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.
June 7, 2007
MIAMI BEACH BARS LAW FIRM'S LOBBYING-- The Miami Herald, http://www.miamiherald.com, June 7, 2007.
On Wednesday [June 7], city commissioners closed a loophole in Miami Beach's 10-year-old conflict-of-interest law. It has barred Becker & Poliakoff, a prominent South Florida law firm, from lobbying at Miami Beach City Hall. Although the law is broadly worded, the change effectively bans the firm from lobbying commissioners or city board members while one of its lawyers, Michael Góngora, serves as a city commissioner. Miami Beach's revised conflict-of-interest law expressly prohibits employees from the same company as a city commissioner or city board member from lobbying that person on behalf of a client, regardless of title. The law previously prevented companies from lobbying for their clients if a city board member or a commissioner was a "partner, joint venturer, co-corporate shareholder and co-owner of property.'' Representatives of Becker & Poliakoff had argued the ban did not apply to the firm because Góngora is an associate, not a partner.
--Lawyer Ethics/Legal Discipline--
U.S. APPEALS HENDRICK SENTENCE-- Florida Keys Keynoter, http://www.keynoter.com, June 7, 2007.
The federal government has appealed the five years of probation that former Monroe County Attorney Jim Hendrick received in May following his conviction on corruption charges. In February, a jury convicted Hendrick of obstructing justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice and two counts of witness tampering. The charges arose from an investigation linking Hendrick to a bribery scheme. U.S. District Court Judge Shelby Highsmith sentenced Hendrick to the probation. U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta gave notice Tuesday [June 5] that he will appeal the sentence to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal. Acosta's office had sought prison time.
ATTORNEY SUSPENDED AFTER CONDO DEPOSITS VANISH-- Florida Today, http://www.floridatoday.com, June 7, 2007.
Melbourne attorney Albert S. Lagano has had his law license suspended following charges that he misused condominium pre-construction deposits he held in trust. Lagano's license was suspended May 11 in an emergency action by the Florida Supreme Court. He has until Monday [June 11] to shut down his practice. The petition for emergency suspension alleged Lagano should have been holding at least $218,600 in deposits for several people who made reservation deposits, but that an audit showed that as of Dec. 31, there was only $52,333.12 in Lagano's trust account. Florida corporate records show that Lagano is the registered agent for at least two real estate development companies in Brevard County.
--Judiciary--
PUBLIC DEFENDER IN ST. LUCIE COUNTY TO TESTIFY IN ETHICS CASE AGAINST JUDGE-- Stuart News, http://www.tcpalm.com, June 7, 2007.
Public Defender Diamond Litty will be interviewed as part of an ongoing ethics complaint filed against St. Lucie County Judge Cliff Barnes, according to records released Wednesday [June 6]. The Judicial Qualification Commission filed charges last year against Barnes, claiming he violated judicial rules in part by filing a complaint with an appeals court alleging his fellow judges, the state attorney and the public defender were not following the law at first appearance hearings. Barnes, who has denied the charges, previously criticized Litty's husband, County Judge Tom Walsh, because he had not recused himself from some first appearance hearings where attorneys from Litty's office were present.
--Civil Justice Issues--
SECOND VERDICT IS ALL THAT STANDS BETWEEN MAN AND $8.2 MILLION-- The Florida Times-Union, http://www.jacksonville.com, June 7, 2007.
A Jacksonville man who sued Allstate after being hit by a truck was awarded nearly $8.2 million in damages Wednesday [June 6] but another jury will decide whether he can collect. John Clements was struck by an out-of-control motorist while doing landscape work in November 2004. He received $100,000 from the driver's insurer. But, when Clements tried to get Allstate to pay him his $100,000 in underinsured motorist coverage, the company refused, prompting the lawsuit. Clements suffered a broken neck, brain hemorrhages and herniated discs in his neck and back, his attorney Eric Block, said. Legally, Allstate is obligated to pay Clements only the maximum coverage his underinsured motorist policy allows - $100,000. But "the law [also] says that if the facts show that an insurance company should have paid its limits but didn't," Block said, "then you can sue them for bad faith and get the [$8.2 million]." Clements' lawyers must now convince a second jury that Allstate should have paid its client his $100,000 in underinsured motorist damages.
TOBACCO MARKETED TO BLACKS, LAWSUIT CLAIMS-- St. Petersburg Times, http://www.sptimes.com, June 7, 2007.
