On July 12, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued a precedential ruling that can have significant import for civil litigants in Florida, Georgia and Alabama. In the case of Wilbur Huggins v. Lueder, Larkin & Hunter, the appellate court reversed a ruling by the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Alabama, which held that once a summary judgment had been granted in favor of the defendant, the defendant was precluded from seeking an award of sanctions or damages under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

The separate plaintiffs, in a series of six consolidated appeals of companion civil cases, sought damages against a law firm for alleged violations of the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The defendant law firm believed that the plaintiffs’ claims were frivolous and without merit, and in connection with the separate filing of motions for summary judgment, the defendant law firm served on the plaintiffs the “safe harbor” notice required by Rule 11. The safe harbor notice, once required by Section 57.105 of the Florida Statutes for Florida state court civil cases, requires an aggrieved party to provide 21 days’ notice to the opposing party (with an accompanying copy of the proposed Rule 11 motion) prior to seeking sanctions for frivolous or unsupported pleadings. Ultimately, the safe harbor notice allows the opposing party an opportunity to withdraw or correct the potentially sanctionable/offensive pleading prior to the motion for sanctions being filed.