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.

Arbitration -- Where contract contained agreement to arbitrate under American Arbitration Association rules but did not specify how arbitrator was to be selected, trial court erred in ordering parties to select an arbitrator, rather than following applicable AAA rules for selection of an arbitrator -- Right to have AAA rules determine selection of arbitrator was not waived by party's compliance with court order to select an arbitrator
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Counties -- Elections -- County's imposition of term limits on office of county commissioner does not violate Florida Constitution -- Court recedes from decision which held that county charter-imposed term limits for county officials are unconstitutional
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Declaratory judgments -- IRA accounts -- Beneficiaries -- Dissolution of marriage -- Death of party -- Dispute over entitlement to IRA account owned by husband, who died while divorce proceedings were pending -- Trial court properly determined that interlocutory orders which compelled husband to change his IRA account beneficiary designation from his children to his spouse during pending divorce proceedings did not survive abatement of the divorce proceedings upon the husband's death -- Designation of beneficiary change made pursuant to a court order seeking to preserve status quo in a dissolution of marriage proceeding does not survive abatement of the proceedings upon death of one of the parties
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Dependent children -- Termination of parental rights -- Egregious conduct -- Aggravated child abuse -- Abuse of sibling -- Trial court erred in denying petition to terminate parental rights to injured infant and infant's twin based on egregious conduct toward and aggravated child abuse of injured infant -- Trial court properly determined that Department of Children and Families presented clear and convincing evidence of both egregious conduct toward and aggravated child abuse of injured infant and properly determined that there was a nexus between abuse of injured infant and substantial risk of significant harm to second child -- Use of term “nexus” is consistent with the totality of the circumstances test described by the supreme court in R.F. v. Department of Children & Families -- Trial court misapplied manifest best interests and least restrictive means test by basing its decision not to terminate parental rights to injured infant and infant's sibling solely on the availability of alternative placement in permanent guardianship with maternal grandparents -- Trial court was precluded as a matter of law from considering this alternative placement at this present stage of the proceedings -- Clarification of manifest best interests and least restrictive means tests in cases involving termination of parental rights based on abuse of sibling
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Dissolution of marriage -- Child custody -- Where husband filed dissolution action in Florida which included request for a parenting plan after wife had filed action in New York for custody unconnected to dissolution, and wife subsequently filed dissolution action in New York in which she sought child custody, husband was denied due process when he was unable to participate in Uniform Child Custody, Jurisdiction, and Enforcement Act telephone hearing involving Florida court and two New York courts at which it was determined that New York courts should exercise jurisdiction over all proceedings -- New UCCJEA hearing at which husband and wife shall be allowed to appear is required to determine child's home state -- Husband was also denied due process when Florida court, after determining with New York courts that New York should have jurisdiction over child, dismissed husband's petition for dissolution of marriage without notice to husband and opportunity to be heard on wife's motion to dismiss -- Order dismissing husband's petition for dissolution reversed and remanded for new proceedings undertaken in compliance with UCCJEA and due process
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Insurance -- Automobile liability -- Declaratory action by insurer seeking declaration that policy issued to insured corporation was void ab initio due to a fraudulent, material misrepresentation by insured when it failed to include on driver's list submitted with application the name of the driver who was involved in accident -- Trial court erred in entering summary judgment for defendant on ground that the term “driver” was ambiguous because the term was not defined in application -- Issue of ambiguity involves material questions of fact as to whether driver of vehicle was an employee of insured corporation, how often driver drove for insured when application was completed, what effects prior dealings between parties had on insured's understanding of terms in application, and whether insurer's failure to use its Non-Specified Operators form impacted insured's ability to properly complete application
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Insurance -- Personal injury protection -- Attorney's fees -- Contingency fee multiplier -- In awarding attorney's fees to medical care provider in its action against insurer, trial court abused discretion in applying contingency fee multiplier where there was no competent, substantial evidence that market required a multiplier for provider to obtain competent counsel
