Florida

Physical castration request by imprisoned sex offender is denied by Florida judge

A Florida judge has refused an imprisoned sex offender’s request to be physically castrated. Circuit Judge Hale Stancil of Ocala said he had no jurisdiction and denied the request last week, the Ocala Star Banner reports. Lester Leroy Williams had written the judge and asked for a modification of his…

Aug 6, 2014 10:45 AM CDT

11th Circuit OKs $67M verdict against bank in case linked to ex-law firm chief’s $1.2B fraud

A federal appeals court in Atlanta on Tuesday affirmed a $67 million jury award to investors fleeced by now-disbarred attorney Scott Rothstein. Rejecting arguments that a federal district judge shouldn’t have let a former Toronto-Dominion bank executive testify at a civil damages trial (he took the Fifth a total of…

Jul 30, 2014 2:05 PM CDT

Office manager accused of stealing over $100K in client payments

Updated: An office manager for a small Florida law firm is accused of stealing over $100,000 in cash receipts from clients that she was supposed to deposit in the unidentified Sebring firm’s trust account but allegedly didn’t. Kathryn Barnes Avirett, 38, was questioned several months ago by the lawyer for…

Jul 29, 2014 3:45 PM CDT

11th Circuit upholds ‘Docs v. Glocks’ law in First Amendment challenge

A federal appeals court is allowing enforcement of a Florida law that prevents physicians from talking with patients about guns in their homes when it is irrelevant to medical care. The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday vacated an injunction that had prevented the law from taking…

Jul 28, 2014 2:40 PM CDT

The most serious problem facing lawyers? Too many colleagues, say about half of Florida’s lawyers

The most serious problem facing the legal profession today is too many lawyers, according to about half the attorneys who responded to a Florida Bar survey last year. Since 2000, five new law schools have opened in Florida and the number of lawyers in the state has increased from 60,900…

Jul 28, 2014 12:22 PM CDT

Man run over by own truck, charged with DUI after alleged road-rage incident

In a double whammy for a man allegedly involved in a road rage incident Tuesday evening, police in Gainesville, Florida, said Joseph H. Carl, 48, was charged with drunken-driving after being run over by his own pickup truck. The incident was sparked when Carl rear-ended a vehicle stopped at a…

Jul 24, 2014 4:10 PM CDT

2 lawyers who rejected $9.5M attorney fee in Prempro case will get $21.8M

Two lead lawyers in long-running litigation over Pfizer’s Inc.’s Prempro menopause drug have more than doubled their own payout by challenging a plan to allocate them less than $10 million of a $62 million common-benefit fund for attorney fees. Federal court filings in Little Rock, Arkansas, say fellow plaintiffs lawyers…

Jul 23, 2014 8:20 PM CDT

Federal judge nixes 551-pound man’s plea to end house arrest early due to his weight

A federal judge in Florida lost little time in nixing a 551-pound pharmacist’s argument that his 30-month house-arrest sentence in a pill mill case should end early because his weight prevents him from leaving home anyway. Attorney Edward Page of Tampa also argued that his client, John Goodman, 70, wanted…

Jul 23, 2014 4:25 PM CDT

FSU law prof Dan Markel died from gunshot wound to the head; police pursue leads from tip line

Updated: Tallahassee police are pursuing leads from a tip line and surveillance video in the fatal shooting of a prominent Florida State University law professor who founded PrawfsBlawg. Police were slow to release details of the investigation into the shooting of Dan Markel, a criminal justice law professor who died…

Jul 23, 2014 1:21 PM CDT

Law prof’s shooting wasn’t a burglary gone bad; he was ‘intended victim,’ police say

Police in Tallahassee, Florida, are countering speculation that the shooting death of Florida State University law professor Dan Markel was attributable to a burglary or robbery. Police have refused to say how many times Markel was shot on Friday, whether a weapon was found at the home, or whether he…

Jul 22, 2014 12:13 PM CDT

$23.6B in punitives awarded to smoker’s widow; tobacco lawyer says ‘runaway verdict’ won’t stand

Jurors in Florida awarded $23.6 billion in punitive damages on Friday to a Pensacola widow whose chain-smoking husband died of lung cancer. Lawyers representing the widow, Cynthia Robinson, had argued that defendant R. J. Reynolds had deliberately concealed the health hazards of smoking. Robinson’s husband, Michael Johnson Sr., had favored…

Jul 21, 2014 12:53 PM CDT

Firing public defender over Facebook comments violated 1st Amendment, his lawyer says

Firing and publicly humiliating a longtime assistant Florida public defender over comments he made on Facebook violated his First Amendment rights, says a lawyer for now-former Broward County employee Gary Sheres. In a blistering Wedneday statement published by the Sun Sentinel, attorney Jason Blank contends that Broward County Public Defender…

Jul 17, 2014 4:30 PM CDT

Ex-bank exec is latest to face criminal case linked to ex-lawyer’s $1.2B scheme; victims to get $50M

A former South Florida bank president convicted of bank fraud and sentenced to probation decades ago is the latest individual charged—and expected to take a plea—in a federal criminal case linked to a swindle of at least $1.2 billion by now-imprisoned former attorney Scott Rothstein. Frank Prevé Jr., 70, was…

Jul 15, 2014 6:15 PM CDT

Client’s wish for death penalty doesn’t justify defense lawyer’s withdrawal, Fla. supreme court says

The Florida Supreme Court has refused a defense lawyer’s request to withdraw from the appeals of a client who wants to argue in favor of his death sentence. The Florida Supreme Court ruled in a 4-3 opinion (PDF) last Thursday, the Tallahassee Democrat reports. Lawyer Steven Bolotin had maintained he…

Jul 14, 2014 1:21 PM CDT

Lawyer who complained of microchip behind her left ear is suspended from practice

A Florida lawyer who asserted that opposing counsel was torturing her with “illegally implanted microchips” behind her left ear has been suspended by Florida Supreme Court. The order says Janice Jennings may not accept any new clients, effective immediately, and can’t represent any existing clients after Aug. 1, the Tampa…

Jul 10, 2014 2:41 PM CDT