Florida

  • December 17, 2024

    Fla. Judge Trims Suit Over Misrepresented Pickleball Paddles

    A Florida federal judge on Tuesday declined to completely toss a proposed class action brought by a pickleball player accusing a paddle manufacturer of deceptively marketing its products as certified by the sport's governing body, dismissing the suit's breach of warranty counts but saying its primary consumer protection claims would remain intact.

  • December 17, 2024

    Miss America-Tied Ch. 11 Tossed Amid Ownership Spat

    A Florida bankruptcy judge on Tuesday dismissed the Chapter 11 case of an entity connected to the Miss America pageant, after the debtor noted it realized it owns none of the operations or debt associated with the competition, punting questions over who owns pageant-related assets to a state court.

  • December 17, 2024

    The Biggest Copyright Decisions Of 2024

    The U.S. Supreme Court made it possible for copyright plaintiffs to pursue damages for periods longer than three years — while leaving lawyers speculating about how long the ruling will stand — and the Second Circuit put an end to a free digital library. Here are Law360's picks for the top copyright decisions of 2024.

  • December 17, 2024

    Asset Manager Gets 2½ Years For Role In $1.2B PDVSA Scheme

    A Florida federal judge on Tuesday sentenced an asset manager who pled guilty to participating in a $1.2 billion scheme to embezzle money from Venezuela's state-owned oil company to 2½ years in prison.

  • December 17, 2024

    Heartland Payment Settles Florida School Lunch Card Suit

    Parents from Florida and elsewhere have settled a proposed federal class action with a payment processor over alleged unfair surcharges collected after depositing lunch money onto school-sponsored reloadable cards used by their kids.

  • December 17, 2024

    Fla. Bar Eyes Rule Change On Limits For Non-Atty Roles

    The Florida Bar Board of Governors is considering a rule change to spell out that nonlawyers at a law firm cannot supervise the work of attorneys or perform policymaking duties that affect the practice of law, among other prohibited tasks, a spokeswoman for the bar confirmed to Law360 Pulse on Monday.

  • December 17, 2024

    11th Circ. Affirms NLRB Bargain Order Against Chemical Co.

    A chemical manufacturer must comply with a National Labor Relations Board decision ordering it to negotiate with a United Food and Commercial Workers affiliate, the Eleventh Circuit found, rejecting the company's claim that two ballots that could have swayed the vote outcome should have counted.

  • December 16, 2024

    Circuit-By-Circuit Guide To 2024's Most Memorable Moments

    One judge said a litigant's position would cause "an effing nightmare," and another decried the legal community's silence amid "illegitimate aspersions." Public officials literally trashed one court's opinion, and fateful rulings dealt with controversial politicians, social media and decades of environmental policy. Those were just a few appellate highlights in 2024, a year teeming with memorable moments both substantive and sensational.

  • December 16, 2024

    11th Circ. Says Citrus Grower's Coverage Row Was Ripe

    A citrus grower's bid for damages from its insurer in connection with environmental remediation costs was ripe, the Eleventh Circuit said, reviving the case after finding that a Florida district court wrongly dismissed it by conflating the issue of ripeness with the merits of the grower's claims.

  • December 16, 2024

    Judge OKs Par Funding Receiver's Plan To Distribute $110M

    A Florida federal judge on Monday approved a distribution plan by the receiver for Par Funding and authorized the first distribution of more than $110 million that the receiver has collected for the investors who were defrauded in a Ponzi scheme that raised nearly a half-billion dollars.

  • December 16, 2024

    Congress Sends Biden Another Bill To Help Federal Courts

    The House voted 390-0 Monday evening in favor of a bipartisan bill to make permanent 10 judgeships across the country, including in Texas, Florida and California, and the bill now goes to the president's desk.

  • December 16, 2024

    Contractor, Insurer Seek Early Win In $2.85M Bridge Dispute

    A construction company and an excess insurer each sought a pretrial win in Florida federal court over coverage for a demolition subcontractor's faulty work that the construction company said cost more than $2.85 million, after a primary insurer already paid $1 million toward an underlying settlement.

  • December 16, 2024

    Tax Court Wrongly Cut Easement Deduction, 11th Circ. Told

    The U.S. Tax Court erred in drastically reducing a partnership's claimed $23 million deduction for donating a conservation easement in Georgia, the partnership told the Eleventh Circuit, saying the court improperly relied on a real estate expert's opinion to establish whether the land had mining value.

