State of Florida v. C.W., a Child

The State appeals the trial court’s final order sua sponte dismissing the petition for delinquency filed against C.W. after the State made several unsuccessful attempts to serve C.W. with a summons to appear. We agree with the State that in sua sponte dismissing the case, the trial court improperly ruled on an issue that was not before it and interfered with the State’s discretion to bring charges against C.W. However, because the State has not preserved these arguments for appeal, we affirm the dismissal.

Nevertheless, we write to emphasize to the trial court that where, as here, no motion to…