Florida

Justice Scalia -- Man of the (Non-Stupid) People

Posted on April 27, 2010
Here's an excellent roundup of the oral arguments (and related coverage) before the Supremes on the arbitration issues raised in the Rent-a-Center case by one of the co-counsel for the respondents.Obviously there's a point of view being expressed here, but get a load of this comment by Justice Scalia:Justice Scalia's questions yesterday showed that he has little empathy for those who find themselves in the position of signing extremely one-sided arbitration agreements because of unequal bargaining power, often as a precondition of employment or the receipt of essential goods and services...

My iPhone App Can Beat Up Your iPhone App!

Posted on April 26, 2010
We've highlighted a few before, but this one tells you that screwed up with some local rule or professional rule of conduct -- and you can use it while you're in court about to be sanctioned! The application features Southern District guidelines and local bar rules for Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Duval counties...

Start Your Monday With Heavy Rain And a Sanctions Order!

Posted on April 26, 2010
Judge Brown Sanctions Order Oh boy, here we go:This matter is before this Court as a result of the issuance of an Order Granting Motion to Compel Discovery (D.E. 37) wherein (paragraph 2) plaintiffs were allowed to show good cause, in writing, why sanctions should not be imposed for the necessity of the filing of the motion to compel...

FSC Squashes 3d DCA on PIP Statute Retroactivity!

Posted on April 23, 2010
Oh oh -- the 3d DCA got "squashed."Hold on, I meant to say an opinion of the 3d DCA got quashed:Because we conclude that the 2001 amendment creating the statutory presuit notice provisions constitutes a substantive change to the statute, we hold that it cannot be retroactively applied to insurance policies issued before the effective date of the amendment and quash the decision of the Third District in Menendez...

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SFL Friday -- How Does This Work Again?

Posted on April 23, 2010
Well kids it's just too darned nice out there, so I must head into the deep blue water and immerse myself completely, weightless and suspended in time, as wave after wave of tactile sensations wash over me.......Oops -- was that out loud?Yep, it's Friday and there are tons of outdoor activities to keep you busy so I hope you do something useful and productive as well as fun...

Willie!!

Posted on April 23, 2010
Somehow Big Willie was able to break through the nomination gridlock:The Senate voted unanimously Thursday for Ferrer, a one-time federal prosecutor in Miami and senior aide to former Attorney General Janet Reno. He most recently oversaw federal litigation for the Miami-Dade County Attorney's Office...

11th Circuit Cites Bleak House!

Posted on April 22, 2010
In a case involving discrimination against black Birmingham fire fighters that has been before the 11th Circuit innumerable times over its 30-year history, the Court name checks Charles Dickens:see also CHARLES DICKENS, BLEAK HOUSE 4?5 (Pollard & Moss 1884) (?[The case] drones on...

The "Cocooning" Effect on Federal Judges

Posted on April 22, 2010
I've often wondered whether federal judges are sometimes treated with too much deference.Obviously by virtue of their position and authority, and sometimes even their achievement (I kid, I kid!), federal judges deserve significant respect from practitioners and the public at large...

Happy Earth Day, Plebes!

Posted on April 22, 2010

Play Ball!

Posted on April 21, 2010
Hey, I didn't know WPB attorney Peter Broberg was a major-league pitcher:?My nemesis,? he calls it, by way of introducing his pre-law career as a major league pitcher for eight seasons, from 1971 to 1979. Actually, I really like this guy: He did have other interests...

3d DCA Watch -- Judge Shepherd Recounts Facts With Certainty.

Posted on April 21, 2010
Well kids it got a little crazy, and much mirth, madness and mayhem was to be had.But at the end of it all the coffee has been swilled, the robes worn, and all that's left are the written remainders and our own fragile, precious memories......Naranja Princeton v...

I Need To Take Up Running -- For My Health.