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Insurance -- Uninsured motorist -- Coverage -- Stacking -- Action against UM insurer by insured policyholder who was injured in single-car accident while riding as passenger in a vehicle which was owned by her father, also a policyholder, and driven by third party/permissive user and who claimed medical costs in excess of amount of combined payments from liability portion of policy and driver's liability insurance -- Exclusions -- Trial court properly found that policy provision excluding from definition of uninsured motor vehicle any vehicle available for regular use of any family member conflicted with mandatory UM requirements of section 627.727(3) and was therefore invalid basis for denying coverage when nonfamily member was a permissive user of insured family vehicle and permissive user's operation of vehicle caused injury to family member who was a Class I insured -- Trial court properly ruled that non-stacking election signed by passenger's mother, who purchased the policy at issue, did not apply to plaintiff because insurer did not obtain knowing acceptance of any such limitation by plaintiff -- Waiver of stackable coverage must be personally made by insured who claims stacked benefits -- Trial court properly granted summary judgment on coverage and stacking issues -- However, trial court erred in awarding the $300,000 claimed by plaintiff where insurer asserted other defenses which might impact amount of benefits due under the policy -- With regard to coverage issue, question certified whether the family vehicle exclusion for uninsured motorist benefits conflicts with section 627.727(3) when the exclusion is applied to a class I insured who seeks such benefits in connection with a single-vehicle accident where the vehicle was being driven by a class II permissive user, and where the driver is underinsured and liability payments from the driver's insurer, when combined with liability payments under the class I insured's policy, do not fully cover the class I insured's medical costs -- With respect to stacking issue, question certified whether uninsured motorist benefits are stackable under section 627.727(9) where such benefits are claimed by an insured policyholder, and where a non-stacking election was made by the purchaser of the policy, but where the insured claimant did not elect non-stacking benefits
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Mortgage foreclosure -- Default -- Vacation -- Service of process -- Defects -- Substitute service on defendant at address in foreign state at which wife was residing was not valid where it was not shown that this address was defendant's “usual place of abode” -- Evidence showing that defendant and his wife had separated two months earlier, that a petition for dissolution of marriage was pending, and that defendant was living in a different city was sufficient to rebut presumed validity of substitute service -- Neither copy of personal financial statement dated four days after process was served, in which defendant listed the wife's address as his address, nor testimony by plaintiff's vice president that defendant told him he and his wife were reconciling was sufficient to establish that wife's address was defendant's usual place of abode at time of service -- Error to deny motion to set aside final judgment of foreclosure and foreclosure sale for invalid service of process
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Mortgage foreclosure -- Verification of complaint -- Nothing in rule governing verification of complaint to foreclose mortgage on residential property requires that the verification be contained within the complaint -- No error in entering summary judgment in favor of lender
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Torts -- Automobile accident -- Evidence -- Deposition of defendant driver -- No abuse of discretion in allowing deposition of defendant to be published to jury and read into record at rescheduled trial after defense counsel filed affidavit detailing his unsuccessful efforts to locate defendant for several weeks prior to trial and asserting that client had taken a temporary job assignment out of state with a federal military agency, defendant had stated to defense counsel that she was uncertain about her ability to contact counsel while on assignment, and counsel had been unable to obtain any information from employer about defendant's whereabouts -- Being called away for compelling reason was sufficient to show deponent's absence was not self-procured
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Torts -- Dismissal -- Fraud on the court -- Action against owner of restaurant by plaintiffs who were attacked and beaten by other patrons at restaurant -- Abuse of discretion to dismiss action for fraud on the court on the basis of inconsistencies and contradictions in depositions of plaintiff in criminal action against attackers and in civil action against restaurant owner -- Record fails to demonstrate clearly and convincingly that plaintiffs collusively engaged in a scheme designed to prevent trier from impartially adjudicating matter through lies, misrepresentations, contradictory statements and otherwise hiding the truth -- Nature and substance of inconsistencies and contradictions required trial court to consider some lesser sanction
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Torts -- Jurisdiction -- Non-residents -- Tortious act in state -- Plaintiff failed to allege sufficient facts on conversion, civil theft, and conspiracy counts to bring defendant within reach of long-arm statute where allegations were based on unilateral actions of codefendant in withdrawing his father's funds from joint account he maintained with plaintiff in Florida, and there was no allegation that defendant took part in withdrawal of funds or was present in Florida when the act occurred and no allegation that there was an agreement between defendant and codefendant -- Neither defendant's alleged control of funds after they left Florida nor her alleged knowledge of codefendant's actions or encouragement of codefendant to obtain funds was sufficient to support personal jurisdiction -- Review of record indicates that defendant's activities within Florida had not been “continuous and systematic” as required to subject her to trial court's general jurisdiction under section 48.193(2)
