When must the court require a settlement conference in a Florida medical-malpractice action?

Read the operative order setting the actual trial date.

Preserve the court’s actual settlement-conference setting and compare the required lead time.

Identify trial attorneys, parties and people with settlement authority, and preserve any court excuse.

1. Read the operative order setting the actual trial date.
2. The statute requires at least three weeks before the date set for trial. Rule 2.514(a)(5) distinguishes backward from forward computation. Preserve the minimum lead time and the actual court setting. This guarded guide does not move an isolated backward result forward or turn a trial input into a conference order.
3. Check the observed statutory holidays, actual clerk calendar and chief-justice directions.
4. Complete the required act with the proper court or recipient.

Apply the observed New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. birthday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans’ Day, Thanksgiving Day, Friday after Thanksgiving and Christmas Day holidays. Section 110.117 observes Saturday holidays on the preceding Friday and Sunday holidays on the following Monday. Rule 2.514 also includes clerk-observed holidays and days designated by the chief justice or chief judge. An ineligible final day moves in the counting direction. The bundled Florida calendar covers 2026 through 2028. Verify additional closures and chief-justice extensions separately.

The statute requires an actual court conference with minimum trial lead time and specified participants. A trial-date-only backward preset cannot establish the setting, authority or good-cause excuse. The complete backward calculation remains guarded.

The statute defines the covered damages action

Section 766.108(2)(a) covers personal-injury or wrongful-death damages arising from medical malpractice, whether in tort or contract. Establish the actual action rather than applying this specific requirement to every negligence suit.

Trial attorneys and settlement-authority participants must attend

Paragraph (2)(b) identifies attorneys who will conduct the trial, parties and people with authority to settle. A person’s presence alone does not establish actual authority, and an attorney who will not conduct trial is not automatically the specified trial attorney.

An attendance excuse requires court action for good cause

Paragraph (2)(b) permits attendance to be excused by the court for good cause. Preserve the actual order or court direction. A request, a party agreement or an assumed inconvenience does not establish a granted judicial excuse.

The mediation requirement is separate

Paragraph (1) addresses in-person mediation within 120 days after suit filing, with binding-arbitration and mutual-extension conditions. The court settlement conference uses the actual trial setting instead.

• This guide does not establish timely presuit notice, a limitation or repose extension, a complete filing window or medical negligence.
• Check the governing historical edition, actual motions, orders, clerk holidays and filing receipts.

• Read the operative order setting the actual trial date.
• Preserve the court’s actual settlement-conference setting and compare the required lead time.
• Identify trial attorneys, parties and people with settlement authority, and preserve any court excuse.
• Section 766.108(2)(a) covers personal-injury or wrongful-death damages arising from medical malpractice, whether in tort or contract. Establish the actual action rather than applying this specific requirement to every negligence suit.
• Paragraph (2)(b) identifies attorneys who will conduct the trial, parties and people with authority to settle. A person’s presence alone does not establish actual authority, and an attorney who will not conduct trial is not automatically the specified trial attorney.
• Paragraph (2)(b) permits attendance to be excused by the court for good cause. Preserve the actual order or court direction. A request, a party agreement or an assumed inconvenience does not establish a granted judicial excuse.
• Paragraph (1) addresses in-person mediation within 120 days after suit filing, with binding-arbitration and mutual-extension conditions. The court settlement conference uses the actual trial setting instead.
• Attend the court-held conference with the attorneys who will conduct the trial, the parties and people authorized to settle. Preserve the actual setting and any court-granted excuse for good cause. A motion for an excuse does not establish that the court granted it. Attendance does not establish a settlement.