Posted on April 20, 2010
Wow, I had a mild college flashback reading the NYT Science page this morning:The deep waves have the distinguishing curl of Kelvin-Helmholtz billows, a type of wave present throughout nature. Scientists have long tracked these distinctive waves, finding them on the windblown sea, on sand dunes, among clouds and even in the churning gases of Saturn and Jupiter...

Magistrate Judge Brown -- Stupefied! -- Instructs on Proper Deposition Conduct

Posted on April 20, 2010
judgebrownhalmosorder Yet again the litigation between Peter Halmos and his insurers have resulted in another classic order.In this one Judge Brown attempts to explain to Mr. Halmos how witnesses (and their lawyers) are supposed to act at a deposition...

Huge Post-Trial Victory in Epic Battle of the Steves (Plus David O. Markus)!

Posted on April 19, 2010
Final Order In a huge post-trial victory by GT's Steve Binhak over Adorno's Steve Ginsburg, Judge Jordan has overturned a jury verdict -- including an award of punitive damages -- in a condo dispute that involved misrepresentations over whether a new building ("Asia") would block an existing water view at Carbonell on Brickell Key...

The Herald On Replacing Justice Stevens (Yawn)

Posted on April 19, 2010
Happy wet Monday, kids.Did you see this controversial, bold, assertive Herald editorial on replacing Justice Stevens?Neither did I.Instead we got the usual opinion-free, can't we all get along, both-sides-are-to-blame, warmed-over Broderisms that reflect an alternate reality far apart from the one the rest of us inhabit...

SFL Friday -- Love Is In The Air

Posted on April 16, 2010
So Willie Gary's son Kobe gets two and a half years.Question --does this vindicate the seven-member "trial team" strategy?How the hail should I know -- I do civil litigation, but hopefully David will weigh in.Sheesh it's too darn nice outside, so I am out of here for some early afternoon windsurfing...

Judge Jordan's Ruling Leads to Change in Hospital Visitation Rights

Posted on April 16, 2010
We analyzed Judge Jordan's ruling last year in the Langbehn/Jackson Memorial gay visitation dispute here.While I wasn't exactly thrilled with the outcome, I found his ruling sensitive, rational, and fair given the messed up state of Florida's tort jurisprudence...

Hooray for Governor Crist!

Posted on April 15, 2010
First good thing to come out of Tally in a while.(OK, make that second?).

11th Circuit Denies En Banc Rehearing in Controversial FLSA Decision

Posted on April 15, 2010
Wow, the 11th upheld a panel decision denying fees to a prevailing party in an FLSA case because the defendant was a law firm and plaintiff's counsel should have "picked up the phone" first before filing a suit against local lawyers.Question - I'm all in favor of collegiality, but other than in your dreams, how often have you resolved a case with a pre-suit phone call?("Sure, I'll get Exxon on the line and we'll cut you that check rightaway!")Judge Edmondson concurs in the denial, and writes at length about how useless to our country -- yes, our country -- dissents from en banc denials are...

Miami Lawyer Tom Post Lives In A Castle.

Posted on April 15, 2010
Interesting fact: Miami property tax appeals lawyer Tom Post lives in a castle somewhere in Kentucky.I could pretty much stop there, but there's more:Tom Post spent millions of dollars and several years rebuilding the landmark castle on Versailles Road into a luxury inn that draws an increasing number of paying visitors in addition to curiosity seekers...

Miguel Does The Right Thing.

Posted on April 14, 2010
I've always said he's a mensch, but Miguel de la O (pictured above) did the right thing last night in a note about suspending his campaign:Dear friends and supporters: I am disappointed to inform you that I am suspending my campaign for Circuit Court Judge in Group 21...

3d DCA Watch -- In re Vigo Edition

Posted on April 14, 2010
Hi kids, it's a crazy hump day out there and I have an FBA luncheon to get to, but no worries -- the Resplendent Ones, the Robed Ones, the Swillers of the Judicial Coffee -- yes the inhabitors of that very concrete bunker of sorta-justice by the highway -- have spoken!And they say to us that all is well, that all is right with the world...

