Florida civil litigation lawyers rely on a few basic Internet reference resources in almost every case. Some are free, others are not. The free links include: Florida Statutes Florida Rules of Procedure Florida Standard Jury Instructions (Civil Cases) Florida Administrative Code U.S. Code Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Google Scholar…
When it comes to the civil justice system, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a hypocritical ass. While the U.S. Chamber of Commerce spends millions of dollars and focuses immense resources on lobbying campaigns aimed at limiting regular consumers’ access to the courthouse – the group’s affiliate, the Institute for…
The newspaper article reproduced below, written in 2003, does an excellent job of illustrating the importance of having strong bad faith insurance laws designed to persuade insurance companies to settle cases for fair value rather force every case to trial. Florida’s bad faith laws impose a duty on insurance companies…
In Greenfield v. Daniels (November 24, 2010), the Florida Supreme Court decided that paternity of a child could be determined in the course of a wrongful death proceeding under Chapter 768, Fla. Statutes rather than in a paternity proceeding under Ch. 742, Fla. Stat. The Court’s decision disapproved the conflicting…
At the urging of Governor Jeb Bush, Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature in 2002 passed a workers’ compensation bill designed to limit carrier-paid attorney’s fees to claimants’ attorneys. The measure was challenged in the courts by claimants (injured workers), who argued that it was unconstitutional (denied access to courts & equal protection)…
Epidemiology is the study of patterns of health and illness and associated factors at the population level. Forensic (applying science to answer questions of interest to a legal system) epidemiology can be useful in personal injuries cases to prove causation of an injury. The personal injury claimant has the burden…
From time to time, I will post to my blog site the writings of other individuals on legal topics of interest to me. For those familiar with my own blogs, it is clear that I strongly oppose efforts to limit the authority of juries to render just verdicts. Particularly insidious,…
Florida no longer recognizes the principle of joint and several liability with regard to satisfying final judgments rendered in personal injury cases. Under the concept of joint and several liability, one liable defendant could be forced to pay for the fault of other defendants. One of the theories behind the…
Helpful tips to reduce identify theft: Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put “PHOTO ID REQUIRED.” When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the “For” line. Instead, just put the last four numbers.…
I voted for President Obama and fully expect to vote for him again in 2012. However, I am disappointed by one of his remarks delivered in the 2011 State of the Union message. In speaking about taking steps to improve the economy, the president mentioned that he is willing to…