Appearing before Judge Davis makes me genuinely nervous about the future of the legal profession in Florida.
Appearing before Judge Davis makes me genuinely nervous about the future of the legal profession in Florida. He seems to show more interest in the name of a litigant’s law firm than the legal questions that are before him. I have been a litigator for several years and have never felt so helpless in a court proceeding, even when I am fully armed with the law. He doesn’t seem to care what the law says. I recently appeared before Judge Davis to oppose a motion, which my opposing counsel supported by citing to a case that’s been overturned. When arguing against the motion, I cited to 3 cases that were good law - one of which was a Florida Supreme Court decision with no negative treatment. Instead of requiring my inept opposing counsel to defend his motion, Judge Davis spent the entire hearing defending the motion for him, by poking holes in a long body of case law that was so obviously favorable to my client’s position. His bias toward the other lawyer (or law firm) was so apparent that another lawyer who happened to be attending the same UMC hearing for a separate case, cold called me later that day to say she has never seen anything like it before. Perhaps Judge Davis is unaware of his bias, but until resolved his rulings are setting a dubious precedent for all of us. Make sure you have a court reporter at every hearing when appearing before him.