Florida

  • December 06, 2024

    Fla. Jury Awards $310M To Family Of Teen Killed On Park Ride

    A Florida state court jury awarded $310 million to the parents of a teenager who died riding on the Orlando Freefall attraction at ICON Park two years ago after ruling against the ride's manufacturer, according to counsel representing the family.

  • December 05, 2024

    Fla. Labs Say Cigna's Trial 'Confession' Erases $7.3M Verdict

    Three Florida drug testing laboratories have urged a Connecticut federal court to undo a $7.3 million jury verdict for Cigna Health and Life Insurance Co. over unjustified billings, arguing a new trial is warranted after the insurer allegedly made a "confession" during opening statements that it wasn't seeking damages for itself.

  • December 05, 2024

    Providers' $2.8B BCBS Antitrust Deal Gets Judge's Initial OK

    An Alabama federal judge has given his initial approval for a $2.8 billion settlement inked between Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and a proposed class of medical providers in a more than 12-year-old antitrust case targeting association rules.

  • December 05, 2024

    First Citizens Accused Of $3M High-Yield Bait-And-Switch

    First Citizens Bank & Trust Company faces claims from an agritourism nonprofit and its registered agent that they invested $3 million with the bank expecting a competitive rate of return before finding those funds were actually in products yielding a much lower interest rate.

  • December 05, 2024

    Pain Management Clinic Fined $1.19 Million for HIPAA Breach

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has fined a Florida pain management clinic $1.19 million for alleged HIPAA violations involving a former contractor that impermissibly accessed the clinic's electronic record system.

  • December 05, 2024

    11th Circ. Won't Rethink $100M Credit For John Hancock

    The Eleventh Circuit won't reconsider its decision to let John Hancock Life Insurance Co. keep $100 million in foreign tax credits, leaving in place its October ruling against a Florida law firm retirement plan's trustees.

  • December 05, 2024

    GSA To Sell 8 Federal Buildings, Saving Up To $475M

    The U.S. General Services Administration has announced plans to offload eight federally owned properties, a move that could potentially save the federal government $475 million over 10 years.

  • December 04, 2024

    Target Can't Escape Investors' Pride Month Merch Suit

    Target Corp. cannot escape claims alleging customer backlash over its 2023 LGBTQ-focused marketing campaign caused the retail giant's sales and stock price to decline, a Florida federal judge ruled Wednesday, finding that the investors have plausibly pled Target made misleading warnings about the risk of customer boycotts.

  • December 04, 2024

    Fla. Ex-Rep Sues Associate Connected To Foreign Agent Case

    A former Florida congressman has sued an associate in Miami-Dade County over a breach of contract, alleging that he disclosed a confidential legal memorandum to law enforcement officials and others in connection to a federal indictment charging the ex-lawmaker with unlawfully lobbying on behalf of Venezuela.

  • December 04, 2024

    Insurer Owes Coverage In Florida Keys Property Sale Dispute

    A Florida state appeals court partially reversed a lower court's ruling that an insurer didn't owe two insureds a defense in an underlying suit accusing them of conspiring with a Key West property seller, finding Wednesday there were insufficient allegations to trigger a policy exclusion.

  • December 04, 2024

    Aya Healthcare Buys Fla. Peer Cross Country In $615M Deal

    Talent software and staffing company Aya Healthcare, steered by Procopio, will acquire Davis Polk & Wardwell-guided Cross Country Healthcare in an $18.61-per-share cash transaction worth roughly $615 million that will take the company private, according to a Wednesday statement.

  • December 04, 2024

    Ft. Lauderdale Agrees To $1.97M Deal With Floyd Protester

    Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has agreed to pay $1.97 million and implement a change in police department policies in a federal lawsuit brought by a protester who was shot in the face with a less-than-lethal projectile during a demonstration over the death of George Floyd in May 2020.

