To protect against competition within a shopping center, a tenant will often seek an “exclusive” right of use so that it will not have direct competition in the same shopping center where the tenant is opening its business.
Can Facebook Gripes About Work Get You Fired?
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has reported that certain complaints about your work environment that are posted on social media sires such as Facebook and Twitter may be considered “protected concerted activity” which an employer cannot legally fire or discipline an employee for engaging in.
The recent report from the NLRB discusses the outcome of investigations into 14 cases involving social media by the agency’s Division of Advice. In four cases in the report, the NLRB found the workers were protected under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act because they were discussing terms and conditions of employment with fellow employees.
Is Mediation Worth Your Time and Money?
Throughout history, alternative dispute resolution or “mediation” has been the cornerstone of peace making dating back thousands of years. In Florida, mediation was incorporated into family law in the 1980’s. Today, nearly all litigants with civil law suits will mediate their case, usually under court order, in an effort to resolve their differences. Generally, mediation is conducted after the discovery phase or most of it has been concluded and both parties and their attorneys are sufficiently educated about the dispute to be in a position to negotiate a settlement agreement.
Unfortunately, because much of civil litigation and legal billing practice has become standardized, many matters are “litigated to mediation”, meaning instead of a specific strategy for a lawsuit, whether you are a plaintiff or defendant, the goal is to go to mediation. This is not always the best and most efficient use of a litigant’s resources. In some instances, a motion to dispense with or bypass mediation and move directly to trial may, although unusual, be a better strategy. In other instances, it may be better to press for a meeting of attorneys to discuss settlement as soon as is practical such as before or during the discovery phase of litigation.
Does a Jury Get to Know the Truth?
By Bill Galione
When an accident victim goes to trial, he has to prove that his injuries are directly related to the accident at issue. Recently, a Florida appellate court has made it easier for an insurance company to dispute that a plaintiff’s injuries are related to an accident, even when the insurer has already acknowledged that the injuries were related to the accident.
Alimony Relief
Florida law provides for a reduction or termination of alimony if the court finds a supportive relationship has existed between the recipient of alimony and a person with whom the recipient resides. While common law marriage has not been valid in Florida in over forty years and de facto marriages are also not recognized, the legislature has determined that one under an alimony obligation (the obligor) can obtain relief when the alimony recipient (the obligee) has established a supportive relationship with another.
There are many factors for the court to consider whether a true supportive relationship exists to warrant a reduction or termination of the alimony provided at the time of the final judgment of dissolution of marriage. These include, but are not limited to: (1) The period of time that the obligee has resided with the other person in a permanent place of abode; (2)The pooling of income or assets or other proof of financial interdependence between the obligee and the other person; (3) The extent to which the obligee and the other person has supported the other, including the children of one another; and (4) Whether the obligee and the other have jointly contributed to the purchase of real or personal property or jointly incurred debts.
Merry Christmas To All!
‘Twas the week before Christmas and all through firm, the lawyers were working hard before the holiday’s adjourn. Rulon on the phone, and Ranier in a meeting; Ryan in a deposition and Spencer taking new calls with a warm greeting.
Can I be sued because of something my child did?
As is the case with most legal questions, the answer depends on the facts. At common law (the law which derives from old English court decisions based on societal customs), a parent was not liable for the wrongful acts of their children. Because children do not usually have any significant financial resources of their own, a person harmed by the child’s negligent or willful conduct was simply out of luck.
Sobering Thoughts This Holiday Season
Each year 17,000 people are the victims of drunk-driving accidents. Someone is killed every 45 minutes and someone is injured every two minutes. Each year there are 900,000 DUI/DWI arrests or which approximately one-third are from repeat offenders. 38% of all Christmas-time car accident deaths and 54% of all New Year’s car accident deaths are alcohol-related. In the United States, drunk driving is the leading criminal cause of death. Drunk-driving collectively costs us $114.3 billion per year.
Our firm, myself as well as all other trial attorneys relish the opportunity to represent victims of drunk-driving accidents. Collectively we are saddened by the grief that can be caused by such an irresponsible act, but we know that generally the potential recovery is greater than in other personal injury claims. Under Florida law, in addition to compensation for economic losses and non-economic losses such as pain and suffering, the victim of a drunk-driving accident may also be entitled to punitive damages. In the case of Ingram v. Pettit (340 So. 2d 922 (Fla. 1976)), a plaintiff had been injured when the defendant hit her vehicle from the rear while it was standing at an intersection in a well-lit area. The evidence demonstrated that the defendant’s vehicle had not been moving at an excessive rate of speed, had not swerved or veered outside the marked lines of traffic, and had in fact been normally operated until the time of the collision. The plaintiff sought punitive damages solely because the driver’s blood alcohol level exceeded the level at which the legal presumption of intoxication arises. The Florida Supreme Court held that the voluntary act of driving while intoxicated evidences a sufficiently reckless attitude for a jury to be asked to provide an award of punitive damages.
The Importance of Preserving Evidence in Personal Injury Cases
Your personal injury claim may be won or lost based upon the preservation of critical evidence to your case. With the advent of pocket-sized digital cameras and cell phone cameras, preserving accident evidence has never been easier.
If you have been involved in a car accident and are physically able to do so, it is tremendously helpful to already have photographs of all vehicles involved in the collision from the crash scene when meeting with your personal injury lawyer for the first time. Don’t be shy about taking photos. Don’t just take one or two photos, but instead take as many as possible. When taking photos of the vehicles involved, it is beneficial to take photos at different angles and distances. In addition, photos identifying the road conditions at the time of this incident, skid marks, and debris in the road are valuable to your case because they can help prove which driver or drivers were at fault for the crash, and will also help to show the extent of the force that not only your vehicle sustained- but that you sustained as well. While our office will certainly take property damage and injury photos upon our representation, photos taken at the scene immediately after the incident will preserve a great deal of evidence.
Age Discrimination
Central Florida has a large population of older workers. Therefore, it is not unusual for age discrimination claims to arise in the workplace. Age discrimination involves treating someone (an applicant or employee) less favorably because of his age. The federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) only forbids age discrimination against people who are age 40 or older. The ADEA does not protect workers under the age of 40. However, the State of Florida’s civil rights statute (the Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992, Florida Statutes, Chapter 760) protects all workers and applicants from age discrimination regardless of their age—whether they are over 40 years of age or under 40 years of age. Claims of age discrimination by younger workers or applicants are rare. But, they do occur.
Discrimination can occur when the victim and the person who inflicted the discrimination are both over 40. The law forbids discrimination when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment.
