The purpose of this summary provided by the Communications Department of The Florida Bar is to present media coverage that may be of interest to members. Opinions expressed in the articles are attributable solely to the authors. The Florida Bar does not adopt or endorse any opinions expressed below. For information on previous articles, please contact the publishing newspaper directly.
November 18, 2019
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Criminal Justice
FORT LAUDERDALE FENTANYL DEALER SENTENCED TO 30 YEARS FOR CAUSING DEATH OF CUSTOMER
Miami Herald | Article | November 15, 2019
A Fort Lauderdale drug dealer who sold synthetic heroin known as fentanyl to a customer who died of an overdose was sentenced to 30 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Jose Martinez on Thursday [Nov. 14]. The conviction of Jameson Jean for causing the Broward man’s death carried a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years. Jean’s prison sentence comes at a time when drug dealers are facing stiffer consequences in Florida for selling drugs that kill people.
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Civil Justice
CONSERVATION FUNDING FIGHT GOES TO SUPREME COURT
St. Augustine Record | Article | November 16, 2019
Environmental groups are going to the Florida Supreme Court in a long-running legal battle about whether state lawmakers have properly carried out a 2014 constitutional amendment designed to boost land and water conservation. The groups filed a notice Friday [Nov. 15] that is a first step in asking the Supreme Court to decide the case. Leon County Circuit Judge Charles Dodson sided with the environmental groups, but that decision was overturned in September by the 1st District Court of Appeal.
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Civil Justice
JUDGE: CANDIDATES IN GOVERNOR’S PARTY NEED NOT GO FIRST ON ELECTION BALLOTS
Bradenton Herald | Article | November 17, 2019
Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker Friday [Nov. 15] declared unconstitutional a decades-old Florida law that requires candidates who are in the same party as the governor to be listed first on the ballot. Walker did not specify what the state must do to replace the current system but ordered that “from the date of this order forward, no ballot shall issue which is organized pursuant to the ballot order scheme” described in the law. He ordered Secretary of State Laurel Lee to employ a county-by-county rotational system “until such time as the state adopts a new ballot order scheme on a permanent basis.”
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Criminal Justice
29 PEOPLE, INCLUDING MULTIPLE FORMER PUBLIC OFFICIALS, INDICTED IN USDA CORRUPTION CASE
Washington County News | Article | November 15, 2019
Lawrence Keefe, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, announced Friday [Nov. 15] that 29 people, including elected and appointed federal, state and local government officials, have been indicted for conspiring to steal thousands in taxpayer dollars. The scheme involves stealing an estimated $373,483 in drought assistance dollars intended to help livestock farmers who’d suffered a loss of grazing land during a dry period in 2017. Each defendant faces a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and theft of government funds.
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Criminal Justice
NORTH FLORIDA JUDGE DRAWS TOWN’S WRATH OVER SCHOOL VIOLENCE CASE
Florida Politics | Article | November 17, 2019
In October, Judge Gloria R. Walker dismissed the case of second-degree felony charges against a 15-year-old high school sophomore who had planned a massacre at Baker County’s only high school because she said prosecutors could not prove the threat had been transmitted as described in the law. Investigators said the teen acknowledged writing the six-page “School Shooting Plan” but he denied any intention of carrying it out. He was taken into custody in early September after sharing his plan with another student.
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Civil Justice
GOVERNOR APPEALS AMENDMENT 4 COURT INJUNCTION IN FAVOR OF 17 FELONS WHO WANT TO VOTE
Bradenton Herald | Article | November 15, 2019
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday [Nov. 15] appealed a federal judge’s injunction with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a lawsuit over Amendment 4, which passed in 2018 and restored the right to vote to felons. The injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle last month required elections supervisors not to remove from the voter rolls 17 felons who are suing the state after DeSantis signed into law a bill requiring felons pay back all court fees, fines and restitution before being allowed to vote. A DeSantis’ spokeswoman said the 17 plaintiffs were “attempting to use the court process to re-write the scope and original intent of the amendment.”
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Legal Profession
‘DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS’: WHY ARE WOMEN LEAVING BIG LAW?
Law.com | Article | November 14, 2019
Many experienced women attorneys in Big Law love what they do, but often they leave firms because they’re dissatisfied with how their firm operates and treats them, according to a report by ALM Intelligence and the American Bar Association. The study found that only 50 percent of women are satisfied with the recognition of their work as opposed to 70 percent of men. About 45 percent of women surveyed said they’re satisfied with their opportunities for advancement, while 69 percent of men reported satisfaction. Women also reported high levels of overt gender discrimination.
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Civil Justice
CONSERVATIVE ADVOCACY GROUPS FILE OPPOSITION TO MEDICAID BALLOT QUESTION
Florida Politics | Article | November 14, 2019
Americans for Prosperity – Florida and the Foundation for Government Accountability on Thursday [Nov. 14] filed a brief with the Florida Supreme Court opposing a proposed constitutional amendment expanding Medicaid arguing that voters are not adequately informed of the possible fiscal impacts on the state. The court delayed the amendment, originally scheduled for next year’s ballot, to 2022 when it took up the case. Also on Thursday, the Florida House and Senate filed their own briefs raising a series of legal objections to the proposed ballot initiative. The briefs argue, in part, that the proposal would be misleading to voters and improperly infringe on the Legislature’s powers.
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Civil Justice
JUDGE’S NIXING OF $350 MILLION MEDICARE AWARD AT STAKE IN ATLANTA
Bloomberg Law | Article | November 18, 2019
The invalidation of a Florida jury’s nearly $350 million Medicare fraud verdict may have seriously damaged plaintiffs’ ability to fight alleged fraud in the Southeast, contends the whistleblower behind the case. The whistleblower, with the federal government’s support, will urge a federal appeals court in Atlanta on Wednesday [Nov. 20] to reinstate the award. The whistleblower convinced a jury that the government wouldn’t have paid a nursing home if it knew the provider misled Medicare about the necessity of services and “upcoded” for care that led to overbilling.