Florida

County judge arrested on domestic violence charge; wife says he hit her until she blacked out

The wife of a judge in Tampa, Florida, has accused her husband of beating her to the point of unconsciousness. Shirley Sanchez-Myers, the wife of Hillsborough County Judge Eric Myers, says Myers slapped and punched her in the face and pulled her hair during a fight in the couple’s home…

Jan 21, 2015 11:40 AM CST

Indian tribe, lawyer ordered to pay more than $1 million in sanctions for frivolous claim

A Florida tribe and its lawyer have been ordered to pay more than $1 million in sanctions for filing a frivolous lawsuit against three Miami attorneys. In an order Friday, U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke said the allegations against the three lawyers were based on “no evidence or only patently…

Jan 20, 2015 4:15 PM CST

Bradley Arant to open first Florida office with acquisition of smaller firm

A major Southeastern regional law firm is opening its first office in Florida, with the acquisition of a 12-attorney Tampa firm. Alabama-based Bradley Arant Boult Cummings will operate in Tampa out of the offices of Glenn Rasmussen, which will be Bradley Arant’s eighth location, reports Alabama.com. The 460-attorney firm also…

Jan 15, 2015 2:50 PM CST

Arrested Florida teen helps save life of officer booking him into jail; see the video

A Florida teen is being honored for helping save the life of a police officer who was booking him into jail. Jamal Rutledge, 17, will be honored on Jan. 21 for helping save the life of Officer Franklin Foulks, who collapsed off his chair on Sept. 10 as he was…

Jan 15, 2015 8:35 AM CST

Secretary’s suit says she was the only staffer who could handle the managing partner’s vulgarity

A fired legal secretary claims in a sexual harassment lawsuit against Arnstein & Lehr that the firm’s former managing partner talked about his sex life and required her to inject him in the buttocks with a shot of vitamin B-12. The suit by Dasschinka Storani says the firm wrongly accused…

Jan 14, 2015 7:03 AM CST

Former lawyer convicted in condo-eviction slaying gets 45 years

A former Wyoming lawyer convicted last year in Florida of fatally shooting a maintenance man during a 2010 eviction from a South Beach condominium was sentenced Tuesday to 45 years in prison. “Your actions turned what should have been a routine eviction into a tragedy,” Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Marisa Tinkler…

Jan 13, 2015 2:40 PM CST

Akerman Senterfitt settles FDIC suit in bank failure

Akerman Senterfitt has agreed to pay $250,000 to settle a suit by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. claiming negligence in the law firm’s representation of a failed Florida bank. The FDIC had claimed the law firm and two of its lawyers failed to secure the Peninsula Bank of Englewood’s interest…

Jan 12, 2015 8:38 AM CST

Lawyer called 911 about client who police say dropped 5-year-old daughter over bridge to her death

A Florida man with a history of domestic abuse complaints is facing a first-degree murder charge after a St. Petersburg police officer saw him throw his five-year-old daughter off a freeway bridge into Tampa Bay early Thursday. Rescuers soon found her in the water, but she was dead before 3…

Jan 9, 2015 6:55 AM CST

Lawyer’s controversial DUI-checkpoint advice: Put license in baggie outside car and roll up window

A Florida lawyer’s Fair DUI blog offering tips for avoiding problems at a police drunken-driving checkpoint has ignited controversy. Attorney Warren Redlich suggests that motorists put their license, registration, proof of insurance and a flyer in a plastic baggie attached to the exterior of their vehicle and then roll up…

Jan 8, 2015 8:20 AM CST

Flooded courtrooms closed; deluge blamed on defendant accused of breaking sprinkler in holding cell

Seven courtrooms were shut down at a South Florida courthouse after a defendant in a fourth-floor holding cell broke a sprinkler and flooded the floor below. The accused inmate, Acacio Carreira, 32, was originally facing a burglary and theft case but is now expected to be charged as well with…

Jan 7, 2015 1:15 PM CST

Drug-court judge resigns after ethics commission calls for her removal over alcohol-related conduct

A Florida drug court judge resigned on Tuesday, following a call by the state Judicial Qualifications Commission on Monday for her removal from the bench. Sober for nearly 20 years, Broward County Judge Gisele Pollack relapsed in 2013 after her mother’s death. She had been elected in 2004, and had…

Jan 7, 2015 10:10 AM CST

Sued for defamation by lawyers he criticized in civil rights case, Dershowitz says they made his day

Outraged over the mention of his name in a federal civil rights filing concerning the sex trafficking of minors, famed emeritus Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz went into high gear. Although he wasn’t named as a defendant in the motion, Dershowitz publicly criticized the two lawyers who filed it.…

Jan 7, 2015 6:45 AM CST

Removal from bench is recommended for judge who went to work at drug court while intoxicated

Sober for 20 years, a Florida judge who is an admitted alcoholic relapsed during a difficult time in her life. Disciplined for coming to work intoxicated on Dec. 17, 2013, Broward County Judge Gisele Pollack promised the state’s Judicial Qualifications Commission never to do so again. But on March 19,…

Jan 6, 2015 6:20 AM CST

Law firms say they will perform free same-sex marriage ceremonies if court clerks won’t

Updated: Amid uncertainty about whether court clerks throughout Florida will begin performing same-sex marriages this week, at least two law firms have stepped into the breach. Fleet and Smith says it has a dozen people who are qualified to officiate at weddings and will ask for more volunteers from outside…

Jan 5, 2015 8:10 AM CST

Lawyer’s million-dollar challenge wasn’t an enforceable contract, 11th Circuit says

A Florida lawyer who issued a million-dollar challenge on national TV is not obligated to pay the money to the law student who sought to collect, a federal appeals court has ruled. The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on behalf of the lawyer, James Cheney Mason, the…

Dec 24, 2014 11:24 AM CST