C.C., Appellant, v. Department of Children and Families, Appellee. (2024)

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Sixth District.

In the Interest of L.A., a child. C.C., Appellant, v. Department of Children and Families, Appellee.

Case No. 6D23-1357

Decided: April 04, 2024

Keith Peterson of the Law Offices of Peterson, P.A., Mulberry, and Ryan Thomas Truskoski, of Ryan Thomas Truskoski, P.A., Orlando, for Appellant. Stephanie C. Zimmerman, Deputy Director and Statewide Director of Appeals, and Kelley Schaeffer, Appellate Counsel, Children's Legal Services, Bradenton, for Appellee, Department of Children and Families. Dennis W. Moore, Executive Director, Sara Elizabeth Goldfarb, Statewide Director of Appeals, Laura J. Lee, Assistant Director of Appeals, Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office, Tallahassee, and Blake Lynne Bruce, pro bono, Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office Defending Best Interests Project, Alexandria, Virginia, for Appellee, Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office.

We withdraw the previous opinion and mandate issued in C.C., Father of L.A., a Child v. Department of Children & Families, 47 Fla. L. Weekly D2323 (Fla. 5th DCA Nov. 14, 2022), and we affirm the trial court's final order terminating C.C.’s parental rights to L.A. in accordance with the Florida Supreme Court's opinion in this case, Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office v. C.C., Nos. SC2023-0604, SC2023-0605, 2024 WL 979471 (Fla. Mar. 7, 2024).¹

AFFIRMED.

FOOTNOTES

1. This case was originally heard by the Fifth District Court of Appeal, case number 5D22-1476. After the Fifth District released its opinion, the Department of Children and Families and the Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office each filed a motion for rehearing, rehearing en banc, and certification. While those motions were pending, the case was transferred to this Court on January 1, 2023, and assigned case number 6D23-1357. This Court acted on the pending motions. Thereafter, the Department of Children and Families and the Statewide Guardian ad Litem Office separately sought discretionary review in the Florida Supreme Court, which consolidated the two appeals for all appellate purposes.

WOZNIAK, J.

TRAVER, C.J., and NARDELLA, J., concur.

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