Tobacco companies targeted African-Americans with sophisticated marketing aimed at getting them hooked on cigarettes and eventually killing them, says a lawsuit filed Wednesday [June 6] in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. The marketing was "meticulously planned and executed with clear racist intent," says the suit filed by Miami lawyer J.B. Harris on behalf of African-American Gloria Tucker, of Coral Springs, representing the estates of her grandmother and mother. The suit asks for more than $1-billion in damages from tobacco companies Philip Morris USA, Lorillard Tobacco, R.J. Reynolds and Liggett Group.
FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL LOOKS AT ILLEGAL ALIEN ISSUE-- The Panama City News Herald, http://www.newsherald.com, June 7, 2007.
Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum said Wednesday [June 6] he is preparing an informal opinion for Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen regarding local illegal alien arrests. McCollum said McKeithen asked him to look into the Sheriff's Office's recent arrests of workers at construction sites for allegedly having forged documents such as fake driver's licenses and Social Security cards. McCollum said the law McKeithen is working under is very rarely, if ever, used. Bay County deputies recently have been going to construction site employers and asking to see their employee records to see if they are using forged identifications.
DISPUTE CENTERS ON WHY BOOK WAS PULLED-- Sun-Sentinel, http://www.sun-sentinel.com, June 7, 2007.
Inaccuracies -- not politics -- led the Miami-Dade County School Board to remove a controversial book about Cuba from school libraries, an attorney for the board argued Wednesday to appellate judges in Miami. The children's book, "Vamos a Cuba," and its English-language version, "A Visit to Cuba," have smiling children on the cover and state that people in Cuba "eat, work and go to school like you do." The reality of Cuba, opponents of the book said, is that it is a totalitarian dictatorship where civil liberties are ignored, food is rationed and children are forced to work. In June 2006, the School Board pulled both versions of the book and other books in the series about travels to countries such as Colombia, Australia and Brazil following a complaint from a parent who had been a political prisoner in Cuba. The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida sued, saying it was censorship that violated the civil rights of students and parents. The ACLU also said the decision was politically motivated.
--Criminal Justice Issues--
A COSTLY CHOICE-- Daily Business Review, http://www.dailybusinessreview.com, June 7, 2007.
Companies face difficult choices when their employees are accused of business-related wrongdoing by the government. They can indemnify employees against legal defense costs. On the other hand, they can refuse and try to separate themselves as much as possible from the accused employee to avoid legal action themselves. Earlier this month, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Robert Scola found one large company, Caracas-based Banco Industrial de Venezuela, made the wrong choice.
ALTERNATE REMOVED FROM JURY FOR POSTING COMMENT ONLINE-- Sun-Sentinel, http://www.sun-sentinel.com, June 7, 2007.
On Wednesday [June 6], an alternate juror got kicked off the jury in the trial of Kenneth Wilk after she admitted posting an online comment about the case during the trial. Kimberly Ann Martin was not one of the 12 jurors who convicted Wilk on Tuesday [June 5] for the murder of Broward Sheriff's Deputy Todd Fatta, but she had been scheduled to return to court today for the death penalty phase of the trial. Martin told the trial judge she posted a comment on the Internet because she was upset by other readers' remarks attached to a news article. U.S. District Judge James Cohn had warned the jurors and alternates every day of the trial that they were not to get any information about the case, other than evidence presented in the court. Martin's actions came to light because the judge and attorneys on the case were trying to find the identity of a person who posted another online comment to a Sun-Sentinel.com report, claiming to have been a juror who was excused from the case during trial.
COURT UPHOLDS CONVICTION OF MAN IN JUDGE'S AUTO DEATH-- Daily Business Review, http://www.dailybusinessreview.com, June 7, 2007.
A 3rd District Court of Appeal panel Wednesday [June 6] unanimously upheld the manslaughter conviction of a man who killed Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Steve Levine and his passenger in a 2001 auto accident. Jose Enrique Hernandez had appealed his conviction on two counts of manslaughter by culpable negligence in the deaths of Levine and Lourdes Maldonado. He claimed there was insufficient evidence to convict him. Both Hernandez and co-defendant Ruben Soto, his half brother, insisted that Hernandez drove the Chevy Silverado that ran a red light and plowed into Levine’s vehicle at high speed. But during the trial, evidence was presented showing that Soto was the driver, with Hernandez in the back seat. Both Hernandez and Soto were drunk and both were convicted of manslaughter.
[Revised: 06-08-2007]
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