Florida

Florida bar says no to for-profit referral services not owned by bar members

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a state bar proposal that would have allowed lawyers to take referrals from for-profit agencies. According to the Daily Business Review, the state bar asked the court to let attorneys join referral agencies not owned by bar members that also handle referrals for…

Sep 25, 2015 2:05 PM CDT

Deputy serving restraining order is shot and killed outside law office

A sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed outside a Florida law office on Tuesday after he arrived to serve a domestic violence restraining order. The gunman was later shot and killed while exchanging gunfire with deputies at a motel. Okaloosa County Deputy Bill Myers died at the Fort Walton Beach…

Sep 23, 2015 7:19 AM CDT

Florida Supreme Court asked to decide if legislature can limit attorney fees in cases against state

The Florida Supreme Court has been asked decide whether the state legislature can constitutionally limit the amount of attorney fees awarded in cases against the state government, the Palm Beach Post reported Wednesday. The case grows out of a sovereign immunity provision of state law. Whenever a plaintiff wins a…

Sep 18, 2015 2:20 PM CDT

Public defender sues over alleged law enforcement scrutiny of her driving records

Law enforcement in Broward County, Florida, violated a federal statute by accessing her driving records without good reason, an assistant public defender says in a lawsuit. Caroline McCrae alleges in the federal suit that Fort Lauderdale police and a Broward County sheriff’s deputy violated the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act on…

Sep 16, 2015 5:30 AM CDT

Florida Supreme Court adopts no-frills judicial robe policy

The late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wore stripes on the sleeves of his robe, inspired by the design of a Gilbert and Sullivan character. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg favors a white lace collar. In Florida, however, judges will have to stick to basic black, unadorned robes, as a result…

Sep 14, 2015 6:00 AM CDT

Judge who refused sobriety test admits drinking more than she initially told investigators she had

A Florida judge who lost a legal battle to avoid a drunken-driving conviction last year is now fighting for her career on the bench. Broward Circuit Judge Cynthia Imperato had been willing to settle her related legal ethics case and take a 20-day unpaid suspension from her job, at the…

Sep 10, 2015 1:50 PM CDT

Asthmatic woman sprints from court, down stairs, past security, hails cab before deputy catches up

Updated: Ordered taken into custody after a Thursday morning hearing at a Florida courthouse, a woman slipped out of her handcuffs and sprinted out of the courtroom, down several flights of stairs, through the lobby and past security at the entrance of the Broward County Courthouse. Deyanira Salazar, 35, even…

Sep 10, 2015 12:35 PM CDT

Top state court nixes judge’s unpaid 90-day suspension, wants more info about other possible issues

One of three Florida judges at the same courthouse who were accused of driving under the influence within a seven-month period, Broward Circuit Judge Lynn Rosenthal had agreed to resolve the resulting legal ethics case by taking a three-month unpaid suspension. But that may not be a sufficient sanction for…

Sep 8, 2015 3:45 PM CDT

Lawyer is charged in alleged conspiracy to defraud law firms across the United States

A Texas lawyer has been indicted in alleged conspiracy targeting law firms, businesses and lonely singles. The lawyer, Perry Don Cortese of Little River, Texas, was charged along with a nonlawyer co-defendant, Priscilla Ann Ellis of Harker Heights, Texas, Texas Lawyer (sub. req.) reports. The Aug. 20 indictment (PDF) seeks…

Sep 8, 2015 9:01 AM CDT

Law firms in Florida can send text-message ads to prospective clients, state bar says

Rejecting a recommendation by an advertising subcommittee, the Florida Bar’s board of governors has OK’d the use of cellphone text messages for advertising law firm services to prospective clients. Florida is only the second state in the country to give the green light to lawyers to use texts for advertising…

Sep 2, 2015 12:30 PM CDT

Retired judge who helped set swim record at 85 makes ‘best law decisions’ in the pool

More than 20 years after retiring from the Florida bench, Judge Robert Beach still spends up to 10 days a month in court as a senior jurist and swims a 4,000-meter daily workout. But he took a vacation earlier this month to swim a relay race with five other octogenarians…

Aug 31, 2015 1:40 PM CDT

Referee: Disbar all 3 lawyers who ‘maliciously’ set up opposing trial counsel for DUI arrest

Three Florida lawyers found to have “maliciously” set up the drunken-driving arrest of their opposing counsel during a high-profile defamation trial should be permanently disbarred, a referee in a legal ethics case has recommended. Exceeding the penalty sought by the Florida Bar, Judge W. Douglas Baird, who is serving as…

Aug 28, 2015 11:15 AM CDT

Disbarment sought for 3 lawyers who ‘maliciously’ set up opposing counsel for midtrial DUI arrest

In a brief filed in a legal ethics case, the Florida Bar asks a referee to recommend disbarment of three lawyers determined earlier to have “maliciously” set up a rival attorney for a drunken-driving arrest during a hard-fought, high-profile trial. However, only one of the three, Stephen Diaco, should be…

Aug 19, 2015 4:30 PM CDT

Judge who hit sheriff’s patrol vehicle in courthouse parking lot agrees to 90-day unpaid suspension

A judge who made headlines after she and two other jurists working in the same Florida courthouse were all accused of driving under the influence within a seven-month period has agreed to a 90-day unpaid suspension. Broward Circuit Judge Lynn Rosenthal refused blood and urine tests after striking a sheriff’s…

Aug 18, 2015 12:40 PM CDT

Litigious ex-con denied bond over claimed sex-ad post giving FBI agent’s phone number

After being in prison and on probation for the past decade, convicted con man Frederick Banks had a taste of freedom this summer. But it didn’t last long. Known for his prolific federal court litigation, determined by a magistrate to include more than 300 meritless suits between 2004 and 2013,…

Aug 13, 2015 3:50 PM CDT