Florida

  • December 17, 2024

    Miss America-Tied Ch. 11 Tossed Amid Ownership Spat

    A Florida bankruptcy judge on Tuesday dismissed the Chapter 11 case of an entity connected to the Miss America pageant, after the debtor noted it realized it owns none of the operations or debt associated with the competition, punting questions over who owns pageant-related assets to a state court.

  • December 17, 2024

    The Biggest Copyright Decisions Of 2024

    The U.S. Supreme Court made it possible for copyright plaintiffs to pursue damages for periods longer than three years — while leaving lawyers speculating about how long the ruling will stand — and the Second Circuit put an end to a free digital library. Here are Law360's picks for the top copyright decisions of 2024.

  • December 17, 2024

    Asset Manager Gets 2½ Years For Role In $1.2B PDVSA Scheme

    A Florida federal judge on Tuesday sentenced an asset manager who pled guilty to participating in a $1.2 billion scheme to embezzle money from Venezuela's state-owned oil company to 2½ years in prison.

  • December 17, 2024

    Heartland Payment Settles Florida School Lunch Card Suit

    Parents from Florida and elsewhere have settled a proposed federal class action with a payment processor over alleged unfair surcharges collected after depositing lunch money onto school-sponsored reloadable cards used by their kids.

  • December 17, 2024

    Fla. Bar Eyes Rule Change On Limits For Non-Atty Roles

    The Florida Bar Board of Governors is considering a rule change to spell out that nonlawyers at a law firm cannot supervise the work of attorneys or perform policymaking duties that affect the practice of law, among other prohibited tasks, a spokeswoman for the bar confirmed to Law360 Pulse on Monday.

  • December 17, 2024

    11th Circ. Affirms NLRB Bargain Order Against Chemical Co.

    A chemical manufacturer must comply with a National Labor Relations Board decision ordering it to negotiate with a United Food and Commercial Workers affiliate, the Eleventh Circuit found, rejecting the company's claim that two ballots that could have swayed the vote outcome should have counted.

  • December 16, 2024

    Circuit-By-Circuit Guide To 2024's Most Memorable Moments

    One judge said a litigant's position would cause "an effing nightmare," and another decried the legal community's silence amid "illegitimate aspersions." Public officials literally trashed one court's opinion, and fateful rulings dealt with controversial politicians, social media and decades of environmental policy. Those were just a few appellate highlights in 2024, a year teeming with memorable moments both substantive and sensational.

  • December 16, 2024

    11th Circ. Says Citrus Grower's Coverage Row Was Ripe

    A citrus grower's bid for damages from its insurer in connection with environmental remediation costs was ripe, the Eleventh Circuit said, reviving the case after finding that a Florida district court wrongly dismissed it by conflating the issue of ripeness with the merits of the grower's claims.

  • December 16, 2024

    Judge OKs Par Funding Receiver's Plan To Distribute $110M

    A Florida federal judge on Monday approved a distribution plan by the receiver for Par Funding and authorized the first distribution of more than $110 million that the receiver has collected for the investors who were defrauded in a Ponzi scheme that raised nearly a half-billion dollars.

  • December 16, 2024

    Congress Sends Biden Another Bill To Help Federal Courts

    The House voted 390-0 Monday evening in favor of a bipartisan bill to make permanent 10 judgeships across the country, including in Texas, Florida and California, and the bill now goes to the president's desk.

  • December 16, 2024

    Contractor, Insurer Seek Early Win In $2.85M Bridge Dispute

    A construction company and an excess insurer each sought a pretrial win in Florida federal court over coverage for a demolition subcontractor's faulty work that the construction company said cost more than $2.85 million, after a primary insurer already paid $1 million toward an underlying settlement.

  • December 16, 2024

    Tax Court Wrongly Cut Easement Deduction, 11th Circ. Told

    The U.S. Tax Court erred in drastically reducing a partnership's claimed $23 million deduction for donating a conservation easement in Georgia, the partnership told the Eleventh Circuit, saying the court improperly relied on a real estate expert's opinion to establish whether the land had mining value.

