Nov
6
Miami-Dade PD honored
Filed Under Awards, Miami-Dade | Leave a Comment
The Miami-Dade Public Defender’s office won the Clara Shortridge Foltz Award for its work on behalf of indigent clients, the Miami Herald reported.
The award is given annually by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association.
Nov
6
Publisher joins Adorno & Yoss
Filed Under Broward | Leave a Comment
Robert Beatty, former counsel for the Miami Herald and current publisher of the Broward Times, will lead Adorno & Yoss’s Florida operations and will serve as co-chair of the firm’s National Business and Corporate Law Group, according to a story in the Broward Times.
The firm is the nation’s largest minority-owned law firm, with offices throughout South Florida and Tallahassee, according to the story.
Beatty will continue to serve as the paper’s publisher.
Nov
5
Condo buyers want out
Filed Under Real Estate, Miami-Dade | 1 Comment
The lawsuits from condo buyers who want out of their purchase contracts continue to pile up, according to a story in the Miami Herald. [Link via South Florida Lawyers]
Robert H. Cooper, an Aventura attorney who filed two suits against Miami developer The Related Group, says developers caused the problems by signing contracts with people who shouldn’t have qualified for loans.
“They were, across the board, signing contracts with purchasers they knew did not have the ability to consummate the transaction,” Cooper said.
Miami lawyer Susan Mortensen, who is representing developers, said the buyers are “profiteers,” not victims.
Nov
5
PBC Courthouse weapon ban debated
Filed Under Palm Beach | Leave a Comment
Should the Palm Beach County Courthouse allow law enforcement officers to carry their weapons into the courthouse?
For now, officers who come into the courthouse to testify must check their guns into a locker.
WPTV NewsChannel 5 had a report saying that some cops would like Chief Judge Kathleen Kroll (left) to change the policy and allow officers to carry their guns into the courthouse.
But Kroll says there’s no reason to change the weapon ban.
Nov
5
Family of dead ATV rider gets $3.6 million
Filed Under Torts, Palm Beach | Leave a Comment
The family of a 13-year-old girl who was killed while riding on the back of an ATV won a $3.6 million jury verdict on Friday, according to a story in the Sun-Sentinel.
Paul Jacobs, the attorney who represented the parents of Sara Hennarichs, said the owners of the ATV knew that the warning stickers and manual stated that riders should be at least 16, the story said.
“They chose to ignore those warnings,” he said. “As a result of their ignoring warnings … Sara was allowed to take a joy ride and she had no idea what she was doing.”
Additional coverage is in The Palm Beach Post.
Nov
5
This is one of those cases you would have loved to have seen at trial. Instead, the woman who videotaped Circuit Judge Richard Wennet admiring a topless sunbather agreed to a plea deal and was released from prison after 83 days, according to a story in The Palm Beach Post.
Julie Ann Domotor had been charged with a felony for illegally recording Wennet’s voice without his consent. Domotor, who posted the video on YouTube, pled to a misdemeanor of unlawful interception of communications and was sentenced to time served.
Nov
2
Walgreen’s files motion for new trial
Filed Under Torts, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade | 1 Comment
We head back to Central Florida two days in a row to mention another news item in The Ledger of Lakeland. This one involves the case of Beth Hippely, a Mulberry woman who died after she was given the wrong dosage of medication from Walgreens, according to The Ledger.
Walgreens has asked the judge to either lower the $25 million jury verdict or give the company a new trial. Walgreen’s appellate attorney is Dinah Stein (left) of the Miami firm Hicks & Kneale. Plaintiff’s attorney is Christian Searcy of West Palm Beach’s Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley.
[Update: Here’s another Walgreen’s prescription foul-up involving a Jacksonville man in USA Today]
Nov
1
Góngora faces ethics complaint
Filed Under Miami-Dade | Leave a Comment
Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Góngora (left), an associate at Becker & Poliakoff, is once again facing complaints he used his position to benefit his firm, according to a story in the Miami Herald.
The latest dust up involves a client who was in a dispute with a co-op. Góngora, through his aide, forwarded a complaint from the client to city code enforement officials.
Góngora says he did nothing wrong and dismisses the complaint as a campaign attack by supporters of Ed Tobin, his opponent in the commission race.
Nov
1
Brain-damaged boy awarded $50 million
Filed Under Torts, Miami-Dade | Leave a Comment
A Lakeland family, represented by the Miami law firm Neufield, Kleinberg & Pinkiert, won a $50 million jury award Wednesday against the drunken driver who crashed into the family’s car in a 2004 accident, according to a story in The Ledger.
The crash left then 4-year-old Mario Ladler II with severe brain damage. He will require a 24-hour caretaker the rest of his life, according to testimony. A doctor testified that the most of the boy’s frontal lobes, which control his judgment and reason, were removed. The award against Michael Yow is believed to be the largest civil jury award in Polk County history.
David Kleinberg (left), the family’s attorney, said that “Without round-the-clock care, (Mario) is a danger to himself and others.” Yow was insured by Geico at the time of the accident, though that is also a subject of separate litigation, according to the story.
Nov
1
Bus drivers settle class-action suit
Filed Under Class-action, Palm Beach, Settlements, U.S. District Court | Leave a Comment
Palm Beach County bus drivers will get $1.3 million to settle their federal class-action suit against the school district, according to a story in the Sun-Sentinel.
The suit claimed that the 900 drivers and attendants did not receive overtime, despite working more than 40 hours per week.
The drivers, who were represented by the Shavitz Law Group of Boca Raton, will get between $1,200 and $1,300 each.
-
This site sponsored by
To learn about Upchurch Financial's structured settlement analysis, mediation support and financial services, contact B. Josh Pettingill. -
