Zisser v. Fla. Bar, No. 10-11974

Challenge to Florida Bar Peer Review

In Zisser v. Fla. Bar, No. 10-11974, a constitutional challenge to the confidential peer review part of the Florida Bar's certification rules, the court affirmed judgment for defendants where 1) the district court correctly reasoned that the Rooker-Feldman doctrine deprived it of jurisdiction to decide plaintiff's as-applied challenges; and 2) Shahawy and similar cases did not fit these circumstances because "unlike hospital staff privileges, which provide physicians with the ability to employ their skills at a hospital, board certification provides no such benefit and is irrelevant to an attorney's ability to practice or appear before any court."

As the court wrote:  " This case reminds us of the observation of the Grand Inquisitor in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Gondoliers.   Upon finding that all ranks of commoners and servants have been promoted to the nobility, he protests that there is a need for distinction, explaining that:  "When everyone is somebody, then no one's anybody.""

Related Resources

• Read the Eleventh Circuit's Decision in Zisser v. Fla. Bar, No. 10-11974