  • December 16, 2024

    11th Circ. Appears Wary Of Doc's New Trial Bid In $27.5M Case

    The Eleventh Circuit on Monday questioned whether a Georgia doctor and his medical practice should get a new trial in a $27.5 million False Claims Act case on the basis that he and an expert who wasn't allowed to testify at trial believed the thousands of treatments he billed for were medically necessary and could be covered by Medicare, saying that contention seems to contradict the doctor's prior statements. 

  • December 16, 2024

    Ecuador Banana Co. Prez Ordered To Jail Over $6.9M Award

    A Miami federal judge issued an arrest order for the president of an Ecuadorian banana company that ignored court orders to turn over financial information at the request of Chiquita Brands International, which is trying to enforce a $6.9 million arbitration award.

  • December 16, 2024

    Blindsided Developer Says $112K Legal Bill Should Be $25K

    A real estate developer fighting a $112,000 legal bill from Conrad & Scherer LLP testified in a Florida state court Monday that he hired the firm for its banking regulation expertise but not for trial work in a lawsuit over a luxury house in Colorado.

  • December 16, 2024

    Honeywell Pollution Suit Belongs In Ga. Court, 11th Circ. Told

    A Georgia city suing Honeywell International Inc. over the company's alleged pollution of coastal waterways told the Eleventh Circuit Monday that the Environmental Protection Agency's supervision of remediation efforts can't transform Honeywell into a federal officer, thus denying the company the jurisdiction it needs to move the case into federal court.

  • December 16, 2024

    Honeywell May Split Aerospace Biz Amid Activist Pressure

    Honeywell International Inc. on Monday said it is mulling a separation of its aerospace business, after activist investment firm Elliott Investment Management LP in November pushed for the industrial conglomerate to separate itself into two independent companies.

  • December 16, 2024

    11th Circ. Won't Kick Starbucks Benefits Case To Arbitration

    The Eleventh Circuit affirmed Monday that Starbucks can't force a former employee's husband to arbitrate a proposed class action claiming the coffee giant unlawfully failed to tell him about continuing health benefit options after his wife was fired, saying he wasn't bound by the terms of his spouse's employment agreement.

  • December 14, 2024

    ABC News Agrees To Pay $16M To End Trump Defamation Suit

    ABC News has agreed to pay $16 million to end Donald Trump's defamation suit over George Stephanopoulos' on-air description of rulings in favor of writer E. Jean Carroll in her sexual abuse and defamation suits against Trump, according to a settlement filed Saturday in Florida.

  • December 13, 2024

    Real Estate Recap: New Mapping, Terrorism, What We Learned

    Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including a new state-by-state mapping tool for real estate practitioners, one BigLaw attorney's view of terrorism liability safeguards for commercial real estate, and takeaways from the multifamily and life sciences sectors in 2024.

  • December 13, 2024

    Cardi B Tries To Sink Ch. 11 Of YouTuber Who Owes Her $3.8M

    Cardi B has asked a Florida bankruptcy court to dismiss the Chapter 11 case of YouTuber Tasha K, saying she deliberately hid her assets to frustrate the rapper's efforts at collecting on a $3.8 million defamation verdict.

  • December 13, 2024

    Publix Dodges Punitive Damages Claim In Store Injury Suit

    A Florida appeals court on Friday tossed a punitive damages claim in a suit accusing Publix of causing a vendor worker's injuries when a display full of soda cases fell over, saying such a claim requires sufficient allegations of gross negligence.

  • December 13, 2024

    Duke Energy Accused Of Negligence Ahead Of Data Breach

    Duke Energy Carolinas LLC failed to protect sensitive personal information ahead of a data breach in May, and now its current and former customers are at risk of identity theft and tax fraud, according to a proposed federal class action.

  • December 13, 2024

    Kluger Kaplan Shifting To Bigger Space In Miami Office Tower

    Kluger Kaplan Silverman Katzen Levine PL renewed its lease for the 34-story Citigroup Center in downtown Miami, and also plans to move to a new 17,757-square-foot office space within the Class A office tower in the second quarter of 2025, the Citigroup Center announced Friday.

  • December 13, 2024

    Bipartisan Bills Target US Dependence On Chinese Minerals

    A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced three new pieces of legislation aimed at helping address what it said was America's "deep reliance" on the Chinese Communist Party for critical minerals, after spending months evaluating the issue.

