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Defending Liability, Workers' Compensation, Employment Claims and Appeals Since 1982

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Jurisdiction — Non-residents — Tortious act in state — Extortion — Computer Fraud and Abuse Act — Dispute over ownership of digital software — Allegations of complaint suggesting that plaintiff is rightful owner of digital software and alleging that defendant has refused to relinquish possession of the digital software without additional payment states cause of action under CFAA and therefore satisfies Florida long-arm statute — Requirements of Due Process Clause are also met because emails that defendant sent into Florida triggered the plaintiff’s claims — Discussion of elements of CFAA claim under § 1030(a)(7)(A), which imposes liability on person who “with intent to extort from any person any money or other thing of value, transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any . . . threat to cause damage to a protected computer” — Threat to cause harm — Plaintiff plausibly alleged that defendant made threats by stating that defendant would turn over all source code and intellectual property to plaintiff only if plaintiff tendered a payment of $1.1 million, without which defendant stated it would not provide passwords or other electronic property — Damage — Because plaintiff cannot access and independently modify its software without passwords, defendant’s refusal to provide those passwords impaired the availability of the software and therefore caused damage — Finally, complaint sufficiently alleged that defendant acted with intent to extort money or other thing of value, transmitted a communication in interstate or foreign commerce, and made alleged threats that would have damaged “a protected computer”

29 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. C2157a SKYHOP TECHNOLOGIES, INC., a Delaware corporation, SKYHOP GLOBAL, LLC, a Florida limited liability company, KRISTINE SCOTTO, an Individual, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. PRAVEEN NARRA, an Individual, INDYZEN, INC., a California corporation d.b.a. AppDevelopment.com, Inc. d.b.a. Tech.US, Inc, Defendants-Appellees. 11th Circuit. Case No. 21-14051. January 26, 2023. Appeal from the U.S. District […]

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Wrongful death — Medical malpractice — Hospitals — Vicarious liability — Punitive damages — Amendment of complaint — Trial court erred by granting plaintiff’s motion to amend wrongful death medical malpractice complaint to assert a claim for punitive damages against hospital — Plaintiff failed to satisfy requirements to establish entitlement to assert claim for punitive damages against a corporation where proffered evidence failed to show that the health care providers involved were grossly negligent, and neither the complaint nor the proffered evidence demonstrated how hospital’s actions before or during decedent’s treatment ratified or approved the health care providers’ alleged negligent conduct — Hospital’s post-injury actions cannot constitute evidence of ratification, condonement, or consent sufficient to support vicarious liability for punitive damages

48 Fla. L. Weekly D203a CLEVELAND CLINIC FLORIDA HEALTH SYSTEM NONPROFIT CORPORATION and CLEVELAND CLINIC FLORIDA, Appellants, v. ANDREA S. ORIOLO, as Personal Representative for the ESTATE OF SAVERIO SASSO, Appellee. 4th District. Case No. 4D22-1398. January 25, 2023. Appeal of a non-final order from the Circuit Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County; […]

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Insurance — Subrogation — Civil procedure — Dismissal — Trial court erred in looking beyond four corners of complaint when determining to dismiss amended subrogation complaint with prejudice on grounds of res judicata, collateral estoppel, and law of the case

48 Fla. L. Weekly D200a UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION a/s/o MELANIE MANZO-PIANELLI, Appellant, v. DALLAS AARON ROBINSON, ESQ., as Curator/Administrator Ad Litem of the ESTATE OF NEIL SEIDEN, Appellee. 4th District. Case No. 4D21-2518. January 25, 2023. Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County; Keathan B. Frink, Judge; L.T. Case […]

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Wrongful death — Damages — Noneconomic damages — Children — Dismissal — Appeals — Non-final orders — Trial court’s dismissal of personal representative’s claim for noneconomic damages for decedent’s adult children is a non-final, non-appealable order — Order does not constitute a partial final judgment disposing of an entire case as to a party because the cause of action of the only party, the personal representative on behalf of the estate, remains pending — Although a decedent’s survivors are real parties in interest to a wrongful death suit, they are not entitled to join the wrongful death action as parties — Because children’s claims are dependent upon and interrelated with estate’s pending claims for surviving spouse, order dismissing children’s damages claims remains an interlocutory order — Court declines to accept certiorari jurisdiction where there has been no showing that order results in irreparable harm

48 Fla. L. Weekly D190a GEORGE GOMEZ, SILVIA POHL, and JOY GOMEZ, Appellants, v. R.J. REYNOLDS TOBACCO CO., and PHILIP MORRIS USA INC., et al., Appellees. 3rd District. Case No. 3D21-622. L.T. Case No. 08-109. January 25, 2023. An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Valerie R. Manno Schurr, Judge. Counsel: Hicks, Porter, […]

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Torts — Premises liability — Slip and fall — Discovery — Relevance — Appeals — Certiorari — Order requiring defendant’s corporate representative to address areas of inquiry related to defendant’s corporate-wide operations is quashed — Allowing corporate-wide discovery amounted to carte blanche discovery that results in irreparable harm and departs from essential requirements of the law — Information is not discoverable based on its relevance to show negligent mode of operation because, under section 768.0755, negligent mode of operation is not a viable theory of recovery in slip-and-fall cases

48 Fla. L. Weekly D192a PUBLIX SUPER MARKETS, INC., Petitioner, v. ERNESTO BLANCO, Respondent. 3rd District. Case No. 3D22-0852. L.T. Case No. 20-27601. January 25, 2023. A Writ of Certiorari to the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, William Thomas, Judge. Counsel: Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman, P.L., and Edward G. Guedes, for petitioner. Morgan […]

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