March 12, 2010

--Legal Profession--

TALLAHASSEE TRAILBLAZING WOMEN: KRISTINE E. KNAB-- Tallahassee Democrat, http://www.tallahassee.com, March 12, 2010.
For 32 years, Kris Knab has worked for North Florida Legal Services, Inc., and has served as its executive director since 1994. When Knab began her legal career, only about 7 percent of lawyers were women and just one other program in Florida had a female executive director. Today, Knab not only leads North Florida Legal Services, but has helped it grow from a small non-profit to a highly respected legal aid program, serving 16 counties from five offices.

LEGAL COUNSEL VACANCY DRAWS EIGHT APPLICANTS-- The Ledger, http://www.theledger.com, March 12, 2010.
Eight people have applied to fill a vacancy for director of the Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel in the Lakeland-based 2nd District Court of Appeal. The previous director, Jackson Flyte, died in January. The state office provides legal representation to indigent defendants. The applicants are Constance Daniels, Dayle Green-Seidel, John Edgar Hendry, Louis Daniel Lazaro, Ita M. Neymotin, Michael Paul Reiter, Anthony Wayne Surber and William John Twyford.

--Judiciary--

MIAMI CLERK'S OFFICE CATCHING UP ON BACKLOG OF FORECLOSURE FILINGS-- Daily Business Review, http://www.dailybusinessreview.com, March 12, 2010.
Mounting foreclosure filings coupled with layoffs in the Miami-Dade County clerk's office created a four-month backlog of paperwork and clogged the entire system. By cutting a deal with his employees, promising them future paid time off for free volunteer work on weekends, Clerk of Courts Harvey Ruvin has caught up on most of the foreclosure paperwork that was holding back judges, attorneys, homeowners and lenders. The clerk's office was stuck when state legislators set a statewide spending cap that cut Ruvin’s court-related budget by 18 percent. With the recession in full swing, the clerk’s office’s let go of a tenth of its court staff as well as temporary and part-time workers doing the grunt work of processing foreclosure pleadings that were increasing in number every day. By last week, several gaps had been shortened.

JUDGE KASTRENAKES RECUSES HIMSELF FROM SEVEN FHP CASES-- The Palm Beach Post, http://www.palmbeachpost.com, March 12, 2010.
A Palm Beach County Circuit judge Thursday [March 11] disqualified himself from seven felony cases made by the Florida Highway Patrol and apologized for lashing out at an FHP trooper during a traffic stop last year. The state attorney's office last month filed a motion to disqualify Judge John Kastrenakes from hearing a felony case against Andrew Morgan, arrested by the highway patrol in December. Prosecutors based the motion on a Sept. 18 incident in which Kastrenakes was ticketed for driving the wrong way in a travel plaza parking lot on Florida's Turnpike. Referencing his exchange with trooper Sandra Thompson, the highway patrol said the tickets she wrote him would color his opinion of troopers in court. Kastrenakes granted prosecutors' motion for disqualification, stating "the public must have the perception of judicial fairness."

10TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT COURT VACANCIES TO BE FILLED-- The Ledger, http://www.theledger.com, March 12, 2010.
The 10th Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission is accepting applications for two circuit court vacancies created by the retirements of circuit judges Randall McDonald and Robert Doyel, effective June 30 and July 31, respectively. Applicants must be members of The Florida Bar for the preceding five years, registered Florida voters and reside in the 10th Judicial Circuit - Polk, Highlands or Hardee counties - at the time they are sworn into office. The deadline to submit applications is 5 p.m. on April 2.

--Civil Justice Issues--

MIAMI JUDGE REFUSES TO TOSS BANK OVERDRAFT FEE LAWSUIT-- South Florida Business Journal, http://southflorida.bizjournals.com, March 12, 2010.
A Miami federal judge on Thursday [March 11] denied requests from several of the nation’s largest banks to dismiss lawsuits against them alleging that they have abusive and excessive overdraft fee policies. The suits, consolidated before U.S. District Court Judge James Lawrence King, seek to recover millions of dollars in fees charged to consumers on debit card purchases. In a 50-page opinion, King rejected the banks' argument that its customers cannot bring private litigation to recover the fees.

JUDGE IN NADEL CASE CORRECTS RULING, REJECTS MOTION TO DISMISS-- Sarasota Herald-Tribune, http://www.heraldtribune.com, March 12, 2010.
A Sarasota circuit court judge Thursday [March 11] corrected a ruling he made two days earlier and now says he is leaving six failed, fraudulent hedge funds as plaintiffs against the Holland & Knight law firm.The civil suit claims Holland & Knight, while it worked for Arthur Nadel's stock management firm, among other things, failed to warn investors that Nadel had been disbarred in New York for stealing from a client. The suit was filed by a federally appointed receiver working on behalf of the 400 investors who thought they had nearly $400 million under management at Nadel's Scoop Management. Judge Rick DeFuria said he ruled in error from the bench on Tuesday [March 9] when he eliminated three of the six Scoop hedge funds from the lawsuit the receiver filed against Holland & Knight. In court, DeFuria at first said he was turning down Holland & Knight's request to dismiss the entire lawsuit.

--Criminal Justice Issues--

SUPREME COURT AFFIRMS DEATH PENALTY FOR CONVICTED KILLER TIFFANY COLE-- The Florida Times-Union, http://www.jacksonville.com, March 12, 2010.
The only woman on Florida's Death Row has lost an appeal to the state Supreme Court. The justices unanimously affirmed Tiffany Cole's murder conviction and death sentence Thursday [March 11]. The 28-year-old woman was convicted in the deaths of a disabled Jacksonville couple, James "Reggie" Sumner and wife Carol, both 61. They were buried alive after being robbed in 2005. Cole's lawyer argued her life should be spared because she didn't know the other defendants — including the mastermind and Cole's boyfriend, Michael J. Jackson — planned to kill the victims by burying them alive. The high court agreed Cole didn't know such a cruel method would be used, but said other factors justified a death sentence.

March 11, 2010 Daily News Summary

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