Exemption Request by the Respondent

The attorneys at Sammis Law Firm in Tampa, FL, charge a flat fee of $500 to help you prepare a request to make a petition for an injunction for protection confidential and exempt from Florida’s public record law. You do not necessarily need an attorney to make the request.

If the request is granted, then the petition for a protective injunction becomes confidential and exempt from Florida public record laws. As a result, the petition must be removed from publicly available websites.

The process for removal differs depending on when the petition is placed on a website. If a petition is placed on a website, and later dismissed on or after July 1, 2017, which is the effective date of the new law, then the webmaster with the clerk of the court or county recorder is responsible for removing the petition.

If the petition is placed on the website before July 1, 2017, the respondent named in the petition must first request removal in writing.

Policy Considerations to Make the Record Confidential

As a matter of public necessity, this public records exemption for injunctions that are dismissed is based on the fact that the records may be defamatory to the person named in the petition and cause unwarranted damage to his or her reputation. Florida law recognizes that the only way to protect the reputation of the person named in the petition is by removing the petition and its contents.

Provisions in Section 119.0714(k)2

Section 119.0714(k)2 makes a petition for injunction and its contents confidential and exempt from disclosure if the petition is dismissed without a hearing or at an ex parte hearing due to a failure to state a claim, lack of jurisdiction, or based on insufficiency of the petition itself without an injunction being issued.

For petitions for injunctions for protection issued before July 1, 2017, the respondent must make a special request under Section 119.0714(k)2., before the petition will become exempt from Section 119.07(1) and Section 24(a), Art. I of the Constitution of the State of Florida.

Requirements for the Request for Exemption

The request must be delivered by mail, facsimile, or electronic transmission or in person to the clerk of the court. The request must include the following information:

• I am named as the respondent in a petition for an injunction for protection against domestic violence, repeat violence, dating violence, sexual violence, stalking, or cyberstalking filed on ______ in ________;
• Pursuant to Section 119.0714(k)2, I am requesting that the petition, be made exempt from Section 119.07(1) and Section 24(a), Art. I of the Constitution of the State of Florida;
• The request is necessary since the petition was issued before July 1, 2017;
• The petition for an injunction for protection was dismissed without a hearing or at an ex parte hearing for one of the following reasons:
  • due to a failure to state a claim;
  • due to lack of jurisdiction; or
  • based on the insufficiency of the petition itself without an injunction being issued.
• the request must specify the following:
  • case name;
  • case number;
  • document heading; and
  • page number.

The request must be made in writing and signed. The clerk may not charge a fee for the respondent’s request to make the petition for an injunction for protection exempt from being a public record.

Exempt Petitions for Protection Issued After July 1, 2017

Whether the petition for an injunction for protection is exempt from being a public record depends on the reason the petition was dismissed and whether the petition was issued before or after July 1, 2017.

Pursuant to Section 119.0714(k)1., the petition for an injunction for protection, and the contents of that file, is exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution if:

• the petition was filed on or after July 1, 2017;
• the petition was for an injunction for protection against domestic violence, repeat violence, dating violence, sexual violence, stalking, or cyberstalking;
• the petitioner was dismissed:
  • without a hearing
  • dismissed at an ex parte hearing due to:
  • failure to state a claim or lack of jurisdiction; or
  • for any reason having to do with the sufficiency of the petition itself without an injunction being issued.

This public record exemption for those qualifying injunctions is subject to the Open Government Sunset Review Act and stand repealed on October 2, 2022, unless reviewed and saved from repeal through legislative reenactment.

This article was last updated on Friday, February 22, 2019.