  • December 16, 2024

    11th Circ. Appears Wary Of Doc's New Trial Bid In $27.5M Case

    The Eleventh Circuit on Monday questioned whether a Georgia doctor and his medical practice should get a new trial in a $27.5 million False Claims Act case on the basis that he and an expert who wasn't allowed to testify at trial believed the thousands of treatments he billed for were medically necessary and could be covered by Medicare, saying that contention seems to contradict the doctor's prior statements. 

  • December 16, 2024

    Ecuador Banana Co. Prez Ordered To Jail Over $6.9M Award

    A Miami federal judge issued an arrest order for the president of an Ecuadorian banana company that ignored court orders to turn over financial information at the request of Chiquita Brands International, which is trying to enforce a $6.9 million arbitration award.

  • December 16, 2024

    Blindsided Developer Says $112K Legal Bill Should Be $25K

    A real estate developer fighting a $112,000 legal bill from Conrad & Scherer LLP testified in a Florida state court Monday that he hired the firm for its banking regulation expertise but not for trial work in a lawsuit over a luxury house in Colorado.

  • December 16, 2024

    Honeywell Pollution Suit Belongs In Ga. Court, 11th Circ. Told

    A Georgia city suing Honeywell International Inc. over the company's alleged pollution of coastal waterways told the Eleventh Circuit Monday that the Environmental Protection Agency's supervision of remediation efforts can't transform Honeywell into a federal officer, thus denying the company the jurisdiction it needs to move the case into federal court.

  • December 16, 2024

    Honeywell May Split Aerospace Biz Amid Activist Pressure

    Honeywell International Inc. on Monday said it is mulling a separation of its aerospace business, after activist investment firm Elliott Investment Management LP in November pushed for the industrial conglomerate to separate itself into two independent companies.

  • December 16, 2024

    11th Circ. Won't Kick Starbucks Benefits Case To Arbitration

    The Eleventh Circuit affirmed Monday that Starbucks can't force a former employee's husband to arbitrate a proposed class action claiming the coffee giant unlawfully failed to tell him about continuing health benefit options after his wife was fired, saying he wasn't bound by the terms of his spouse's employment agreement.

  • December 14, 2024

    ABC News Agrees To Pay $16M To End Trump Defamation Suit

    ABC News has agreed to pay $16 million to end Donald Trump's defamation suit over George Stephanopoulos' on-air description of rulings in favor of writer E. Jean Carroll in her sexual abuse and defamation suits against Trump, according to a settlement filed Saturday in Florida.

  • December 13, 2024

    Real Estate Recap: New Mapping, Terrorism, What We Learned

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including a new state-by-state mapping tool for real estate practitioners, one BigLaw attorney's view of terrorism liability safeguards for commercial real estate, and takeaways from the multifamily and life sciences sectors in 2024.

  • December 13, 2024

    Cardi B Tries To Sink Ch. 11 Of YouTuber Who Owes Her $3.8M

    Cardi B has asked a Florida bankruptcy court to dismiss the Chapter 11 case of YouTuber Tasha K, saying she deliberately hid her assets to frustrate the rapper's efforts at collecting on a $3.8 million defamation verdict.

  • December 13, 2024

    Publix Dodges Punitive Damages Claim In Store Injury Suit

    A Florida appeals court on Friday tossed a punitive damages claim in a suit accusing Publix of causing a vendor worker's injuries when a display full of soda cases fell over, saying such a claim requires sufficient allegations of gross negligence.

  • December 13, 2024

    Duke Energy Accused Of Negligence Ahead Of Data Breach

    Duke Energy Carolinas LLC failed to protect sensitive personal information ahead of a data breach in May, and now its current and former customers are at risk of identity theft and tax fraud, according to a proposed federal class action.

  • December 13, 2024

    Kluger Kaplan Shifting To Bigger Space In Miami Office Tower

    Kluger Kaplan Silverman Katzen Levine PL renewed its lease for the 34-story Citigroup Center in downtown Miami, and also plans to move to a new 17,757-square-foot office space within the Class A office tower in the second quarter of 2025, the Citigroup Center announced Friday.

