48 Fla. L. Weekly D721a THE CITY OF NEW PORT RICHEY, Appellant, v. KOZETA LAMKO and BESSIE TSOULEAS, Appellees. 2nd District. Case No. 2D22-2361. April 12, 2023. Appeal pursuant to Fla. R. App. P. 9.130 from the Circuit Court for Pasco County; Declan P. Mansfield, Judge. Counsel: Sean M. Conahan of Shelton | McKean, St. Read More »
Articles
Wrongful death — Nursing homes — Breach of fiduciary duty — Aiding and abetting — Jurisdiction — Foreign corporations — Minimum contacts — Business venture — Tortious act — Action brought against foreign parent company of resident operator of Florida nursing home — Trial court did not err in determining that defendant had sufficient minimum contacts for court to exercise personal jurisdiction — Jurisdiction over defendant was not established for the conduct of a business or business venture under section 48.193(1)(a)1 where contents of consent order entered into by the Office of Insurance Regulation, defendant, and defendant’s subsidiary regarding subsidiary’s purchase of a continuing care retirement community facility and the federal tax forms submitted by plaintiff did not provide sufficient information to controvert defendant’s jurisdictional affidavit — Furthermore, while nursing home’s application for Medicare and Medicaid benefits acknowledges defendant’s ownership interest in the nursing home, it does not counter salient facts alleged in defendant’s affidavit regarding specific jurisdiction — Defendant’s affidavit did not sufficiently refute allegation that defendant committed a tortious act in Florida by aiding and abetting its subsidiary’s breach of fiduciary duty to the deceased through the diversion of facility revenues which were necessary to provide care and services to the residents — Based on alleged commission of a tort, defendant had sufficient minimum contacts to justify personal jurisdiction — Defendant failed to present compelling case that the presence of some other considerations would render jurisdiction unreasonable
48 Fla. L. Weekly D675a CONCORDIA LUTHERAN MINISTRIES, Appellant, v. LARA DANIELLE WILLS, as personal representative of the Estate of Linda Schumer, deceased; CONCORDIA OF FLORIDA, INC.; LISA JEAN BROOKS; and MICHELE S. CAPURSO (as to Concordia Village of Tampa), Appellees. 2nd District. Case No. 2D22-2641. April 5, 2023. Appeal pursuant to Fla. R. App. Read More »
Insurance — Uninsured motorist — “Uninsured motor vehicle” — Electric motorized scooter which struck and injured plaintiff fell within scope of uninsured motor vehicle coverage of policy which defined “uninsured motor vehicle” as a “land motor vehicle” — Definition of uninsured motor vehicle in section 324.021, Florida Statutes, Florida’s financial responsibility law, does not control the definition of “land motor vehicle” — Insurer has pointed to no provision of Florida law that limits an insurer to providing UM coverage for motor vehicles that fall within the FRL’s definition of the term
29 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C2313a STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, Plaintiff-Counter Defendant-Appellee, v. ANNA BEVILACQUA SPANGLER, RICHARD DALE SPANGLER, Defendants-Counter Claimant-Appellants. 11th Circuit. Case No. 21-12062. April 3, 2023. Appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida (No. 6:20-cv-00360-PGB-LRH). (Before WILSON, JILL PRYOR, and HULL, Circuit Judges.) (JILL PRYOR, Read More »
Torts — Medical malpractice — Punitive damages — Action alleging defendant improperly treated plaintiff using medically unnecessary course of radiation — Trial court erred in allowing plaintiff to amend complaint to add claim for punitive damages where plaintiff did not proffer sufficient evidence to demonstrate that defendant’s conduct amounted to intentional misconduct or gross negligence under section 768.72(2), as opposed to ordinary negligence — Allegations of breach of standard of care, without more, cannot form basis of punitive damages claim simply by labeling defendant’s actions as “grossly negligent” — Federal court filings against defendant in unrelated cases, which were proffered by plaintiff as being relevant to defendant’s intent, motive, and state of mind in prescribing allegedly improper radiation treatment, were not sufficient to support claim for punitive damages
48 Fla. L. Weekly D698a GARY L. MARDER, D.O., Appellant, v. ROBERTA MUELLER, Appellee. 4th District. Case No. 4D22-1576. April 5, 2023. Appeal of a non-final order from the Circuit Court for the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, St. Lucie County; Laurie E. Buchanan, Judge; L.T. Case No. 562018CA002257. Counsel: Dinah S. Stein and Aneta McCleary of Read More »
Torts — Legal malpractice — Summary judgment — Independent analysis — Final summary judgment entered in favor of defendant law firm is reversed — Trial court’s adoption of defendant’s forty-page proposed order did not show independent judicial analysis where trial court adopted the proposed order word for word without allowing objection by plaintiff’s counsel, and made no factual findings or legal conclusions that could form the basis for the proposed order
48 Fla. L. Weekly D713a TERRELL KING, Appellant, v. FARAH & FARAH, P.A., EDDIE E. FARAH, AND CHARLIE E. FARAH, Appellees. 5th District. Case No. 5D23-20. L.T. Case No. 2014-CA-001683. April 6, 2023. Appeal from Circuit Court for Duval County, Bruce R. Anderson, Jr., Judge. Counsel: Kara Rockenbach Link and Daniel M. Schwarz, of Link Read More »