  • December 04, 2024

    Wells Fargo Wants Suits Over $300M Scheme Tossed

    Wells Fargo Bank NA urged a Florida federal judge on Wednesday to toss both a proposed class action and a receiver's lawsuit claiming the bank aided and abetted a $300 million Ponzi scheme that duped more than 1,000 investors, arguing that neither pleading sufficiently shows that Wells Fargo knew about the fraud.

  • December 04, 2024

    LPGA, USGA Restrict Trans Golfer Eligibility

    Golfers who were not "assigned female at birth" or who transitioned after going through male puberty have been banned from competition by the Ladies Professional Golf Association and the United States Golf Association under new policies governing transgender players announced by the organizations Wednesday.

  • December 04, 2024

    'Patriotic' Marketplace PublicSquare Raises $36M Stock Sale

    The money-losing owner of self-described patriotic marketplace PublicSquare bolstered its balance sheet Wednesday through a $36 million registered direct offering guided by two law firms, one day after it named Donald Trump Jr. to its board of directors.

  • December 04, 2024

    DeSantis Says Ousted Fla. Atty's Election Loss Dooms Case

    Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and a state attorney he suspended made competing pitches to the Eleventh Circuit this week over whether the ousted prosecutor's First Amendment lawsuit is now moot since he lost his bid for reelection last month.

  • December 04, 2024

    Freeman Mathis Expands To Orlando With New Med Mal Team

    Freeman Mathis & Gary LLP announced it has opened an office in Orlando, Florida, its fourth in the state, with the addition of a six-person healthcare and medical malpractice team from local firm Beytin McLaughlin McLaughlin O'Hara & Bocchino PA.

  • December 04, 2024

    Ex-Poker Pro Pleads Guilty In Sports Betting Scheme

    A former World Series of Poker champion pled guilty in New York federal court Wednesday to operating a yearslong scheme to bilk sports bettors by falsely claiming he could use insider knowledge to place bets for surefire payouts.

  • December 04, 2024

    Oracle Can't Seek Fla. Tax Refunds Without Repaying Clients

    Oracle can't obtain refunds for Florida state and local taxes that it improperly collected on sales of electronically delivered software to three businesses because the company didn't reimburse those customers first, a state appeals court ruled Wednesday.

  • December 03, 2024

    Ex-Braves Blast Tax Court's 'Disregard' In Easement Fight

    Two former Atlanta Braves players penalized for allegedly overstating the value of a conservation easement donation urged the Eleventh Circuit to toss the costly ruling against them, saying the U.S. Tax Court's decision showed "blatant disregard" for the appeal court's precedent in deciding the matter.

  • December 03, 2024

    Fla. High Court Takes Up Ex-Marvel Exec's Hate Mail Dispute

    The Florida Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to take up the question of whether former Marvel Entertainment chair Ike Perlmutter can request punitive damages in a case against his neighbor in a long-running defamation dispute over hate mail.

  • December 03, 2024

    Wheeling & Appealing: The Latest Must-Know Appellate Action

    December's appellate forecast calls for a squall of showdowns in a tiny time period before the holidays, including arguments involving recent U.S. Supreme Court cases, Big Tech's patents and popular purveyors of health food. In addition, winds of change are swirling around the White House's litigation posture and judicial nominations, and we'll quiz you on the latter in this edition of Wheeling & Appealing.

  • December 03, 2024

    Fla. Vape Maker Sues Colo. Rival Alleging Infringed Patent

    Florida-based VPR Brands LP sued O.Pen Vape LLC in Colorado federal court on Tuesday, alleging that the Colorado-based seller is distributing electronic cigarettes that infringe a VPR patent.

  • December 03, 2024

    Walgreens Settles Call Center Workers' Unpaid OT Suit

    An Illinois federal judge signed off Tuesday on a $460,000 agreement to settle a nationwide collective action of Walgreens call center workers who claimed they were unlawfully required to perform unpaid work before and after their shifts.