Teabaggers Strike Back!

Posted on April 14, 2010
Let's talk about a topic I love -- teabagging.Excuse me, "Tea Partiers."We've previously written about the intra-teabag legal fight brewing before Judge Marra.Now comes word that Judge Marra has set a trial date and other deadlines and defendant/lawyer Fred O'Neal has filed a summary judgment motion against the plaintiff, South Florida Tea Party, that includes some strong allegations...

I Left My Heart (and $10 Million?) in Liechenstein.

Posted on April 13, 2010
When's the last time you were accused of stealing $10 million from Afghan royalty and moving it from an offshore account on an English Channel island to another in Liechtenstein?For West Palm Beach attorney Manley Thaler, I'm gonna say once:The strange tale of international intrigue has also spawned a criminal investigation in a small island in the English Channel and a civil suit in Palm Beach County Circuit Court...

Your Evidence Lesson For the Day!

Posted on April 13, 2010
Foreclosure Rehearing Transcript I don't mean to pick on Steven Chapman Fraser, who was appearing at a hearing recently on behalf of David J. Stern.Hey, a guy's got to work.But take a gander at this transcript of a motion for rehearing on a foreclosure summary judgment previously granted by Pinellas County Judge Anthony Rondolino...

I Am So Sick of Federal Legislation Being Rammed Down Our Throats!

Posted on April 12, 2010
Are yachts undergoing land-based repairs "vessels"?Do bears....well, you get the picture.That's the essence of today's 11th Circuit opinion that provides a comprehensive and very interesting history of the development of maritime liens.It makes total sense, but I never really understood that the reason maritime liens exist is to allow ships to get quick repairs wherever they are, without having to provide cash or other security not readily available far away from home port:Maritime liens originated, in part, ?in a desire to protect the ship,? which is ?peculiarly subject to vicssitudes which would compel abandonment ...

I Have Nothing Negative To Say About Elliot Miller.

Posted on April 12, 2010
I merely am referencing this story about Miami Beach attorney Elliot Miller and his lawsuit over a negative Ebay comment:Just when you think that set of flamingo-themed flatware is a questionable enough buy on eBay, your business might be even more risky: the seller could be a Miami lawyer...

Glenn Garvin Almost Ruins Holocaust Remembrance Day

Posted on April 11, 2010
Leave it to Glenn Garvin to drop a big fat word turd on this most solemn of days by politicizing and performing a hatchet-job on the legitimate debate over the way the Anne Frank diary was popularized and presented to non-Jews in the mid-1950s.Although Garvin references the 90s, his real beef is and has always been with the "identity politics" of the 60s -- the civil rights movement, women's lib, Stonewall, "Native American rights" (they wuz Indians when I was a kid!! -- F Troop anyone??) etc: But it was in the 1990s, with the ascendance of identity politics -- in which individuals matter only insofar as they fit comfortably into groups ideologically constructed from ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and the like -- that the tug of war over Anne's diary began...

SFL Friday -- Thank You, Justice Stevens.

Posted on April 09, 2010
So Justice Stevens Justice Stevens Justice Stevens!It's good to see there won't be any prejudging of whomever Obama picks as his replacement (headline -- "The question for conservatives will be not whether but how to oppose Obama's nominee"):No doubt some Republicans will say that it is unimportant to fight the nominee because Obama will merely be replacing one liberal with another rather than changing the balance of the Court...

Judge Carnes, Storyteller.

Posted on April 09, 2010
I think Judge Carnes has really raised the level in terms of how to write clean, simple, narrative-driven appellate opinions.His last few all bear the hallmarks of fine storytelling -- a powerful introduction, a strong hook, a sense of leaving the reader wanting more, and a matter-of-fact exposition that flows cohesively from beginning to end...

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