Requirements & Information (2024)

Requirements & Information

Standards of Professionalism

Magistrate David Caskey expects all attorneys who appear to know and adhere to the Twelfth Judicial Circuit’s Standards of Professionalism, also available on the websites of the Manatee County Bar Association and the Sarasota County Bar Association.

A. Remote Appearance

All Civil hearings are held on the Zoom platform. Magistrate David Caskey “hosts” the Zoom conference so there is no need to set up your own Zoom meeting. Please visit Magistrate Caskey’s Zoom information page to find the zoom meeting information. All Notices of Hearing must include the correct Zoom Meeting ID number, password and audio only access number. All parties must be noticed and listed on the notice with email address/mailing address that was used for service. These are mandatory requirements and failure to include this information may lead to the cancellation or rescheduling of the hearing.

Meeting ID

968 2752 9256

Password

523896

Audio Only

(253)215-8782

If a party seeks an exception to the general rule that all civil hearings will be conducted via Zoom, that party must file a written motion requesting same, setting forth the specific reasons why it is believed that the hearing should be conducted in person. Please submit requests well in advance of the hearing that is scheduled so there is ample time for arrangements to be made.

B. Hearing Procedures

All civil hearings can be scheduled by using JACS. There are 15 and 30-minute time slots available. If one hour or more is needed, please contact the Magistrate’s Assistant for first available hearing time.

All parties shall reserve sufficient time for their matters to be heard by the Magistrate. If sufficient time is not reserved, and the parties have not presented all of their evidence and arguments to Magistrate for consideration when the scheduled hearing time expires, Magistrate David Caskey may, at his discretion:

1. continue the matter to another date and time to allow the parties the opportunity to present additional evidence and argument, or
2. conclude the hearing and render his recommendation to the Court based on the evidence and argument presented by the parties. The Magistrate strictly adheres to this provision.

Orders of Referral

Magistrate David Caskey hears civil matters referred by the presiding Circuit Judges upon the consent of parties in Civil Divisions B and D. At the time of scheduling your hearing on the Magistrate’s Calendar, you must indicate whether the Court has entered an Order of Referral. The attorney or party scheduling the hearing is responsible to provide the Order of Referral to the assigned Circuit Court Judge to be signed and filed in the case docket prior to the hearing. Failure to obtain a signed Order of Referral for a case scheduled on the Magistrate’s Calendar 10 days prior to the hearing scheduled will result in the hearing being cancelled by the Magistrate’s Assistant.

Download the Order of Referral form.

In instances where a Judge has been recused from a case assigned to their division, it shall remain with the original General Magistrate. However, all subsequent reviews of the Magistrate’s Reports and Recommendations will be completed by the newly assigned Judge.

Motions Scheduled with the Magistrate

The following is a list of motions that are to be scheduled with Magistrate David Caskey, absent a written objection and this list is not all inclusive. The only time one of these motions should be scheduled with the Presiding Judge is if an “Objection to Referral to Magistrate” has been filed.

All discovery motions, including but not limited to Motions to: Compel, Contempt, Discovery Order (no ex parte), Extend Time, Objections to Motions, Interrogatories, Objections to Production, Protective Order, Quash, Sanctions (re: discovery matters), and any additional discovery-related motion not listed.

All motions directed to the Pleadings, including but not limited to: Add/Drop Parties (including substitution of parties), Amend, Default, Default Final Judgment, Dismiss, Intervene, Judgment of Pleadings, More Definite Statement, Strike, and any additional discovery-related motion not listed.

Miscellaneous Motions: Abate, Compel Arbitration, Confirm Arbitration, Compel Mediation, Quash Service, Sever, Transfer Jurisdiction/Venue, Vacate/Set Aside (on non-trial related issues), Withdrawal of Counsel.

Do NotSchedule These Motions with the Magistrate

Vacate Final Judgment, Writ of Possession and any trial-related motions (Limine, Strike Witnesses and Exhibit Lists, Trial continuances, etc.). Ex-Parte motions must be directed to the assigned Judge. Everything the Magistrate does is on the record and a hearing is required. All hearings are recorded and captured by the Digital Court Recording Department and a digital copy of the hearing may be obtained upon request/payment sent to that department.