  • December 03, 2024

    Fla.'s 'Mother Teresa' Gets 20 Years For Ponzi Scheme

    A Florida federal judge on Tuesday accused the U.S. attorney's office of "abdicating its responsibility" by agreeing to a maximum of 20 years in prison for Johanna Garcia, the former MJ Capital CEO known as "Mother Teresa" who pled guilty to running a $190 million Ponzi scheme.

Expert Analysis

  • 11th Circ. Ruling May Foreshadow Ch. 15 Clashes

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    The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision in In re: Talal Qais Abdulmunem Al Zawawi has introduced a split from the Second Circuit regarding whether debtors in foreign proceedings must have a domicile, calling attention to the understudied nature of Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code, say attorneys at Cleary.

  • What The Justices' Copyright Damages Ruling Didn't Address

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    While the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Warner Chappell v. Nealy clarified when a copyright owner may recover damages in jurisdictions that apply the so-called discovery rule, it did not settle the overriding question of whether the Copyright Act even permits applying the rule, say Ivy Estoesta and William Milliken at Sterne Kessler.

  • Series

    Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.

  • A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System

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    As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.

  • Bankruptcy Courts Have Contempt Power, Del. Case Reminds

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    A Delaware bankruptcy court recently held Camshaft Capital and its principal in contempt, serving as a reminder to bankruptcy practitioners and anyone else that appears before a bankruptcy judge that there are serious consequences for failing to comply with court orders, say Daniel Lowenthal and Kimberly Black at Patterson Belknap.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data

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    Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Series

    Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

  • 8 Fla. Statutes That Construction Cos. Should Prepare For

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    In this article, Jason Lambert at Hill Ward discusses a number of recent bills out of the Florida Legislature targeting construction companies in the Sunshine State that have been sent to the governor for signature, at least some of which will have broad impacts that affected companies should prepare for ahead of the July 1 effective date.

  • Notable Q1 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

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    Mark Johnson and Mathew Drocton at BakerHostetler discuss notable insurance class action decisions from the first quarter of the year ranging from salvage vehicle titling to rate discrimination based on premium-setting software.

  • Opinion

    Viral Deepfakes Of Taylor Swift Highlight Need For Regulation

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    As the nation grapples with addressing risk from artificial intelligence use, the recent circulation of AI-generated pornographic images of Taylor Swift on the social platform X highlights the need for federal legislation to protect nonconsenting subjects of deepfake pornography, say Nicole Brenner and Susie Ruiz-Lichter at Squire Patton.

  • As Arbitrator Bias Claims Rise, Disclosure Standards Evolve

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    The growth in post-award challenges based on arbitrators' alleged conflicts of interest has led to the release of new guidance and new case law on the topic — both supporting the view that professional familiarity alone does not translate to a lack of impartiality, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Social Media Free Speech Issues Are Trending At High Court

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision examining what constitutes state action on social media can be viewed in conjunction with oral arguments in two other cases to indicate that the court sees a need for more clarity regarding how social media usage implicates the First Amendment, say attorneys at Kean Miller.

  • Navigating Harassment Complaints From Trans Employees

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    The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision in Copeland v. Georgia Department of Corrections, concerning the harassment of a transgender employee, should serve as a cautionary tale for employers, but there are steps that companies can take to create a more inclusive workplace and mitigate the risks of claims from transgender and nonbinary employees, say Patricia Konopka and Ann Thomas at Stinson.

  • Don't Use The Same Template For Every Client Alert

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    As the old marketing adage goes, consistency is key, but law firm style guides need consistency that contemplates variety when it comes to client alert formats, allowing attorneys to tailor alerts to best fit the audience and subject matter, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.

  • Do Not Overstate Fla. Condo Termination Ruling's Impact

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    A close look at the unique language at issue in Avila v. Biscayne, in which a Florida appellate court deemed a condo termination to be invalid, shows that the case is unlikely to significantly affect other potential terminations, say Barry Lapides and Edward Baker at Berger Singerman.

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