Florida

Wife Says She Learned From Facebook That Her Hubby Had Another Wedding

Lynn France thought her husband might be having an affair. But she found out from Facebook, she says, that the situation was even worse. Although Lynn France, who is now 41, had married John France in Italy in 2005, wedding photos posted on the social networking site showed had married…

Aug 5, 2010 11:17 PM CDT

Lawsuit Blames Accounting Firm for $450M in Bankrupt Rothstein Law Firm Losses

A lawsuit seeking $450 million has been filed against an accounting firm that worked with the now-bankrupt South Florida law firm formerly operated by now-convicted Ponzi schemer and ex-attorney Scott Rothstein. A trustee overseeing the Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler bankruptcy contends in the suit, among other allegations, that Berenfeld Spritzer Schechter…

Aug 5, 2010 9:53 PM CDT

‘Like Hamsters in a Cage’: Foreclosure Firm Cut Corners to Make Money, Story Says

Junk fees, corner-cutting and an indifference to human misery helped a Florida lawyer make a mint in a high-volume foreclosure practice, reports Mother Jones in an unflattering profile of the legal industry enforcing bank mortgage rights. Largely focusing on attorney David Stern, the lengthy Mother Jones article says one opposing…

Aug 4, 2010 11:05 PM CDT

Ex-Attorney Rothstein Owes $188M to 218 Ponzi Victims, But They’ll Get Far Less, Feds Say

Ex-attorney Scott Rothstein owes 218 victims of his Ponzi scheme about $188 million, federal prosecutors say. But they’ll likely get much less, since his assets are only a fraction of that sum, reports the South Florida Business Journal in its Scott Rothstein: Picking Up the Pieces blog. Meanwhile, Rothstein is…

Aug 3, 2010 6:41 PM CDT

Lawyer Suspended for Deposition Tirade; Taped Incident Is Instructive, Court Says

A Miami lawyer won’t be able to attend depositions alone for the next two years, unless the proceedings are videotaped, under an unusual order by the Florida Supreme Court. Plaintiffs lawyer Robert Joseph Ratiner was sanctioned for his videotaped conduct at a May 2007 deposition with DuPont lawyers in a…

Aug 2, 2010 1:39 PM CDT

RICO Suit Seeks Billions from David Stern and His Foreclosure-Mill Law Firm

A racketeering lawsuit seeking class action status and, potentially, up to billions of dollars in damages has been filed against a Florida lawyer and his foreclosure-mill law firm. Also named as a defendant is a bank-created company that, the complaint alleges, owned a criminal enterprise which operated to violate homeowners’…

Jul 30, 2010 6:55 PM CDT

Small Law Firm’s Big Back Office Delayed News of Less Work, Securities Suit Contends

A high-volume Florida foreclosure practitioner has been an early adopter of a businesslike model of law practice, in which a back-office company handles much of the litigation preparation work for his law firm. Now David J. Stern is also an early example of the potential pitfalls that can arise in…

Jul 28, 2010 6:34 PM CDT

Homeowners Ass’n Loses Parking Case, Must Pay Owner’s $187K Legal Bill

A battle over whether a Florida homeowner could park his pickup in his own driveway racked up over $187,000 in legal bills for the unswerving owner by the time the Eagles Homeowners Association appealed a Hillsborough Circuit Court ruling in his favor. And now the association has not only lost…

Jul 28, 2010 5:18 PM CDT

Recruiter Offers ‘Prayers & Condolences’ to New Law Grads, Laid-Off Attorneys

If you have a book of business of $1 million or more, finding work is no problem. But otherwise the law firm job market in South Florida is brutal for many young attorneys, unless they have experience in economic-misery-related practice areas such as bankruptcy, the Miami Herald reports. “If you’re…

Jul 27, 2010 8:44 PM CDT

Well-Known Lawyer Gets 8 Years in Fiduciary Fraud Involving Millions of Dollars

A well-known South Florida forensic accountant and attorney made a tearful apology in federal court in Miami on Friday before being sentenced to eight years for stealing millions, much of it from the accounts of individuals he oversaw as a court-appointed fiduciary. Lewis Freeman, 61, received 270 letters of support,…

Jul 26, 2010 6:35 PM CDT

After Bar Complaint, Lawyer Caught on Camera Burglarizing Client’s Home, Police Say

Things have gone from bad to worse for an environmental and land use lawyer whose client complained to the Florida Bar that the attorney had taken $2,500 he wasn’t entitled to from an escrow account after a real estate deal. After the bar complaint, police say Albert E. Ford II…

Jul 23, 2010 4:57 PM CDT

Armed Condo Ass’n Rep is Criminally Charged After Entering Unit to Check for Water Leak

Condominium association issues can prove dangerous, and the troubled economy and real estate market have further stressed sometimes-troubled relationships between owners. Meanwhile, inexperienced owners serving as managers can create further turmoil. At least one of these factors apparently may have come into play yesterday when a 64-year-old representative of a…

Jul 22, 2010 11:10 PM CDT

Bookkeeper Accused of Stealing $176K from Florida Law Firm

In the latest report of an alleged theft from a law firm by an employee trusted with access to its funds, the office manager and bookkeeper of a Clearwater, Fla., law firm has been accused of stealing $176,000 from her employer of six years. Questions were raised about Kerry Sue…

Jul 21, 2010 4:57 PM CDT

11th Circuit Upholds 3-Year Term for Actor Wesley Snipes on 3 Misdemeanor Tax Counts

Saying that a federal district judge in Florida had discretion to sentence Wesley Snipes the maximum term, a federal appeals court has upheld the actor’s three consecutive one-year sentences on three misdemeanor counts of willfully failing to file a tax return. Snipes reportedly owes the Internal Revenue Service some $17…

Jul 19, 2010 6:13 PM CDT

Blinded Lawyer Testifies Against His Son at Trial Over His Wife’s Murder

A lawyer who was blinded after being shot along with his wife at their South Florida home in 2004 in an alleged contract hit testified today against his 31-year-old son at a conspiracy trial over his wife’s murder and his own attempted murder. John Sutton described a troubled relationship with…

Jul 14, 2010 10:37 PM CDT