THESE ARE NOT ALL OF THE CASES RELEASED BY THE COURTS FOR THE WEEK.
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Arbitration -- Landlord-tenant -- Torts -- Premises liability -- Action alleging that tenant was injured by landlords' negligence at property address defined in residential lease -- Trial court erred by denying landlords' motion to compel arbitration based on determination that there was no arbitrable issue because there was no nexus between the dispute and residential lease containing the arbitration clause -- Parties expressly and unambiguously agreed to arbitrate claims where arbitration clause in lease expressly included future personal injury claims arising from or relating to the lease or tenant's use of the defined property
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Contracts -- Torts -- Moving services -- Injunctions -- Trial court did not reversibly err by entering final summary judgment and permanent injunction against moving service in action brought by client alleging claims for replevin, fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract, and violations of Florida's Household Moving Services Act and Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act -- Movers failed to provide any evidence establishing that client agreed to pay any amount other than amount reflected in binding moving estimate executed by client -- Trial court did not err in entering summary judgment against owner of moving service individually where owner himself testified that all decisions and business of the corporate defendants was conducted directly by him, and client also testified that she spoke directly to owner and owner refused to return her belongings unless she paid slightly discounted invoice amount, which was substantially higher than amount listed in binding estimate -- Permanent injunction -- Trial court did not err in entering permanent injunction, although defendant contended that plaintiff did not suffer irreparable injury and that remedies available at law were adequate to compensate plaintiff for her injuries -- Section 501.211(1) provides that anyone “aggrieved” by violation of FDUPTA may bring action “to enjoin a person who has violated, is violating, or is otherwise likely to violate this part”
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Estates -- Trusts -- Assets -- Totten trusts -- Probate court did not err by dismissing adversary petition alleging that funds held in a guardianship account created for benefit of decedent should have been disbursed to named beneficiaries of certain closed payable on death accounts -- Probate court properly found that alleged Totten trusts were terminated when all funds were transferred to single guardianship account before decedent's death -- Minor beneficiary of alleged Totten trusts cannot challenge order transferring funds for lack of notice in appeal from a dismissal order in underlying probate proceeding where transfer order was entered in a separate guardianship proceeding -- Even if appeal were proper, record shows that minor beneficiary's biological father was served with notice
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Landlord-tenant -- Dispute arising out of ten-year farm lease with purchase option -- Civil procedure -- Discovery -- Depositions -- Opposing counsel -- Trial court departed from essential requirements of law by denying motion for protective order and permitting defendant to depose plaintiff's counsel where defendant failed to establish requisite criteria set forth by federal court in Shelton v. American Motors Corporation, as adopted by Third District in Eller-I.T.O. Stevedoring Co., LLC v. Pandolfo -- Florida courts have adopted Shelton test to limit depositions of opposing counsel to situations where the party seeking to take the deposition has shown that no other means exist to obtain information; information sought is relevant and nonprivileged; and information is crucial to preparation of case -- Critical factor in determining whether Shelton test applies is not status of lawyer as “trial counsel,” but extent of lawyer's involvement in pending litigation -- Counsel whom defendants sought to depose is currently plaintiffs' counsel of record and has continuously served as litigation counsel since at least two months prior to filing of complaint, represented plaintiffs in preparation of pre-litigation notices of default, and appears to have signed complaint -- Further, plaintiff's counsel was, at a minimum, transactional counsel for plaintiffs in the negotiation and execution of underlying lease -- Absent showing by defendant that he attempted to obtain same information by alternative means prior to issuing its subpoena to depose opposing counsel and a corresponding finding by trial court supported by record, order constituted a departure from essential requirements of law
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Rules of Traffic Court -- Amendment -- Order of hearing
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Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration -- Amendment -- Trial court administration -- Municipal ordinance violations -- Retention of court records
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Torts -- Premises liability -- Parking lots -- Proximate cause -- Action stemming from injuries plaintiff suffered when he was struck by a vehicle after third-party passenger pressed on accelerator while plaintiff was leaving an event hosted at defendant's venue -- Trial court did not err by granting summary judgment in favor of defendant based on determination that defendant's failure to create a traffic plan or direct traffic did not proximately cause plaintiff's injuries -- Unpredictable criminal conduct of vehicle passenger was an unforeseeable, intervening cause independent of any negligence on part of defendant -- Furthermore, to the extent a defendant should foresee a third party's negligent operation of a vehicle, it's generally negligent operation by the driver rather than by the passenger
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Torts -- Racketeering -- Conspiracy -- Civil RICO Act -- Domestic injury -- Action brought by the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago -- No error in rendering judgment against defendant based on jury verdict finding that defendant had violated Florida's Civil RICO Act -- Requisite “domestic injury” was shown where many parts of the alleged conspiracy and racketeering activity occurred in Florida, including the payment of bribes to co-conspirators and the destruction of evidence
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Criminal Law Headnotes (Jump to Civil Law Headnotes)

THESE ARE NOT ALL OF THE CASES RELEASED BY THE COURTS FOR THE WEEK.
