 FLW Mobile - For easier navigation on your mobile phone! |
|||
 Research Associates, Inc. |
|
Sign up for free e-mail alerts of Florida appellate decisions, within hours of filing. |
|
| FLW Mobile - For easier navigation on your mobile phone! |
|||
Research Associates, Inc. |
|
Sign up for free e-mail alerts of Florida appellate decisions, within hours of filing. |
|
LOG IN CONTACT Toll-free: 800-351-0917 E-mail us Submit Opinions PLACE AN ORDER Print Editions Online Editions Bound Volumes 2/24-Hour Online Access OUR PUBLICATIONS Florida Law Weekly FLW Supplement FLW Federal Collected Cases Sample FLW Online RESEARCH Cross Citations Week In Review Rule Revisions Review Granted Current Issue Index Civil Section Criminal Section 2023 Cumulative Index Civil Section Criminal Section Public Reprimands Florida Statutes Helpful Links |
New Releases Viewing the full text of these opinions will require logging in with your user name and password.
Torts -- Premises liability -- Fall from defective deck -- Jurisdiction -- Service of process -- Motion to dismiss for improper service is denied -- Substitute service on adult co-occupant of defendant's residence was proper, and return of service was regular on its face -- Motion to amend complaint to correct name of individual defendant is granted -- Motion to strike order setting trial and joint motion for continuance are denied where good cause for continuance has not been shown, amendment of complaint changes nothing except to correct misnomer, and any outstanding discovery that remains is due to parties' lack of diligence
Civil procedure -- Service of process -- Substitute service -- Failure to strictly comply with procedure for substitute service or allege sufficient facts to support use of substitute service -- Service of process quashed -- Clerk's default and order setting trial are vacated
Taxation -- Ad valorem -- Challenge to ad valorem tax assessment for timeshare resort is denied -- Property appraiser satisfied its burden to prove by preponderance of evidence that use of methodology utilizing sales comparison described as “developer sale” methodology in making 2018 assessment of timeshare resort was appropriate and complied with all governing statutes, legal standards, and professionally accepted appraisal practices -- Resort failed to satisfy its burden of proving by preponderance of evidence that 2018 assessment does not represent property's just value -- No merit to argument that property appraiser violated section 192.037(10), which requires appraiser to look first to resale market in making assessment, by not using brokered resales of unit weeks to value timeshares where appraiser determined that there was inadequate number of resales to provide basis for value conclusions and exercised judgment to use developer sales instead -- No merit to argument that property appraiser violated section 192.037(11)'s requirement to deduct usual and reasonable fees and costs of sale from original purchase price of developer sales by failing to deduct prices of first sales of timeshares in 1990s and 2000s -- Argument relies on strained reading of statute that is inconsistent with property appraiser's responsibility to annually value property
Criminal law -- DUI manslaughter -- Evidence -- Statements of defendant -- Suppression of body camera video shot by officer who accompanied defendant to hospital in ambulance and officers in emergency room and statements made by defendant in ambulance and emergency room is not required by Fourth Amendment of U.S. Constitution or Article I, section 23, of Florida Constitution because defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in ambulance or emergency room -- No merit to argument that statements made by defendant to officers in ambulance and hospital room were result of pre-Miranda custodial interrogation where there was no behavior by officers that could reasonably have led defendant to believe that he was restrained by or in custody of police, and defendant spoke with officers willingly and voluntarily -- Statements made by defendant to fire department personnel in ambulance are not privileged medical information protected by section 456.057(7)(c) or confidential patient records protected from disclosure under section 395.3025(4), which apply only to health care practitioners -- Further, statutes do not protect statements made to hospital personnel in presence of police officers, statements to medical personnel that did not concern medical treatment, statements made with no medical personnel present, and statements made to officers in presence of medical personnel -- Section 401.30(4), which protects records of emergency calls containing patient examination or treatment information, protects only written records and does not require suppression of statements made by defendant to officers at hospital -- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act does not prohibit patient from disclosing own medical information to third parties, as defendant did to officers -- Accident report privilege does not apply to defendant's statements where no officer ever gave defendant any indication that he was required to answer any questions or provide any information -- Officer acting outside jurisdiction -- Color of law doctrine does not require suppression of statements where officers did not perform any function that utilized police powers while outside their jurisdiction in ambulance and at hospital, and any exercise of extra-jurisdictional police power was authorized under mutual aid agreement -- Defendant does not have standing to challenge authority of police department to act in another jurisdiction based on non-compliance with notice requirement of mutual aid agreement -- Moreover, extra-jurisdictional acts of officers were permitted where subject matter of their investigation originated within their jurisdiction -- Vehicle search -- Where inventory search of defendant's vehicle that led to finding his cell phone was not conducted pursuant to any standardized criteria or procedures, results of search of cell phone and any fruits of that search are suppressed -- Blood draw -- Medical records -- No merit to argument that results of warrants for defendant's blood and medical records should be suppressed because warrants were based in part on statements made by defendant to fire department personnel and disclosed by fire personnel to law enforcement -- Statements were not privileged medical information -- Moreover, other statements made by defendant to officers were sufficient to establish probable cause for warrants
