SMITH v. COOPER (2020)

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

Luke SMITH, Appellant, v. Katherine COOPER f/k/a Katherine Smith f/k/a Katherine Clark, Appellee.

Case No. 5D19-2399

Decided: February 21, 2020

Luke Smith, Lees Summit, MO, pro se. No Appearance for Appellee.

Luke Smith appeals the post-final judgment order adjudicating him in civil contempt for failing to pay his court-ordered child support. Smith did not attend the hearing held on the motion.

Although our review of the record suggests that Smith may have had meritorious arguments for reversal based on the lack of sufficient notice of the motion for contempt and the hearing, including the lack of an express finding by the court in the order that Smith had notice of the motion and hearing,¹ he has not raised them in his initial brief. Accordingly, Smith has waived or abandoned any claim for relief on these issues. See Prince v. State, 40 So. 3d 11, 13 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010). The one argument that Smith does raise in his brief lacks merit. As a result, we are constrained to affirm the order of contempt.

AFFIRMED.

FOOTNOTES

1. See Fla. Fam. L. R. P. 12.615(c).

PER CURIAM.

COHEN, LAMBERT, and HARRIS, JJ., concur.

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