Expert Analysis

  • What 11th Circ. FCRA Ruling Means For Credit Furnishers

    Author Photo

    Credit furnishers should revisit their internal investigation and verification procedures after the Eleventh Circuit declined last month in Holden v. Holiday to impose a bright-line rule that only purely factual or transcription errors are actionable under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, say Diana Eng and Michael Esposito at Blank Rome.

  • Using A Children's Book Approach In Firm Marketing Content

    Author Photo

    From “The Giving Tree” to “Where the Wild Things Are,” most children’s books are easy to remember because they use simple words and numbers to tell stories with a human impact — a formula law firms should emulate in their marketing content to stay front of mind for potential clients, says Seema Desai Maglio at The Found Word.

  • A Changing Regulatory Landscape For Weight Loss Drugs

    Author Photo

    As drugs originally approved to treat diabetes become increasingly popular for weight loss purposes, federal and state regulators and payors are increasing their focus on how these drugs are prescribed, and industry participants should pay close attention to rapidly evolving compliance requirements, say attorneys at Goodwin.

  • The State Of Play In DEI And ESG 1 Year After Harvard Ruling

    Author Photo

    Almost a year after the U.S. Supreme Court decided Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, attorney general scrutiny of environmental, social and governance-related efforts indicates a potential path for corporate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to be targeted, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • 2 Oil Trader FCPA Pleas Highlight Fine-Reduction Factors

    Author Photo

    Recent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act settlements with Gunvor and Trafigura — the latest actions in a yearslong sweep of the commodities trading industry — reveal useful data points related to U.S. Department of Justice policies on cooperation credit and past misconduct, say Michael DeBernardis and Laura Perkins at Hughes Hubbard.

  • What The FTC Report On AG Collabs Means For Cos.

    Author Photo

    The Federal Trade Commission's April report on working with state attorneys general shows collaboration can increase efficiency and consistency in how statutes are interpreted and enforced, which can minimize the likelihood of requests for inconsistent injunctive relief that can create operational problems for businesses, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.

  • When Oral Settlements Reached In Mediation Are Enforceable

    Author Photo

    A recent decision by the New Jersey Appellate Division illustrates the difficulties that may arise in trying to enforce an oral settlement agreement reached in mediation, but adherence to certain practices can improve the likelihood that such an agreement will be binding, says Richard Mason at MasonADR.

  • Series

    Being An EMT Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    While some of my experiences as an emergency medical technician have been unusually painful and searing, the skills I’ve learned — such as triage, empathy and preparedness — are just as useful in my work as a restructuring lawyer, says Marshall Huebner at Davis Polk.

  • Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance

    Author Photo

    A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.

  • Devil's In The Details On FDCPA, Article III Standing

    Author Photo

    The Third Circuit’s recent decision in Barclift v. Keystone Credit Services concerning the alleged harm needed to support a class action under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act is in line with other circuits' interpretations of Article III of the Constitution, notwithstanding disagreement over the minutiae of a proper Article III analysis, says Nick Agnello at Burr & Forman.

  • 11th Circ. Ruling May Foreshadow Ch. 15 Clashes

    Author Photo

    The Eleventh Circuit's recent decision in In re: Talal Qais Abdulmunem Al Zawawi has introduced a split from the Second Circuit regarding whether debtors in foreign proceedings must have a domicile, calling attention to the understudied nature of Chapter 15 of the Bankruptcy Code, say attorneys at Cleary.

  • What The Justices' Copyright Damages Ruling Didn't Address

    Author Photo

    While the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Warner Chappell v. Nealy clarified when a copyright owner may recover damages in jurisdictions that apply the so-called discovery rule, it did not settle the overriding question of whether the Copyright Act even permits applying the rule, say Ivy Estoesta and William Milliken at Sterne Kessler.

  • Series

    Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.

  • A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System

    Author Photo

    As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.

  • Bankruptcy Courts Have Contempt Power, Del. Case Reminds

    Author Photo

    A Delaware bankruptcy court recently held Camshaft Capital and its principal in contempt, serving as a reminder to bankruptcy practitioners and anyone else that appears before a bankruptcy judge that there are serious consequences for failing to comply with court orders, say Daniel Lowenthal and Kimberly Black at Patterson Belknap.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Florida archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!