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 08, 2024
-
The Florida Bar
ELECTRONIC FILING SCAM TARGETS ATTORNEYS IN FEDERAL COURTS
The Florida Bar | Article | November 08, 2024
Attorneys across the country are being targeted with fake electronic filing notifications, in which emails purporting to come from the federal Judiciary’s Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) system lead recipients to a malicious website with computer viruses. According to the IT Security Office for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the fake Notices of Electronic Filing prompt recipients to reply immediately. Recipients are then sent an email containing a link to access fake case documents that direct users to a malicious website. To avoid becoming a victim of the scam, the office advices lawyers be sure to always validate cases and case documentation directly through their local federal court’s CM/ECF system. Never download attachments or click on links from unofficial or questionable sources. If you receive a suspicious email regarding a federal court case, contact the federal court in your jurisdiction before opening any attachments or links.
-
Judiciary
FOUR NEW JUDGES: MEET THE LAWYERS DESANTIS JUST ELEVATED TO THE BENCH
Daily Business Review | Article | November 07, 2024
Gov. Ron DeSantis has appointed four judges to Florida courts, filling vacancies and newly created positions. The appointments introduce experienced attorneys to the judiciary in St. Lucie and Santa Rosa counties and to the First Judicial Circuit Court. Lauren Kaye Sweet of Stuart will join the St. Lucie County Court. Sweet has been assistant general counsel for the St. Lucie County School Board since 2022 and was an assistant state attorney in the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit. J. Ryan Love of Pace has been appointed as a judge in the First Judicial Circuit Court. Love has served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Florida since 2008. In May, DeSantis signed HB 5401, creating nine judicial positions. DeSantis announced two judicial appointees under this legislation—David Leigh Stevens of Niceville, who will serve as a judge in the First Judicial Circuit Court, and Matthew Gordon of Pensacola, who has been appointed to the Santa Rosa County Court.
-
Criminal Justice
NAPLES ATTORNEY IN DEADLY HIT/RUN APPEALS; WANTS DAUGHTER TO TESTIFY
Naples Daily News | Article | November 07, 2024
Counsel for Naples attorney Giselle Guzman, who was convicted in the 2022 hit-and-run death of a Naples man, is requesting a new trial, saying Guzman’s daughter was barred from testifying and key pieces of evidence were inaudible and led jurors to interpret them. Collier Circuit Judge Elizabeth Krier on Nov. 18 adjudicated Guzman guilty of leaving a crash involving death. A six-person jury deliberated for about two hours before they convicted Guzman. According to the motion filed Oct. 23 by defense attorney Donald Day, ring video played in the courtroom that appeared to show Guzman talking to her daughter, acknowledging she hit someone, should have been excluded from trial. An amended motion for new trial, filed Tuesday [Nov. 5], incorporates the argument that Guzman attempted to have her daughter testify to dispute the state’s argument concerning the ring video.
-
Florida Supreme Court
FLORIDA SUPREME COURT ENDS ILLEGAL-RECORDING LAWSUIT INVOLVING VIDEO GAME CHAMPS
Sun Sentinel | Article | November 07, 2024
The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday [Nov. 7] dismissed a lawsuit filed by a video game champ who accused a rival of illegally recording him in a conversation about cheating. Gamer David Race, who lives in Ohio, was accused of violating Florida law by secretly recording fellow gamer Billy Mitchell. The interstate phone call took place in 2018, and Mitchell, who lives in Broward County, did not grant permission to be recorded. Florida requires all parties in a conversation to consent to being recorded. The Supreme Court listened to oral arguments in the case in June before issuing a decision Thursday saying the issue did not belong in Florida courts. The decision is a victory for Race, whose lawyers argued that the phone call originated out of state and therefore was not subject to Florida’s restrictions.
-
Civil Justice
FLORIDA TEACHERS UNIONS GET COURT WIN IN DUES DEDUCTION FIGHT
News Service of Florida | Article | November 07, 2024
Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker Wednesday [Nov. 6] backed two public-school unions in a constitutional challenge to part of a 2023 Florida law that prevents deduction of union dues from government employees’ paychecks. Judge Walker said the dues-deduction ban unconstitutionally violated existing collective bargaining agreements for the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association and the Hernando United School Workers unions. He issued an injunction to prevent the ban from applying to those unions while the collective bargaining agreements remain in effect. Judge Walker cited what is known as the Contracts Clause of the U.S. Constitution and wrote that the ban is “not a reasonable impairment of contracts because it impairs the parties’ existing bargained-for CBAs (collective bargaining agreements) before they expire without justification.”
-
Civil Justice
MAKER OF ‘CULTIVATED MEAT’ APPEALS FLORIDA JUDGE’S RULING
News Service of Florida | Article | November 07, 2024
A California-based company has appealed after Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker’s Oct. 11 ruling rejecting a request for a preliminary injunction against a new law banning the sale and manufacturing of “cultivated” meat in Florida. Attorneys for UPSIDE Foods Inc. filed a notice Tuesday [Nov. 5] that is a first step in appealing the decision. UPSIDE Foods filed the lawsuit in August challenging the constitutionality of the law, which makes it a second-degree misdemeanor to sell or manufacture cultivated meat, often known as lab-grown meat. The lawsuit contends, in part, that a federal poultry-products law preempts Florida from imposing the ban. In denying the company’s request for a preliminary injunction to block the law, Judge Walker wrote the company could not identify a law or regulation “that creates a federal ‘ingredient requirement’ with respect to ‘cultivated meat.’”
-
Criminal Justice
SUSPENDED MIAMI-DADE COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ CONVICTED OF TAKING $15K TO HELP CONSTITUENT
Miami Herald | Article | November 07, 2024
The career of a lifelong public servant who reached the stratosphere of Miami-Dade politics was shattered Thursday [Nov. 7] when jurors found Joe Martinez guilty of political corruption. Martinez, whose decorated 17-year law enforcement career led to five terms in elected office as a county commissioner, was convicted of accepting $15,000 in payments in exchange for helping with legislation that would have benefited a constituent. Jurors needed only three hours to accept state prosecutors’ arguments that Martinez accepted three $5,000 payments in 2016 and 2017 from Extra Supermarket owner Jorge Negrin in exchange for pushing legislation that would have permitted much-needed large refrigerated containers on the property. Martinez was convicted of unlawful compensation and conspiracy to commit unlawful compensation. The conviction could land the suspended commissioner in prison for more than 15 years.
-
Judiciary
FROM THE BENCH: SAYING GOODBYE TO THE ‘AT ISSUE RULE’
Jacksonville Daily Record | Article | November 07, 2024
4th Circuit Judge Michael Sharrit writes: “On this New Year’s Eve, that familiar refrain – ‘Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?’ – might evoke nostalgic thoughts of a departing old friend known as Rule 1.440(a) – the ‘at issue rule.’ At the stroke of midnight and by the time the last verse of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ has been sung, the newly revised Rules of Civil Procedure will have gone into effect. Among all the changes, the elimination of the ‘at issue rule’ will have profound implications for our bench and Bar. The gatekeeping function of the ‘at issue rule’ has been to prevent cases from being scheduled for trial prematurely, before the pleadings have closed and the issues have been crystalized. By eliminating the ‘at issue rule’ and overhauling Rule 1.200 (Case Management), the state Supreme Court is mandating most cases be set for trial early, at the outset of litigation.”