Florida

PI Lawyer’s $28K Monthly Child Support Reinstated

Florida plaintiffs attorney Willie Gary has lost an appeal that sought to cut the $28,000 in monthly child support payments he must make to support his twins. The Georgia Court of Appeals vacated a judge’s decision to reduce the amount to $5,000 a month, according to the Fulton County Daily…

Oct 31, 2007 12:56 PM CDT

FL Police: No Masks in Public

Law enforcement officials in the small Florida town of Cocoa are cracking down on a little-known law that bans the wearing of masks in public. The enforcement comes on the heels of numerous robberies in Florida in which individuals wearing gorilla and Scream masks have held up businesses. The most…

Oct 30, 2007 10:00 PM CDT

FL Family in Publicized Case Deported

Two teenage brothers in a high-profile immigration case said goodbye to their parents and 85-year-old grandmother at Miami International Airport today, as the older family members were deported to their native Colombia. The brothers, Juan and Alex Gomez, aged 18 and 19, respectively, also are here as illegal immigrants, having…

Oct 30, 2007 7:57 PM CDT

FL Small Firm Managers Create Network

When Florida lawyer Joseph H. Serota tried to network with fellow managing partners, he felt the sting of rejection. His firm at the time only had 25 members, too few to join the group from which he sought guidance. So Serota struck out on his own, forming the Florida Association…

Oct 30, 2007 7:28 PM CDT

Charges Dropped Against Tasered Student (Video)

A Florida student Tasered by campus cops after incessant questioning during a speech last month by Sen. John Kerry will not be charged. Prosecutors dismissed the case against Andrew Meyer after the University of Florida student apologized to the school, the school’s president and campus police, the Associated Press reports.…

Oct 30, 2007 3:32 PM CDT

Traffic Cameras Mean More Rear-Enders

Just as authorities thought they would, traffic cameras encourage motorists to put on the brakes rather than speed through intersections on red lights. But, in an unintended consequence, they also significantly increase the number of rear-end accidents, reports the Miami Herald. As some motorists slam on the brakes, fearful of…

Oct 29, 2007 4:33 PM CDT

Watching Turtles is FL Litigator’s ‘Zen Thing’

By all accounts, Stuart Rosenfeldt isn’t a stereotypical angry litigator. The easygoing Florida employment attorney believes in karma, and looks to the rare New Guinea sea turtles he keeps in tanks in his office to provide what the Miami Herald refers to as his “Zen thing”—a spoken mantra, habit, or…

Oct 29, 2007 4:09 PM CDT

30-Year Sentence Upheld for Lionel Tate

A Florida youth infamous as perhaps the youngest person in the U.S. ever to receive a life sentence, before it was subsequently overturned, now appears likely to serve a lengthy prison term after all. Lionel Tate’s 30-year sentence for violating his probation in the murder case was upheld today by…

Oct 25, 2007 10:46 PM CDT

‘Girls Gone Wild’ Lawyer Files Misconduct Complaint

The lawyer for the now infamous founder of the “Girls Gone Wild” video series has filed a prosecutorial misconduct motion against the Florida state attorney who pursued charges against his client. Miami attorney Roy Black claims State Attorney Steve Meadows exhibited a “pattern of blatant abuse” in dealing with Joe…

Oct 24, 2007 9:50 PM CDT

Sex Joke No Laughing Matter for Judge, Defender

A Miami judge and public defender have apologized for joking in court last week about a case involving a man accused of having sex with a teenage boy. The mea culpa came from Judge Jeffrey Levenson, 50, and Assistant Public Defender Brian Reidy, 49, who was docked a week of…

Oct 24, 2007 7:50 PM CDT

School Board Member Gives Up Adopted Kid

It isn’t just ordinary parents who sometimes find themselves unable to cope with the extreme demands placed on them by a troubled, potentially violent child. A member of the Pinellas County School Board, near St. Petersburg, Florida, told attendees at a recent state legislative committee hearing that she is going…

Oct 23, 2007 10:28 PM CDT

Civil Rights March Over Boot Camp Death

About 700 people marched on Tallahassee, Florida, today, to call for further investigation of the death last year of Martin Lee Anderson, a 14-year-old black teen being held at a military-style “boot camp” for juvenile inmates. Speaking to marchers at the federal courthouse, Adora Obi Nweze, president of the Florida…

Oct 23, 2007 9:47 PM CDT

Schoolyard Bully Costs FL School $4M

In a verdict that should serve as a warning to school administrators elsewhere, a Florida jury has ordered a private school to pay $4 million to a 12-year-old whose arm was broken by a school bully. The incident has left the now 16-year-old victim with a permanent injury that prevents…

Oct 23, 2007 9:13 PM CDT

Senior Sleuths Right Civil Wrongs in Florida

A special project of the Florida attorney general has grown into a 35-office effort to protect the state’s senior citizens from large injustices and small that don’t constitute crimes. So-called senior sleuths at Seniors vs. Crime gather the facts and help the elderly make an effective complaint in the right…

Oct 22, 2007 7:06 PM CDT

Big Legal Bill for Anna Nicole Smith’s Baby

Adults who had a relationship to Anna Nicole Smith are still wrangling over a number of issues related to the deceased starlet’s estate. But they are seemingly entirely agreed on one thing: a bill of nearly $200,000 submitted by the court-appointed lawyer representing the interests of Smith’s baby daughter is…

Oct 16, 2007 5:27 PM CDT