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Torts -- Negligence -- Releases -- Contracts -- Exculpatory clause -- Action against non-profit organization that provides free “storybook” vacations to seriously ill children and their families at resort village, seeking to recover for injuries sustained by child's mother when pneumatic wheelchair lift on which mother and husband were posing for photograph collapsed because weight limit had been exceeded -- Language of release signed by parties clearly and unambiguously released defendant from liability for the physical injuries sustained during plaintiffs' stay at defendant's resort and was sufficiently clear to make plaintiffs aware of the scope of the release and what rights they were contracting away -- Disparity in bargaining power is not an issue under circumstances of instant case
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Trusts -- Trust beneficiary's action against trustees alleging breach of trust -- Limitation of actions -- Error to dismiss complaint on ground claims are time-barred -- Limitations period in section 737.307, Florida Statutes, is inapplicable where beneficiary has not received an account or statement -- Section 95.11(3)(o), Florida Statutes, does not apply to actions for breach of trust
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 -- Attempted robbery with firearm -- Evidence -- Other crimes, wrongs or acts -- Trial court did not abuse discretion in finding state witness's testimony about committing a recent robbery with defendant was clear and convincing that the previous robbery occurred, even though the previous robbery was not reported to law enforcement and the witness admitted he could not recall certain details about it and that he wanted to be a cooperating state witness to avoid drug and homicide charges -- Nonetheless, the testimony was improperly admitted because the previous robbery was too dissimilar to the charged offense under the Williams rule -- The two robberies occurred in two different places, the participants played allegedly different roles, the words “give it up,” allegedly spoken during both robberies, were uttered by different participants, and the defendant's participation in the two events was initiated in different ways -- Error was not harmless
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Criminal law -- Concealing location of minor in violation of court order -- Error to deny motion for judgment of acquittal where state did not prove that defendant concealed location of child in violation of court order, as there was no court order expressly telling defendant that she was required to disclose location of child to court -- Statute is not ambiguous
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Criminal law -- Murder -- Kidnapping -- Competency of defendant -- Where trial court found defendant competent to stand trial, it is assumed he was competent to make decisions regarding his defense -- Trial court erred in acceding to defense counsel's strategic decision not to put defendant on the stand where defendant made it abundantly clear to court that he wished to testify -- Trial court erred in allowing counsel to assert insanity defense over defendant's objections -- New trial required -- Court notes that should issue of defendant's attire during trial arise again, a defendant may not be compelled to proceed to trial in prison garb over his objection
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Criminal law -- Search and seizure -- Investigatory stop -- Tip given to officer by face-to-face tipster who wished to remain anonymous was insufficient to provide reasonable suspicion to justify investigatory stop of defendant where officers did not observe anything to confirm the reliability of the information provided by the tipster
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Criminal law -- Sentencing -- Guidelines -- Departure -- Specialized medical treatment -- Trial court's holding, that it had no discretion to impose its desired downward departure sentence for possession of child pornography because defendant did not make showing that treatment for mental illness was unavailable from the Department of Corrections, was correct under then-current case law, but District Court has, since the sentencing, receded from its previous holding and on remand trial court has discretion to impose downward departure -- On remand state may present evidence that DOC can provide the treatment, but such evidence is merely an additional factor for trial court's consideration in exercising its discretion
VIEW OPINION (login required)

Criminal law -- Sexual predators -- It was error to designate defendant as a sexual predator where at the time defendant committed the current offense of unlawful sexual activity with a minor he had not yet been convicted of prior lewd and lascivious battery offenses -- Trial court erroneously concluded that because defendant had been convicted and sentenced for the prior offenses prior to his sentencing for the current offense he qualified as a sexual predator -- Order denying motion to correct illegal sentence reversed and remanded for trial court to strike sexual offender designation
VIEW OPINION (login required)