. 3d DCA 2014)
Because the Second District Court of Appeal’s opinion constitutes an express and direct conflict with the Third District Court of Appeal’s statements in Flemmings, the Florida Supreme Court exerted its discretionary jurisdiction to review the Second District Court of Appeal’s June 29, 2016 opinion in order to address this conflict. The statute and these cases show the interesting interplay between criminal and tort law.