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Criminal law -- Constitutional law -- Firearms -- Open carry -- Constitutionality of statute -- Section 790.053's criminalization of open carrying of firearms is unconstitutional because it is incompatible with Second Amendment's guarantee of right to bear arms and the country's tradition of firearm regulation -- Discussion of U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence, history of firearm regulation, and Florida's Open Carry Ban -- Because the Second Amendment's plain text encompasses the open carrying of firearms in public, that conduct is presumptively protected by the Constitution -- State has not met burden of establishing a relevant historical tradition of firearms regulation that justifies its prohibition of the open carrying of firearms -- Even if ban on concealed carry is constitutional, it does not follow that ban on open carry is constitutional as well -- Historical record makes clear that open carry was regarded as the lawful and preferred mode of bearing arms, while concealed carry was viewed as dangerous to public safety and ineffective for self-defense -- While right to open carry is not absolute or immune from reasonable regulation, the state may not extinguish the right altogether for ordinary, law-abiding, adult citizens
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Criminal law -- Driving under influence -- Breath test -- Discovery -- State's failure to comply -- Evidence -- Expert -- Lay opinion -- Trial court did not err in failing to conduct Richardson hearing based on state's alleged failure to disclose as an expert witness the police officer who was the agency inspector for Intoxilyzer used in instant case -- Trial court properly found that officer did not provide expert testimony when testifying about how Intoxilyzer works, his maintenance of machine, and his inspections -- Just because a witness has specialized knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, does not automatically make his or her testimony expert in nature -- Testimony was not expert in nature where testimony was derived from officer's years of personal experience maintaining and inspecting the Intoxilyzer, officer did not obtain that knowledge for purposes of litigation, and officer was not evaluating someone else's work
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Criminal law -- Murder -- Death penalty -- Post conviction relief -- Successive motion -- Intellectual disability -- No error in summarily denying claim that defendant's death sentence is unconstitutional because he has an intellectual disability -- U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Hall v. Florida does not apply retroactively -- Furthermore, claim is untimely and procedurally barred -- Court rejects argument that procedural bars should not apply to intellectual disability claims -- Defendant's execution is not constitutionally prohibited -- Stay of execution is denied
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Criminal law -- Offense committed by juvenile -- Pretrial detention -- Habeas corpus -- Minors charged as adults currently housed in mental health treatment ward of adult jail -- Location and manner in which the minors are housed in the adult jail fails to comply with, and violates the requirements of, section 985.265(5) where regular contact with incarcerated adults and trustees is unavoidable and not merely haphazard or accidental -- Discussion of applicability and purpose of writ of habeas corpus -- Petition for writ of habeas corpus is proper vehicle for raising claim where petitioners are not merely complaining of conditions of jail, but seeking release from confinement that does not comply with statutory requirements -- Petition granted
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