THESE ARE NOT ALL OF THE CASES RELEASED BY THE COURTS FOR THE WEEK.
To see others not presented here, log in for more comprehensive weekly listings.

Insurance -- Health -- Coverage -- Emergency medical services -- Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act -- Action seeking insurance coverage for medical expenses incurred when insured was hospitalized brought against employer, a governmental entity that operates a self-funded health insurance plan and serves as a self-insurer for its employees -- Trial court did not err by granting summary judgment in favor of employer where undisputed evidence showed that employee's hospitalization stemmed from complications of cosmetic surgery, and insurance plan excluded coverage for cosmetic procedures and any complications arising from such procedures -- Although federal law generally requires coverage for the emergency medical services employee received, self-funded plans maintained by government entities are exempt from that requirement
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Insurance -- Homeowners -- Coverage -- Attorney's fees -- Prevailing party -- Confession of judgment -- Trial court erred by denying insureds' motion for attorney's fees under section 627.428 -- Insurer's payment of appraisal amount after insureds had filed suit constituted a confession of judgment, entitling insureds to attorney's fees under statute -- Fact that suit was filed prior to request for appraisal was irrelevant -- Court rejects argument that suit was unnecessary because insureds “raced to courthouse” rather than informing insurer that they disagreed with its damage valuation -- Record established that insurer would have taken no further action on the claim without insureds filing suit
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Florida Evidence Code -- Amendments -- Character evidence -- When admissible -- Adoption of amendments to section 90.404(2)(c) to extent it is procedural, and amendments are effective on date they became law
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Rules of Traffic Court -- Amendment -- Affidavit of defense or admission and waiver of appearance -- Deferred payment of penalty imposed -- Discovery -- Infractions only -- Amendments and voluntary dismissal by issuing officers
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Torts -- Malicious prosecution -- Civil actions -- Probable cause -- Trial court did not err by granting summary judgment in favor of defendant on malicious prosecution claim alleging that defendant knowingly filed multiple unsuccessful certiorari petitions without probable cause as a tactic to delay construction of plaintiff's land development project -- A proceeding's outcome does not automatically indicate the absence of probable cause -- To have probable cause to file a civil case, it is enough for the party to reasonably believe, based on known circumstances, that the claims are valid -- Defendant had probable cause to file the certiorari petitions challenging county commissioner's approval of plaintiff's project where several county and city officials testified that plaintiff's project did not follow county law -- Undisputed existence of the testimony, regardless of its eventual force, belies the notion that defendant started the proceedings without any reasonable belief of success
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Criminal Law Headnotes (Jump to Civil Law Headnotes)

THESE ARE NOT ALL OF THE CASES RELEASED BY THE COURTS FOR THE WEEK.
To see others not presented here, log in for more comprehensive weekly listings.

Criminal law -- Constitutional law -- Prisoners -- Gain time -- Ex post facto laws -- Trial court did not err in determining that Department of Corrections violated Ex Post Facto Clause of the U.S. Constitution when it changed its interpretation of section 944.275(4) and removed prisoner's previously awarded gain time -- Discussion of history of section 944.275 and federal Eleventh Circuit decisions in Knuck v. Wainwright and Metheny v. Hammonds -- Because apparent conflict in statutory provisions concerning calculation of gain time created ambiguity in relevant 1994 version of statute and department's original interpretation of those provisions was reasonable, the change in department's interpretation violated the Ex Post Facto Clause -- Department failed to properly preserve argument that Ex Post Facto Clause does not apply because department's interpretation of statute was an interpretive rule rather than a legislative rule -- Mentioning argument in footnote was insufficient -- Court rejects argument that section 944.275 clearly and unambiguously prohibited prisoner from receiving incentive gain time because subsequent 1995 amendments clarified statute as it existed at time of department's original interpretation -- Legislature which passed the later amendments cannot conclusively establish what the previous legislature meant when it passed earlier amendments -- Although supreme court has moved away from the strict two-part analysis for statutory interpretation that requires courts to first determine whether a statute is ambiguous, the fact of ambiguity matters to the ex post facto analysis in a way that it does not in typical statutory interpretation
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Criminal law -- Evidence -- Hearsay -- Exceptions -- Statements of child victim of sexual offense -- Trial court did not err by admitting victim's child hearsay statements at defendant's retrial despite victim attaining age of majority -- Victim's age at retrial was irrelevant -- Under section 90.803(23), the only relevant age for purposes of the child hearsay exception is the victim's age when the statement was made
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Criminal law -- Search and seizure -- Vehicle -- Traffic stop -- Community caretaking doctrine -- Welfare check -- Officer responding to 911 call from defendant's daughter reporting that defendant was driving under the influence, had caller's two younger siblings in the vehicle, and had been tracked to a certain fast food restaurant did not unlawfully seize defendant by blocking his vehicle to prevent him from leaving parking lot of restaurant -- Although officer did not visually observe children in the vehicle before blocking it, under totality of circumstances, an objectively reasonable law enforcement officer, with knowledge of facts relayed in 911 call and his observation of defendant's vehicle, would have stopped and blocked vehicle to confirm that children were not in harm's way -- Discussion of scope of community caretaking doctrine and welfare checks
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Criminal law -- Voter fraud -- Jurisdiction -- Office of Statewide Prosecution -- OSP lacked jurisdiction to prosecute defendant for making a false affirmation in connection with an election and voting by an unqualified elector where alleged crimes took place only in a single circuit -- Discussion of OSP's constitutional jurisdiction -- Alleged crimes began and ended in Hillsborough County, which is where defendant completed his voter registration application and where he voted in the election -- While county supervisor of elections transmitted defendant's voter registration and ballot to Division of Elections in Leon County, the mere happening of a transaction related to a crime in a single circuit does not vest the OSP with jurisdiction unless the related transaction includes a crime in another circuit -- Government's activities in transmitting and verifying defendant's registration and ballot were obviously not crimes -- Court rejects argument that 2023 amendments to section 16.56, which provide for OSP jurisdiction when a voting crime in a single circuit has “affected” another circuit, could retroactively apply to defendant's case -- Applying 2023 statutory amendments to defendant's case would have necessitated amending the information to allege this basis for the OSP jurisdiction, and state never sought leave to amend or cited to authority authorizing appellate court to order it done after-the-fact -- Regardless, facts of instant case do not fall within statutory amendment because defendant's alleged crimes did not “affect” another circuit where there was no suggestion that defendant's offenses produced any material influence on, or alteration in, the routine activity of the Department of State -- Common meaning of “affect” means something more than mere tangential performance of a regular agency function in the normal course, or ephemeral notions of public opinion about crime in general -- Conflict certified
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Rules of Criminal Procedure -- Amendments -- Minimum Standards for Attorneys in Capital Cases -- Pretrial Release -- Expert Testimony of Mental Mitigation During Penalty Phase of Capital Trial -- Notice and Examination by State Expert -- Defendant's Intellectual Disability as a Bar to Imposition of the Death Penalty -- The Criminal Punishment Code
VIEW OPINION (login required)