46 Fla. L. Weekly D648b ENDURANCE ASSURANCE CORP., Appellant, v. PERRY H. HODGES, JR., as Personal Representative of the Estate of NISHA SEJWAL; MARLRENIS SANCHEZ and PEDRO SANCHEZ, as Personal Representatives of the Estate of JORGE SANCHEZ; AURORA CECILIA SCARPATI RIPALDA, as Personal Representative of the Estate of CARLO ZANETTI SCARPATI; and MONICA DOMINGUEZ, as Read More »
Articles
Venue — Trial court lacked authority to sua sponte dismiss action for improper venue where parties had consented to venue
46 Fla. L. Weekly D648a PATRICE JONES, as Successor Co-Trustee of the ROBERT M. JONES, JR. TRUST dated December 28, 2007, and ANNELIESE D. JONES, Appellants, v. PATRICK SAYER, as Co-Trustee of the ROBERT M. JONES, JR. TRUST dated December 28, 2007, Appellee. 4th District. Case No. 4D20-1465. March 24, 2021. Appeal from the Circuit Read More »
Appeals — Certiorari — Discovery orders — Privileged documents — Work product — Wrongful death — Trial court departed from essential requirements of law by requiring defendant to produce root cause analysis and incident report after finding that these reports were prepared in ordinary course of business and constitute non-privileged, discoverable business records or, alternatively, that any work-product privilege was waived because of corporate representative’s use of the reports at her deposition — Fact that defendant required as a matter of practice that records be created after a “sentinel event” supports contention that the documents were created in anticipation of litigation — With respect to conclusory determination that any privilege was waived by corporate representative’s reference to documents during her deposition, on remand, trial court to conduct in camera inspection of video deposition to determine whether references to documents were such that privilege was waived and, if so, to determine with specificity the extent of the waiver — Whether reports should be produced regardless of privilege because of relevance and need for the documents and undue hardship in obtaining underlying information from other sources was apparently not addressed by trial court — To extent trial court on remand determines that some or all of records are protected from discovery, evidentiary hearing will be required to determine whether the reports contain information that is unobtainable elsewhere without undue hardship
46 Fla. L. Weekly D637a ONWARD LIVING RECOVERY COMMUNITY, LLC, et al., Petitioners, v. CARLOS MORMENEO and MONICA TOBON, etc., Respondents. 3rd District. Case No. 3D20-1504. L.T. Case No. 20-11087. March 24, 2021. A Writ of Certiorari to the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Veronica A. Diaz, Judge. Counsel: Cole, Scott & Kissane, P.A., and Read More »
Wrongful death — Medical malpractice — Hospitals — Jurors — Peremptory challenge — Racial discrimination — Trial court did not abuse discretion by finding that defendant’s race-neutral explanation for challenge of African-American was not genuine due to an impermissible pattern of seeking to excuse potential jurors based on race — New trial — Court did not abuse discretion by finding that violations of pretrial stipulation did not warrant granting of new trial where stipulation not to reference licensed physicians who cared for decedent was violated numerous times by both parties — Court did not err in refusing to grant new trial after inadmissible and prejudicial testimony was introduced where testimony was not prejudicial enough to vitiate entire trial
46 Fla. L. Weekly D633a HIALEAH HOSPITAL, INC., Appellant, v. JOSHUA MISIUS HAYES-BOURSIQUOT, etc., Appellee. 3rd District. Case No. 3D20-0050. L.T. Case No. 15-24325. March 24, 2021. An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Abby Cynamon, Judge. Counsel: Falk, Waas, Hernandez, Solomon, Mendlestein & Davis P.A., and Glenn P. Falk and Scott L. Read More »
Attorney’s fees — Hours — Reduction — Trial court’s failure to reduce fees for hours billed was arbitrary and unsupported where experts from both parties provided testimony that reduction was necessary, but trial court ignored that recommendation without explanation — Remand for reduction of number of billable hours and recalculation of Lodestar amount
46 Fla. L. Weekly D631a UNIVERSAL PROPERTY & CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant, v. CARMEN CELESTRIN, et al., Appellees. 3rd District. Case No. 3D20-541. L.T. Case No. 18-6008. March 24, 2021. An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, David C. Miller, Judge. Counsel: Russo Appellate Firm, P.A., Elizabeth K. Russo and Paulo R. Lima, Read More »