INSURANCE--PROPERTY--LIMITATION OF ACTIONS. The 2011 amendment to section 95.11(2), which changed the event for commencement of the limitations period for claims for breach of property insurance contracts from the date of the insurer's breach to the date of the casualty loss, does not apply retroactively to a claim that arose in 2011 when the insurer denied any further liability for damages that resulted from a 2006 incident. Read more...

TRAFFIC INFRACTIONS--RED LIGHT CAMERAS. The court dismissed a case charging a red light camera violation, finding the city failed to prove its compliance with statutory notice requirements, that the contract between the city and program operator violated statutory prohibitions on vendors receiving remuneration based on the number of violations detected, that the procedure of having the program operator transmit replicas of traffic citations to the court was contrary to statutory requirements, and that section 316.0083 was unconstitutional. Read more...

CRIMINAL LAW--HABEAS CORPUS--LIMITATION OF ACTIONS--ACTUAL INNOCENCE. Actual innocence if proved serves as a gateway through which a petitioner may pass whether the impediment is a procedural bar or expiration of the statute of limitations on federal habeas petitions prescribed in the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act. Read more...

CRIMINAL LAW--HABEAS CORPUS--INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL--PROCEDURAL DEFAULT--CAUSE. Where a state's procedural framework, by reason of its design and operation, makes it highly unlikely in a typical case that a defendant will have a meaningful opportunity to raise an ineffective-assistance-of-trial-counsel claim on direct appeal the good-cause exception recognized in Martinez v. Ryan applies. Read more...

PUBLIC EMPLOYEES--SUSPICIONLESS DRUG TESTING. A district court order, which enjoined the implementation of an executive order mandating suspicionless random drug testing of all current state employees, granted relief that swept too broadly and enjoined both constitutional and unconstitutional applications of the EO. Read more...