Featured in the August 2012 Issue Partner’s Perspective J&C Shareholders Appointed to Leadership of JBA Construction Law Committee J&C Continues “Lunch and Learn” Program for its Attorneys and Staff New Law Blogs Curiosities, Ruminations and Various Eccentricities of Firm Biz Click to read.
Part I: Elements and Duty Construction defects are a problem in Florida. In an environment that is hot, humid, and stormy, defective construction is magnified often causing damaging water leaks, harmful mold intrusion and amongst other things, a serious disruption to our everyday lives. Typical sources of water intrusion are […]
In a standard foreclosure action, the lienholder with a first position of priority files suit to foreclose out all junior lienholders and recover the outstanding balance on a promissory note secured by the mortgage. But what happens when a junior lienholder decides to foreclose on its lien? The scenario is […]
In preparation for trial, expert witnesses are often retained and briefed based upon reports and documents provided to them from counsel. Two types of work product may be used to prepare documents and internal memorandum which are subsequently given to an expert witness: 1) fact work product, and 2) opinion work product. If memorandum prepared by a law firm in anticipation of litigation contains the attorney’s opinions relating to potential theories of liabilities, references to the expert’s opinions, and factual summaries of his client’s records, the attorney’s personal notes and records about the proposed arguments constitute protected work product. Whealton v. Marshall, et al., 631 So. 2d 323, 325 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994) (holding the law firm’s internal memorandum used in preparation for litigation were not discoverable work product).
Defaulted borrowers often attempt to argue that the waiver of defenses language included in loan documents is unconscionable and therefore unenforceable. However, for a contract to be held to be unenforceable under Florida law, the contract must be both procedurally and substantively unconscionable. See Golden v. Mobile Oil Corp., 882 F.2d 490, 493 (11th Cir. 1989); Gainesville Health Care Center v. Weston, 857 So. 2d 278, 284 (Fla. 1 st DCA 2003). If a contract is found to be either procedurally or substantively conscionable, then the contract is enforceable. See Eldridge v. Integrated Health Services, Inc., 805 So. 2d 982 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001)(emphasis added).
By: Charles B. Jimerson, Esq.
In 1992, Congress passed the Annunzio-Wylie Anti-Money Laundering Act (the “Act”) which requires banks to report suspicious activities to the appropriate federal authorities. Cotton v. Privatebank and Trust Co., 235 P. Supp. 2d 809, 812 (N.D. Ill. 2002). The laudable goal of the requirements contained in the Act was to encourage banks to make such reports related to criminal activities. Id. In fact, the stated purpose of the Act is to:
require certain reports or records where they have a high degree of usefulness in criminal, tax, or regulatory investigations or proceedings, or in the conduct of intelligence or counterintelligence activities, including analysis, to protect against international terrorism. 31 U.S.C § 5311.
Featured in the July 2012 Issue Partner’s Perspective J&C Shareholder Featured as Expert in Local News Story New Law Blogs Curiosities, Ruminations and Various Eccentricities of Firm Biz Click to read.
In commercial litigation, it is very common that the corporate designee at trial is not a particularly insightful factual witness. When the factual witnesses at trial are employees of an opposing party that is headquartered out of state, this often puts you in a position where you are taking “trial depositions” and reading in transcripts at trial. As you can imagine, this does not have the same effect that a live witness does, but is there a way around it?
An expert witness is an individual that is authoritative in their particular field and able to assist the finder of fact in reaching a conclusion at a trial. Aside from discerning whether the potential expert witness is someone who can make some sort of impact on the case and present well to a fact finder, it is important to know what is required in order to have that expert presented to the fact finder for evaluation of the expert opinion. This post describes the law and methods utilized in qualifying an expert witness in Florida.
Have you ever represented a creditor in a bankruptcy action where the debtor and/or the debtor’s attorney seem to be dragging their feet in moving the action forward? In these situations, it may feel like your client will never see relief for its claim. However, there are multiple methods of […]