C. Communications with the Court

For communications with Magistrate David Caskey’s office, please contact his Assistant, Jessica Sherman, by email at JSherman@jud12.flcourts.org or phone (941)749‑3650. The Magistrate may not have communications to any parties about their case outside of the courtroom.

Self-Represented Litigants – “Pro Se”

The Magistrate must apply the same rules to all parties, regardless of whether you have an attorney. The Magistrate may not talk to you about your case outside of the courtroom, so please do not call to speak with him or ask to leave a message. You may review the clerk’s website for details about your case.

Pro Se parties must email a copy of the motion(s) they need hearing time for to the Magistrate’s Assistant and hearing options will be provided for the parties to coordinate. Please remember when filing a motion with the Clerk’s Office to provide copies to all of the parties of the case as well as the Magistrate’s office.

The Magistrate’s Assistant may not help you with your case or send information to other parties or attorneys for you. Additionally, the Magistrate’s Assistant may not provide the outcome of a hearing or provide explanations of any orders entered by the Court. Please note that litigation disputes through the Magistrate’s Assistant is not permitted and cannot be resolved in that manner.

D. Submission of Orders

Any proposed report/recommendation shall be submitted as an email attachment to the Magistrate’s Division email at MagCaskey@jud12.flcourts.org in a format compatible with Microsoft Word (docx format) – do not send in PDF format or Drop Box. Please be sure to include email addresses and/or mailing addresses for all parties on the certificate of service.

E. Courtesy Copies

Please provide all hearing submissions to Magistrate’s Division email 10 days prior to the hearing. This email account is solely for submission of documents, not for communications with the Magistrate’s office. Any emails sent for communication purposes to the Magistrate’s Division email will not be read, considered, responded to, or filed. For communications with the Magistrate’s office, please contact the Magistrate Assistant via phone or email. Hearing paperwork may include:

• The motion to be heard and any relevant court filings to which the parties may refer during the hearing.
• The Order of Referral for the particular motion/issue to be heard.
• Notice of Hearing for the particular motion/issue to be heard.
• Notice of related cases/case law

Please submit all hearing materials by email in PDF format or hard copies sent to the Magistrate’s office. No links, sharing sites or drop boxes.

F. Emergency & Other Urgent Matters

There are no set criteria as to emergency hearings and the Magistrate’s Assistant can only give out emergency hearing time on the Magistrate’s directions. All motions requesting emergency or expedited hearing time should be emailed or delivered to the Magistrate’s office with an attached cover letter that includes the amount of hearing time requested. The Magistrate will then review the motion to determine whether an expedited or emergency hearing is warranted.

G. Exhibits for Evidentiary Proceedings

Please be sure to send all exhibits for evidentiary proceedings 10 days prior to the hearing scheduled. All hearing exhibits should be listed on an index, be accurately marked and organized accordingly. If hard copies are sent, please check with the Assistant to confirm receipt.

H. Pretrial Procedures & Conferences

Not applicable

I. Setting Case for Trial

Please visit the requirements page of the Assigned Judge as to how to proceed setting a case for Trial. Magistrate Caskey does not oversee Trials or trial related motions for Circuit Civil Divisions.

J. Preferred Division Forms

To access forms, visit the Civil Division page.

K. Other Division Procedures

For those cases in Sarasota County Civil Divisions A and C, which Magistrate Ellis has either recused or disqualified himself from, will be permitted to have matters heard by Magistrate David Caskey. Please be sure that an Order of Referral is obtained and that there are no objections to Magistrate.

All Sarasota hearings must be scheduled directly with the Assistant, as scheduling for those Sarasota cases to be set in Manatee JACS will not be available. Please send an email with the case number, the motion(s) that need to be set and disclose the amount of hearing time that is needed in total for all parties to be able to present.