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783 So. 2d 326

Docket No. 1D00-2508.

Johnson v. Johnson

Allan Eugene JOHNSON, Petitioner, v. Phyllis Elaine JOHNSON, Respondent.

District Court of Appeal of Florida · decided 2001-04-12

Cited by 8 later decisions — most recently July 2016

8 state decisions

Relies on Waugh v. Waugh · 586 So. 2d 1056 - Gosby v. Third Judicial Circuit · 590 So. 2d 513 - Conner v. Conner

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 2001-04-12

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¶1Petitioner pro se.

¶2No appearance for respondent.

¶3PER CURIAM.

¶4Petitioner, an inmate in the Florida corrections system, seeks a writ of mandamus to compel the trial court to hold a final hearing, and then to render a final judgment, in a dissolution of marriage action.

¶5It appears that a default has been entered against the wife. According to petitioner, he filed a motion to schedule the final hearing as a telephonic hearing, but the trial court denied the motion, noting that sworn testimony is necessary to dissolve a marriage. The trial court apparently also declined to order that petitioner be transported so that he might attend the final hearing.

¶6*327 We conclude that petitioner is entitled to relief. When a party is incarcerated and cannot physically appear in a civil matter, the trial court normally should grant a request to hold necessary hearings by telephone, pursuant to the procedure outlined in Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.071, as an alternative to requiring that the inmate be transported to the hearing by the state. See, e.g., Gosby v. Third Judicial Circuit,586 So.2d 1056 (Fla.1991); Vaughan v. Vaughan,767 So.2d 614 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000); Waugh v. Waugh,679 So.2d 1 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996); Conner v. Conner,590 So.2d 513 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991).

¶7We grant the petition for a writ of mandamus. On remand, the trial court shall set the cause for final hearing, and permit the hearing to take place by telephone.

¶8PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS GRANTED.

¶9MINER, KAHN and WEBSTER, JJ., concur.

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