• News & Events

  Calendars Meetings Daily News Summary News Releases Media Resources

• Daily News Summary

An electronic digest of media coverage of interest to members of The Florida Bar compiled each workday by the Public Information and Bar Services Department. Electronic links are only active in today's edition. For information on previous articles, please contact the publishing newspaper directly.

Aug. 25, 2010

For elections results, please visit http://enight.dos.state.fl.us/.

--Legal Profession--

COURTHOUSE UPDATE AND FALL PREVIEW AT JACKSONVILLE BAR ASSOCIATION PAST PRESIDENTS MEETING-- Jacksonville Daily Record, http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com, Aug. 23, 2010.
About 30 Jacksonville Bar Association past presidents received updates on the future of the association at an Aug. 16 meeting. The past presidents meet twice a year, in February and August. Current JBA President Courtney Grimm updated the group on the fall schedule and past JBA president Jim Rinaman, a past Florida Bar president, spoke about recent developments involving the new Duval County Courthouse. The association has a full-slate of luncheon speakers for the fall including Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Canady, who will be the keynote speaker for the first term meeting Sept. 30. Florida Bar President Mayanne Downs will visit for the November meeting.

--Lawyer Ethics/Legal Discipline--

IRA HATCH TO BE SENTENCED TODAY IN INDIAN RIVER COUNTY-- Treasure Coast Newspapers, http://www.tcpalm.com, Aug. 25, 2010.
Former attorney Ira Hatch could be ordered to serve up to 30 years behind bars when he's sentenced at 9 a.m. this morning before Senior Judge James Midelis at the Indian River County Courthouse. Hatch, 63, on July 12 cut short jury deliberations when he agreed to plead no contest to one count of racketeering. In turn, state prosecutors today are expected to dismiss a charge of money laundering and dozens of grand theft charges he’d faced at trial following his arrest in 2008. Hatch was arrested in January 2008 after Vero Beach police accused him of stealing millions of dollars from his Vero Beach law firm, Hatch & Doty, and his company, Coastal Escrow Services, which he closed September 2007, the same month he was disbarred.

--Civil Justice Issues--

LAME DUCK LEGACY-- The Gainesville Sun, editorial, http://www.gainesville.com, Aug. 25, 2010.
The editorial states: "Charlie Crist, Sonny Perdue and Bob Riley have two things in common. The governors of Florida, Georgia and Alabama are all lame ducks who are wrapping up their terms. And between them they have the potential to wrap up a tri-state fight over water rights that has gone unresolved for two decades. Neither the courts nor Congress has been able to settle disagreements over water allocation in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river systems since 1990. . . . So what's different now? Perhaps the desire of the three chief executives to leave a legacy of sorts on their way out the door."

FEDERAL JUDGE REJECTS MICCOSUKEES' REQUEST TO STOP EVERGLADES LAND DEAL WITH U.S. SUGAR-- Sun-Sentinel, http://www.sun-sentinel.com, Aug. 24, 2010.[Also: JUDGE DENIES MICCOSUKEE EFFORT TO BLOCK EVERGLADES LAND DEAL-- The Palm Beach Post, http://www.palmbeachpost.com, Aug. 24, 2010].
From the Sun-Sentinel: A federal judge Monday [Aug. 23] refused to stop the downsized, $197 million version of Gov. Charlie Crist's Everglades restoration land deal with U.S. Sugar Corp. The Miccosukee Tribe earlier this month requested an emergency injunction to stop the South Florida Water Management District from approving a contract with U.S. Sugar for 26,800 acres that could be used to help restore water flows to the Everglades. The Miccosukees argue that the district would be using money needed to restart an Everglades restoration reservoir project put on hold by the U.S. Sugar deal. U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno in March ordered the district to revive plans for the unfinished reservoir in western Palm Beach County. Yet in his ruling released Monday, Moreno said the tribe's request did not qualify for an emergency injunction, saying the district could still pay for both projects.

--Criminal Justice Issues--

SYSTEM CAN'T SHAKE THIS CASE-- The Palm Beach Post, editorial, http://www.palmbeachpost.com, Aug. 25, 2010.
The editorial states: "Last week, a federal judge in Fort Lauderdale correctly rejected a defendant's attempt to have his prostitution charges thrown out on the basis that prosecutors treated him differently from Palm Beach resident Jeffrey Epstein. The U.S. Attorney's Office prosecuted Johnny Saintil, as it should have. But Saintil's attorney, Joel DeFabio, was right to raise the issue of fairness. Federal prosecutors may face more such claims after the special treatment shown the well-connected Epstein. . . . Saintil and his co-defendants all pleaded guilty Monday [Jan. 23] to the solicitation charges. They face up to life in prison. Epstein served 13 months of an 18-month sentence in the Palm Beach County Jail, with weekends off."