MEDICAL MARIJUANA--ADMINISTRATIVE RULES. The Department of Administrative Hearings invalidated, as an improper exercise of delegated legislative authority, certain proposed rules intended to establish the regulatory framework necessary to authorize the establishment of five dispensing organizations to grow and dispense low-THC cannabis to qualified patients. Read more...

PUBLIC RECORDS--ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION. Where a county has delegated a statutorily authorized function to an economic development commission, a private entity, the records generated by the EDC's performance of that duty are public records under Chapter 119. Read more...

INSURANCE--PIP--EMERGENCY MEDICAL CONDITION. Question certified by county court: In an action by an assignee for no-fault insurance benefits under a policy of motor vehicle insurance, are benefits above $2500 only available where there has been a certification by a medical provider authorized by statute that an emergency medical condition exists, as defined in the Florida No-fault Law? Read more...

WORKERS' COMPENSATION. The Circuit Court ruled that Section 440.11, which grants employer immunity from tort claims by injured workers, is unconstitutional. Read more...

DRIVING UNDER INFLUENCE--REFUSAL TO SUBMIT TO BLOOD, BREATH OR URINE TEST. The constitutionality of section 316.1939 (2013) was challenged in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's holding in Missouri v. McNeely. County court judges upheld the constitutionality of the statute, but certified the question as being of great public importance. Read more here and here...

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE. Article I, Section 27, Florida Constitution, and Florida statutes limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples were held void and unenforceable as violative of Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the U.S. Constitution. Read more here, here, and here...

ESTATES. The non-resident surviving spouse of a same-sex marriage was entitled to appointment as personal representative of the deceased spouse's Florida ancillary estate, and provisions of Florida's Constitution and statutes prohibiting this appointment were held unconstitutional. Read more...

DRIVING UNDER INFLUENCE--BLOOD TEST. A warrantless, nonconsensual, nonexigent blood draw violates state and federal constitutions. Section 316.19033, which directs law enforcement to require a person to submit to a blood test by reasonable force if necessary without requiring the existence of an exigency is unconstitutional and cannot form the basis for applying the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule. Read more...