Expert Analysis

  • The Clock Is Ticking For Fla. Construction Defect Claims

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    Ahead of the fast-approaching July 1 deadline for filing construction defect claims in Florida, Sean Ravenel at Foran Glennon discusses how the state's new statute of repose has changed the timeline, and highlights several related issues that property owners should be aware of.

  • Takeaways From Nat'l Security Division's Historic Declination

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    The Justice Department National Security Division's recent decision not to prosecute a biochemical company for an employee's export control violation marks its first declination under a new corporate enforcement policy, sending a clear message to companies that self-disclosure of misconduct may confer material benefits, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.

  • Deciphering SEC Disgorgement 4 Years After Liu

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    Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Liu v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to preserve SEC disgorgement with limits, courts have continued to rule largely in the agency’s favor, but a recent circuit split over the National Defense Authorization Act's import may create hurdles for the SEC, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Wiretap Use In Cartel Probes Likely To Remain An Exception

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    Although the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division has recently signaled interest in wiretaps, the use of this technology to capture evidence of antitrust conspiracies and pursue monopolization as a criminal matter has been rare historically, and is likely to remain so, say Carsten Reichel and Will Conway at DLA Piper.

  • Where Anti-Discrimination Law Stands 4 Years After Bostock

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    On the fourth anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Bostock ruling, Evan Parness and Abby Rickeman at Covington take stock of how the decision, which held that Title VII protects employees from discrimination because of their sexual orientation and gender identity, has affected anti-discrimination law at the state and federal levels.

  • Series

    Playing Chess Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    There are many ways that chess skills translate directly into lawyer skills, but for me, the bigger career lessons go beyond the direct parallels — playing chess has shown me the value of seeing gradual improvement in and focusing deep concentration on a nonwork endeavor, says attorney Steven Fink.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Attys Can Be Heroic Like Olympians

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    Although litigation won’t earn anyone an Olympic medal in Paris this summer, it can be worthy of the same lasting honor if attorneys exercise focused restraint — seeking both their clients’ interests and those of the court — instead of merely pursuing every advantage short of sanctionable conduct, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • Updated Federal Rules Can Improve Product Liability MDLs

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    The recent amendment of a federal evidence rule regarding expert testimony and the proposal of a civil rule on managing early discovery in multidistrict legislation hold great promise for promoting the uniform and efficient processes that high-stakes product liability cases particularly need, say Alan Klein and William Heaston at Duane Morris.

  • Lean Into The 'Great Restoration' To Retain Legal Talent

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    As the “great resignation,” in which employees voluntarily left their jobs in droves, has largely dissipated, legal employers should now work toward the idea of a “great restoration,” adopting strategies to effectively hire, onboard and retain top legal talent, says Molly McGrath at Hiring & Empowering Solutions.

  • 9th Circ. Ruling Shows Lies Must Go To Nature Of Bargain

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    The Ninth Circuit’s recent U.S. v. Milheiser decision, vacating six mail fraud convictions, clarifies that the key question in federal fraud cases is not whether lies were told, but what they were told about — thus requiring defense counsel to rethink their strategies, say Charles Kreindler and Krista Landis at Sheppard Mullin.

  • The Uncertain Scope Of The First Financial Fair Access Laws

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    With Florida and Tennessee soon to roll out laws banning financial institutions from making decisions based on customer traits like political affiliation, national financial services providers should consider how broadly worded “fair access” laws from these and other conservative-leaning states may place new obligations on their business operations, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • Live Nation May Shake It Off In A Long Game With The DOJ

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    Don't expect a swift resolution in the U.S. Department of Justice's case against Live Nation, but a long litigation, with the company likely to represent itself as the creator of a competitive ecosystem, and the government faced with explaining how the ticketing giant formed under its watch, say Thomas Kliebhan and Taylor Hixon at GRSM50.

  • Opinion

    The FTC And DOJ Should Backtrack On RealPage

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    The antitrust agencies ought to reverse course on their enforcement actions against RealPage, which are based on a faulty legal premise, risk further property shortages and threaten the use of algorithms that are central to the U.S. economy, says Thomas Stratmann at George Mason University.

  • Series

    Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Atop the list of ways fishing makes me a better lawyer is the relief it offers from the chronic stress of a demanding caseload, but it has also improved my listening skills and patience, and has served as an exceptional setting for building earnest relationships, says Steven DeGeorge​​​​​​​ at Robinson Bradshaw.

  • A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence

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    The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.

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