ARGUMENTS FOR RES JUDICATA OR COLLATERAL ESTOPPEL CANNOT BE RAISED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A MOTION FOR REHEARING AFTER SUMMARY JUDGMENT—CONFLICT WITH THE 5TH DCA CERTIFIED

Hannah v. Malkani, 51 Fla. L. Weekly D279 (Fla. 6th DCA Feb. 10, 2026).

The plaintiff appealed a summary judgment and denial of his motion for rehearing.

The court did not get to the merits of the argument, because it found that the plaintiff failed to raise the argument based on res judicata and collateral estoppel in his initial response, raising it for the first time in his motion for rehearing of the granting of summary judgment.

The Sixth certified direct conflict with Fifth District cases that have held that a party can preserve a new argument by raising it for the first time in a motion for rehearing.