Criminal law -- First-degree murder -- Plea -- Withdrawal -- Motion to withdraw guilty plea is denied where court colloquied defendant extensively, ascertaining that he was competent and understood rights he was waiving and knew that trial would continue to penalty phase where penalty imposed could be death, and defendant and counsel made strategic decision to plead guilty and use acceptance of responsibility as mitigator in penalty phase
Torts -- Defamation by implication -- Jurisdiction -- Non-residents -- Tortious act within state -- Plaintiff who failed to allege that website that published news article about her being kicked off Airbnb and Booking.com was accessible and accessed in Florida failed to meet requirements of long-arm statute -- Any amendment of complaint to cure defect would be futile where plaintiff has failed substantively to state cause of action for defamation by implication or tortious interference with business relationship and claim for injunctive relief has no merit -- Further, plaintiff has failed to plead or prove that defendant, which avers that it has no presence in Florida and has not transacted any business in Florida, had sufficient minimum contacts with state to satisfy due process -- Claims dismissed
Public records -- Attorney's fees -- Where final judgment on newspaper publisher's complaint against Department of Children and Families found that DCF unlawfully refused publisher access to non-exempt public records regarding deceased child, publisher is entitled to attorney's fees and costs
Criminal law -- Driving under influence -- Discovery -- Intoxilyzer simulator solutions and dry gas standards -- Motion for production of simulator solutions and dry gas standards used to conduct monthly and annual inspections of Intoxilyzer used to test defendant's breath is denied -- No evidence was presented to support allegations that solutions or standards produced inaccurate alcohol vapor concentrations, and it would be impossible to inspect or test actual solutions and standards used to inspect Intoxilyzer prior to defendant's test because of short shelf and use life
Criminal law -- Driving under influence -- Discovery -- Intoxilyzer eeproms or chips -- Motion for production of eeproms and chips from Intoxilyzer used to test defendant's breath is denied -- Items are excluded from “full information” that must be made available to defendant under section 316.1932(1)(f)(4) -- Items are owned and possessed by manufacturer, not state, and defendant has not shown materiality of items
Criminal law -- Driving under influence -- Discovery -- Third party -- Intoxilyzer manufacturer -- Motion for issuance of subpoena duces tecum requiring Intoxilyzer manufacturer to produce various documents regarding machine is denied -- Items are excluded from “full information” that must be made available to defendant under section 316.1932(1)(f)(4) -- Statute expressly excludes items in manufacturer's possession from being discoverable, and defendant has not shown materiality of items
Criminal law -- Driving under influence -- Discovery -- Intoxilyzer software and source code -- Motion for production of software and source code for Intoxilyzer is denied -- Items are excluded from “full information” that must be made available to defendant under section 316.1932(1)(f)(4) -- Items are owned and possessed by manufacturer, not state; defendant has not shown materiality of items; and there is nothing in record to support claim that state misrepresented or concealed evidence that it owns or possesses items
Criminal law -- Driving under influence -- Discovery -- Inspection and disassembly of Intoxilyzer -- Motion to inspect, photograph, or videotape exterior and interior of Intoxilyzer is denied -- Type of inspection requested is not included in “full information” that must be made available to defendant under section 316.1932(1)(f)(4), no evidence was presented to indicate that purpose of inspection is based on anything more than mere suspicion that Intoxilyzer used to test defendant's breath may have been different from others, and machine has been repaired since defendant's testing four years ago
Criminal law -- Driving under influence -- Scientific evidence -- Intoxilyzer -- Motion to conduct Daubert hearing regarding scientific reliability and admissibility of Intoxilyzer and its test results is denied -- Court is bound by Florida Legislature's statutory scheme for determining reliability and admissibility of results of tests conducted in substantial compliance with statutes and administrative rules
Counties -- Public officials -- Conflict of interest -- County ethics commission -- Jurisdiction -- County ethics commission had jurisdiction over conflict of interest complaint alleging sitting city commissioner interfered with an investigation into an unlawful eviction from an apartment complex by which commissioner was employed, notwithstanding fact that complaint was filed after commissioner had already left office -- No merit to argument that ethics commission jurisdiction expired prior to entry of final judgment -- 18-month time limit for adjudication of ethics complaint was not jurisdictional, and eight-month delay in case processing was attributable to continuances requested by petitioner -- State preemption -- No merit to arguments that enforcement by county ethics commission is preempted by Florida Constitution and that enforcement lies with state ethics commission -- Ethics commission failed to follow essential requirements of ethics code where it assessed petitioner actual costs incurred by commission without finding an intentional code violation -- Competent substantial evidence supported findings that petitioner violated code by failing to include his apartment complex employment on his financial disclosure form and holding conflicting employment
Municipal corporations -- Zoning -- Overlay district -- Demolition permit -- Waiver -- Appeals -- Certiorari challenge by county to city planning and zoning appeals board resolution denying demolition waiver -- Board erred in denying waiver where county had satisfied all applicable regulations entitling it to waiver -- Further, board unlawfully extended scope of hearing to consider matters over which it had no authority
Licensing -- Driver's license -- Suspension -- Refusal to submit to breath test -- Lawfulness of stop and arrest -- Hearing officer's findings that licensee was lawfully stopped for expired tag and was lawfully arrested after he exhibited multiple signs of impairment were supported by competent substantial evidence in form of police reports and officer's testimony -- No entitlement to relief on claim that officer's testimony did not constitute competent substantial evidence because it did not align with video from officer's dash camera where video was not submitted to hearing officer or to reviewing court
|