The Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal is headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida. Its twelve judges have jurisdiction over cases arising in Palm Beach County, Broward County, St. Lucie County, Martin County, Indian River County, and Okeechobee County.
The Fourth District Court of Appeal was created in 1965, and located in Vero Beach. In 1967, the Legislature relocated the Fourth District to West Palm Beach, and the Court moved to its permanent site on Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard in 1970.
| Name [1] | Appointed | Chief Judge | Current Term Expires | Appointing Governor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spencer D. Levine | 2009 | July 1, 2019 – present | 2023 | Charlie Crist, Republican |
| Martha C. Warner | 1989 | July 1, 1999 – June 30, 2001 | 2021 | Bob Martinez, Republican |
| Robert M. Gross | 1995 | December 1, 2008 – June 30, 2011 | 2023 | Lawton Chiles, Democrat |
| Melanie G. May | 2002 | July 1, 2011 – June 30, 2013 | 2023 | Jeb Bush, Republican |
| Dorian K. Damoorgian | 2008 | July 1, 2013 – June 30, 2015 | 2023 | Charlie Crist, Republican |
| Cory J. Ciklin | 2008 | July 1, 2015 – June 30, 2017 | 2023 | Charlie Crist, Republican |
| Jonathan D. Gerber | 2009 | July 1, 2017 – June 30, 2019 | 2023 | Charlie Crist, Republican |
| Burton C. Conner | 2011 | – | 2025 | Rick Scott, Republican |
| Alan O. Forst | 2013 | – | 2021 | Rick Scott, Republican |
| Mark W. Klingensmith | 2013 | – | 2021 | Rick Scott, Republican |
| Jeffrey T. Kuntz | 2016 | – | 2025 | Rick Scott, Republican |
| Edward L. Artau | 2020 | – | 2023 | Ron DeSantis, Republican |
| Charles O. Andrews, Jr. | 1965–1967 |
| Sherman N. Smith, Jr. | 1965–1967 |
| James H. Walden | 1965–1976 \ 1982–1990 |
| Spencer C. Cross | 1967–1979 |
| David L. McCain | 1967–1970 |
| John L. Reed, Jr. | 1967–1973 |
| William C. Owen, Jr. | 1967–1976 |
| Gerald Mager | 1970–1977 |
| James C. Downey | 1973–1992 |
| James E. Alderman | 1976–1978 |
| Harry Lee Anstead | 1977–1994 |
| James C. Dauksch | 1977–1979 |
| Gavin K. Letts | 1977–1993 |
| John H. Moore II | 1977–1981 |
| John R. Beranek | 1978–1984 |
| George W. Hersey | 1979–1995 |
| Hugh S. Glickstein | 1979–1998 |
| Daniel T. K. Hurley | 1979–1986 |
| John W. Dell | 1981–2001 |
| Rosemary Barkett | 1984–1985 |
| Bobby W. Gunther | 1986–2007 |
| Barry J. Stone | 1986–2008 |
| Mark E. Polen | 1989–2013 |
| Eugene Garrett | 1989–1993 |
| Gary M. Farmer | 1991–2010 |
| Larry A. Klein | 1993–2009 |
| Barbara Pariente | 1993–1997 |
| W. Matthew Stevenson | 1993–2016 |
| George A. Shahood | 1995–2009 |
| Fred A. Hazouri | 1998–2013 |
| Carol Y. Taylor | 1998–2020 |
| Jorge Labarga | 2008 |
List of members on the Fourth District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission:
Palm Beach County is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's third-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and Broward County and the 26th-most populous in the United States, with 1,492,191 residents as of the 2020 census. Its county seat and largest city is West Palm Beach, which had a population of 117,415 as of 2020. Named after one of its oldest settlements, Palm Beach, the county was established in 1909, after being split from Miami -Dade County. The county's modern-day boundaries were established in 1963.
Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach by the Intracoastal Waterway to its west and a small section of the Intracoastal Waterway and South Palm Beach to its south. It is part of the South Florida metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, Palm Beach had a year-round population of 9,245.
