The Florida Supreme Court has granted review to resolve a conflict between two of Florida’s district courts of appeal on whether the Florida Civil Rights Act (FCRA) prohibits pregnancy discrimination. In Delva v. Continental Group, Inc., 96 So. 3d 956 (Fla. 3d DCA 2012), the Third District Court of Appeal concluded that the FCRA, … Continue Reading
On April 23, 2013, the Florida Supreme Court accepted review of a case involving the issue of whether a person in an altercation with another person owes that other person a duty of care when he blocks his means of escape, allowing a third party to strike him from behind with a weapon. See Reider … Continue Reading
Last term, the Florida Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a state plan that provides up to $100,000 to the parents or legal guardians of an infant found to have sustained a birth-related neurological injury. See Samples v. Florida Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Ass’n, 114 So. 3d 912 (Fla. 2013) (click here to view … Continue Reading
One of the cases the Supreme Court of Florida will be considering this Fall concerns “legislative privilege” – specifically, whether Florida legislators or legislative staff members can be forced to give deposition testimony and produce documents relating to legislation establishing new congressional districts. See Fla. House of Representatives v. League of Women Voters … Continue Reading
Florida has established a statutory framework for the pre-suit investigation of medical malpractice cases. See §766.201-.212, Fla. Stat. Part of that framework requires that a claimant, prior to noticing its intent to initiate medical negligence litigation, “corroborate reasonable grounds to support the claim of medical negligence” with a “verified written medical expert opinion.” On July … Continue Reading
In a controversial 4-3 decision, the Florida Supreme Court in Washington National Insurance Corp. v. Ruderman, No. SC12-323, 2013 WL 3333059 (Fla. July 3, 2013), held that ambiguous language in an insurance policy “must be construed against the insurer and in favor of coverage without resort to consideration of extrinsic evidence.” (Emphasis added). While … Continue Reading
Florida’s Supreme Court recently adopted new standard jury instructions for contract and business cases. The instructions, drafted over a period of six years by a committee of Florida trial and appellate lawyers and judges, and modeled in form after California’s contract instructions, cover all aspects of contract and business disputes, including contract formation, breach, interpretation, … Continue Reading
Effective July 1, 2013, Florida’s Medicaid Third-Party Liability Act now provides a mechanism for recipients of Medicaid to challenge the amount they must reimburse Florida’s Agency for Healthcare Administration (AHCA) after settling with or obtaining a judgment or award against liable third-parties. See § 409.910(17), Fla. Stat. (to see the amendments as reflected in … Continue Reading
On May 3, 2013, the Florida Supreme Court accepted for review two cases involving the apportionment of joint proposals for settlement: Arnold v. Audiffred,98 So. 3d 746 (Fla. 1st DCA 2012) (Fla. Sup. Ct. Case No.: SC12-2377) and Pratt v. Weiss, 92 So. 3d 851 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012)(Fla. Sup. Ct. Case No.: SC12-1783). … Continue Reading
Effective July 1, 2013, the Florida Senate passed legislation that clarifies when a non-defendant physician may retain legal representation when called as a witness and limited who may qualify as an expert witness in medical negligence cases. See Senate Bill 1792 (legislative history for the law can be found here). As for the … Continue Reading
Florida’s legislature recently amended the state’s evidence code to adopt the Daubert standard for admissibility of expert testimony. Despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s abandonment of the Frye “general acceptance” standard in 1993, Florida until now has continued to employ that standard. With these amendments, Florida joins the majority of states that have modernized and improved their … Continue Reading
On March 20, 2013, Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal issued an opinion clarifying the procedure for designating, and producing, a corporate representative for deposition pursuant to Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.310(b)(6). In Carriage Hills Condominium, Inc. v. JBH Roofing and Constructors, Inc., 109 So. 3d 329 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013), a roofing contractor brought … Continue Reading
The authority of changing venue based on a party’s concern about not receiving a fair trial because of a biased or prejudiced jury pool can be found in section 47.101, Florida Statutes—not Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.060. Procedural Requirements. The statute requires that a motion to change venue contain a verified statement of facts, … Continue Reading
As of September 1, 2012, service by e-mail of pleadings and other court documents is mandatory in Florida state court civil cases.Every pleading subsequent to the initial pleading and every other document filed in any court proceeding must be served on each party in accordance with these new rules, which are summarized below. The decision implementing … Continue Reading
Effective January 1, 2012, the Florida Supreme Court amended the civil rule regulating mediation procedures in Florida. See In re Amends. to Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.720, 75 So. 3d 264 (Fla. 2011). Significantly, the Court added subparagraph c which defines the phrase “party representative having full authority to settle” found in subparagraph b. (Subparagraph b considers … Continue Reading
Witnesses called to testify as “experts” are cloaked with prestige and authority, and positioned to exert heavy influence on juries. This is accentuated with areas of expert testimony that are highly technical or specialized. The U.S. Supreme Court recognized in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 595 (1993), that “[e]xpert evidence can be both … Continue Reading
In a day and age when every other day there seems to be a sex scandal involving a politician’s “indiscretions,” the Florida Supreme Court has been asked to examine a legal issue arising out of an alleged sex scandal. In DelMonico v. Traynor, No. SC10-1397, the Court must determine whether an attorney is protected by the … Continue Reading
In the blog posting dated March 25, 2011, the author discussed the Florida Supreme Court’s review of Cevallos v. Rideout, No. SC09-2238, where the Court will determine how, or if, the rebuttable presumption that a rear-driver was the sole, proximate cause of a rear-end collision applies when the rear-driver was the plaintiff. No decision has been … Continue Reading
In Cevallos v. Rideout, No. SC09-2238 (review granted Apr. 20, 2010), the Florida Supreme Court must determine how, or if, the rebuttable presumption that a rear-driver was the sole, proximate cause of rear-end collision applies when the rear-driver was the plaintiff. The lower court decision is reported at 18 So. 3d 661 (Fla. 4th DCA … Continue Reading
On January 18, 2011, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Essex Insurance Co. v. Zota (.pdf) brought an end to seven years of litigation and four appellate proceedings, when it affirmed a final declaratory judgment entered in favor of a surplus lines insurer, Essex Insurance Company, following a jury trial. Although the Eleventh Circuit’s … Continue Reading
Resolving an express conflict between the District Courts of Appeal, the Florida Supreme Court held that when a party objects to instances of attorney misconduct during trial, and the objection is sustained, the party must also timely move for a mistrial in order to preserve the issue for a trial court’s review of a motion … Continue Reading
Conditional settlement agreements between a plaintiff and a codefendant are nothing new. But when such an agreement is premised on the notion that the “settling” codefendant will continue to defend itself at trial, diminishing its own liability proportionately by increasing the liability of the other codefendants, it is against public policy. The term “Mary Carter … Continue Reading
The Florida Supreme Court has adopted mediation rules for all appellate courts, including circuit courts acting in their appellate capacity, district courts of appeal and the Supreme Court of Florida. Under the new rules(.pdf), the appellate court, on its own motion or that of a party, may refer a case to mediation at any time. … Continue Reading
The Supreme Court of Florida, answering a question certified by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, recently held that posting defamatory material on a website about a Florida resident does constitute the commission of a tortious act within Florida for purposes of the State’s long-arm statute, section 48.193(1)(b), Florida Statutes, if the material on the … Continue Reading
