Recently added articles from Florida Bar Journal:
Distinguishing chicken little from bona fide whistleblowers.(Florida)
Jun 01, 2009; ... Whistleblowers play a critical role in ensuring accountability in public and private entities. On the one hand, they should be protected from reprisal to ensure that mismanagement, corruption, and fraud come to light. On the other hand, protection should not be so inflexible that public ...
Untangling taxes from personal injury damages.
Jun 01, 2009; ... Lawyers who represent plaintiffs or defendants in personal injury cases are well acquainted with a number of legal doctrines that affect the amount of the plaintiff's recovery, such as the PIP threshold defense, apportionment of fault, collateral source setoffs, caps on damages, or the ...
Extortion: what your client wants.(Florida)
Jun 01, 2009; ... Extortion is one of the most used, abused, misunderstood, and ignored theories of law affecting the area of marital and family law. Family law cases touch upon criminal issues, often with such subtleties that they are overlooked or just considered part of the normal conflict. It is a ...
Sand for the people: the continuing controversy over public access to Florida's beaches.
Jun 01, 2009; ... Lola Carlisle, an Atlanta resident visiting Seagrove, on the Florida Panhandle's Emerald Coast in July 2007, thought her summer vacation was going to end up as a trip to jail after her children were building sandcastles on property a nearby homeowner claimed was private. (1) She and her ...
It has been an honor and a privilege. (Florida) (President's page)
Jun 01, 2009; ... As I write this, my last President's Page, and see my term as your Bar president coming to an end, words cannot begin to express what a huge honor and privilege it has been to serve as your president this year. The actual experience has surpassed in every way my thoughts of what it would ...
Reconsideration or rehearing: is there a difference?(Florida)
Jun 01, 2009; ... Ask any civil trial lawyer in Florida how many days one has to move for rehearing of an order simply granting a motion for summary judgment, and the odds are good the lawyer will respond, "Ten days." Pursue the matter further with the lawyer, and ask where this 10-day period is set forth ...
Roth IRA conversions: benefits and planning opportunities.(individual retirement accounts)
Jun 01, 2009; ... By now, everyone knows the benefits of making contributions to an individual retirement account (IRA) as well as taking advantage of an employer's 401(k) plan. To sum it up in one phrase, it's tax-free compounding. The ability to grow an investment account tax-deferred over the course of ...
Make it an even 10: courts rely on more than the seven Carpenter factors to analyze a claim for undue influence of a will or trust.(Florida)
Jun 01, 2009; ... In probate litigation, parties might contest the validity of a will or trust by arguing that the decedent was unduly influenced by a substantial beneficiary when the will or trust was made. To prove undue influence, one must demonstrate that the beneficiary had a confidential relationship ...
The effectiveness of home rule: a preemption and conflict analysis.
Jun 01, 2009; ... Prior to the 1968 revision of the Florida Constitution, local governments had only those powers expressly granted them by law. (1) In 1968, the Florida Constitution was amended to authorize local home rule powers for both cities and charter counties. (2) The first Florida Supreme Court ...
The polygraph examination - a valuable arbitration tool.
Jun 01, 2009; ... Securities arbitration--once a concept foreign to most attorneys, is now a reality for many individuals whose retirement nest eggs have been decimated within the past year. For better or worse, most individual and institutional investors who do business with firms that are members of the ...
"For want of a nail": applying Florida's reasonable certainty test to lost profit damage claims.
May 01, 2009; ... A time-tested proverb that can be traced back to the 14th century illustrates how a seemingly small event can lead to catastrophic consequences: <Pre>For want of a nail the shoe was lost.For want of a shoe the horse was lost.For want of a horse the rider was lost. ...
Trust me: practical advice for drafting Florida trusts.
May 01, 2009; ... Many Florida residents engage attorneys only rarely, perhaps to administer a family member's probate estate or to draft the client's own will or revocable living trust. Thousands of attorneys' practices focus on matters relating to estate planning and administration, and thousands more ...
Review of orders dismissing or defaulting for discovery violations: the evolution of the abuse of discretion standard.(Florida)
May 01, 2009; ... Most of us are familiar with the abuse of discretion standard of review often employed by Florida's appellate courts. For certain types of orders, however, knowing only that the court will review for an abuse of discretion will do little to inform you and your client as to how that order ...
Can parties play games with arbitration awards? How Mattel may put an end to prolonged gamesmanship.
May 01, 2009; ... Florida courts have held that the bases for vacating an arbitration award are those expressly stated in F.S. [section]682.13. (1) But on occasion, some Florida courts have vacated arbitration awards based on nonstatutory grounds. (2) Since the Supreme Court's decision in Hall Street ...
The application of Kinney System, Inc. v. Continental Ins. Co. to modification of child custody proceedings. (Florida)
May 01, 2009; ... As our society becomes increasingly mobile, parents are frequently faced with exercising timesharing with minor children across state lines. Courts are increasingly entering orders with respect to such interstate timesharing. Once one parent and a minor child have resided for more than six ...
Technical amendments to SAFETEA-LU reaffirm overtime protection for light weight truck drivers.(Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2005: A Legacy for Users)
May 01, 2009; ... In June 2008, Congress passed a Technical Corrections Act amending the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users passed in August 2005 and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to provide that drivers, drivers' helpers, loaders and mechanics of ...
Eminent domain: identifying issues in damages for the general practitioner.(Florida)
May 01, 2009; ... "The power of eminent domain is an inherent feature of the sovereign authority of the state." (1) (In other words, the fleas go with the dog.) The Florida Constitution limits this power by requiring that full compensation be paid to an owner for property taken,2 and our court system seeks ...
So you left your trust at home when you moved to Florida.
May 01, 2009; ... Florida is a state with great appeal for retirees. Warm weather, absence of state income, intangibles, or estate tax, and favorable creditor protection laws have all played a part in the substantial migration of clients to Florida from states in the northeastern United States for many ...
The Flower Man's Daughter.(Book review)
May 01, 2009; ... The Flower Man's Daughter By Jack Sobel This Michener-style fact and fiction novel takes on the story of alleged CIA involvement in the violent 1970s overthrow of democratically elected Chilean president Salvatore Allende, because Allende didn't espouse the U.S ....
The Great Decision: Jefferson, Adams, Marshall, and the Battle for the Supreme Court.(Book review)
May 01, 2009; ... The Great Decision: Jefferson, Adams, Marshall, and the Battle for the Supr eme Court By Cliff Sloan and David McKean "It is emphatically the province and duty of the Judicial Department to say what the law is. Those who apply the rule to particular cases must, of ...