Royal Palm Beach is a village in southeast Florida, located within Palm Beach County. Despite its name, the village is located approximately fifteen miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. The population was at 38,932 residents in the 2020 US census.
The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida is the federal United States district court with territorial jurisdiction over the southern part of the state of Florida.
Stanley Howells Fuld was an American lawyer and politician from New York. He was Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1967 to 1973.
The district courts of appeal (DCAs) are the intermediate appellate courts of the Florida state court system. There are currently six DCAs:
Barbara Joan Pariente is an attorney and jurist from Florida. She was chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court from July 1, 2004, until June 30, 2006. Pariente is the second woman to hold the position of chief justice and served on the court from 1997 to 2019. From 1993 to 1997 she was a judge on Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal.
The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia is the state supreme court of the state of West Virginia, the highest of West Virginia's state courts. The court sits primarily at the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston, although from 1873 to 1915, it was also required by state law to hold sessions in Charles Town in the state's Eastern Panhandle. The court also holds special sittings at various locations across the state.
Jorge Labarga is a justice of the Florida Supreme Court, taking office on January 6, 2009. On June 30, 2014, he was sworn in as Florida's 56th Chief Justice and the first Cuban-American to hold the post. He was succeeded on July 1, 2018, by Charles T. Canady.
The Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Florida since January 6, 2015, as a result of a ruling in Brenner v. Scott from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida. The court ruled the state's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional on August 21, 2014. The order was stayed temporarily. State attempts at extending the stay failed, with the U.S. Supreme Court denying further extension on December 19, 2014. In addition, a state court ruling in Pareto v. Ruvin allowed same-sex couples to obtain marriage licenses in Miami-Dade County on the afternoon of January 5, 2015. In another state case challenging the state's denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples, a Monroe County court in Huntsman v. Heavilin stayed enforcement of its decision pending appeal and the stay expired on January 6, 2015.
Daniel T. K. Hurley is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Shutts & Bowen LLP is an AmLaw 200 law firm with 270 attorneys in seven offices in the State of Florida. Shutts & Bowen was founded in 1910. Frank B. Shutts came to Miami in 1909 and became the legal representative of Henry M. Flagler and the Florida East Coast Railway Company. In 1910 he formed a professional association with Henry F. Atkinson. In 1912 Crate D. Bowen joined the firm which settled on the name Shutts and Bowen in 1919. In 1910 Shutts organized the Miami Herald Publishing Company and was its President and principal stockholder. Shutts and Bowen is ranked as the 175th largest law firm in the United States. Its offices are located in the Florida cities of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Orlando, Tampa, Sarasota and Tallahassee. According to statistics submitted to American Lawyer, Shutts & Bowen recorded $147 million in revenue for the year 2015, up 7.7% from 2014, with profits per partner averaging $740,000 in 2015, up 5.7% from $700,000 in 2014.
Lois Jane Frankel is an American politician and lawyer who has been the United States representative for Florida's 22nd congressional district since 2013. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
The Florida State Courts System is the unified state court system of Florida.
Isiah C. Smith (1922–2012) was a judge and civil rights attorney. He was Palm Beach County, Florida's third black lawyer. He and William Holland, Palm Beach County's first black attorney, fought successfully to integrate the county's schools, golf courses, department stores, airport taxi service, and the Florida Turnpike's restaurants and bathrooms through lawsuits and negotiations in the mid-1950s. While working with Holland at their practice, Smith also served part-time as Delray Beach City Prosecutor from 1970 to 1977. In 1986, he was appointed by Governor Bob Graham to become a circuit judge for Palm Beach County. He stepped down in 1992, having reached the age of 70, the mandatory retirement age in Florida for jurists.
Aileen Mercedes Cannon is a Colombian-born American lawyer who currently serves as a U.S. district judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Previously, Cannon worked for the corporate law firm Gibson Dunn from 2009 to 2012, and then as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of Florida from 2013 to 2020. She was nominated by then President Donald Trump to become a district judge and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in November 2020.