Miscellaneous

• Protecting the Private Insurance Industry Rather than Children

  Staff Writer | August 21, 2007 10:09 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  The Bush Administration is trying to restrict SCHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Program) from covering children whose families fall with 250% of the federal poverty guidelines. This new move comes after years of allowing these children to receive public health insurance. If the Administration is successful, millions of children will be left without insurance because their families can't...

• Bradenton Police Misconduct Case to be Turned Over to Outside Agency

  Chrissie Cole | August 16, 2007 1:23 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  Bradenton police officials are seeking an outside agency to investigate a police misconduct scandal in which on-duty officers allegedly had sex with a prostitute.Bradenton City Council members have criticized the handling of the investigation and want to turn over further investigating to an independent agency such as FDLE.An admitted drug user and prostitute recently told Bradenton internal...

• Discovery in Abuse Case Leads to More Information about Sexually Abusive Priests

  Staff Writer | August 13, 2007 10:46 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  When I was preparing to take Sister Lucy Vasquez's O.P. deposition this past June, I didn't expect to find what I unearthed, namely, her connection to the widely publicized Philadelphia Grand Jury Report. The Report detailed the abuse and subsequent cover-up of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Lynne Abraham, the courageous Philadelphia District Attorney who...

• Ex-Deputy Banned from Police Work

  Chrissie Cole | June 20, 2007 3:28 PM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  A former Lee County Sheriff deputy was given two years probation and banned from being a law enforcement now or in the future, after stealing money from a group of men he stopped last fall.The deputy was charged with two counts of grand theft and one count of official police misconduct last October when he pulled over a car of men and stole their money. The men reported it, and the deputy was...

• Florida No-Fault: Pros and Cons

  Staff Writer | June 12, 2007 2:45 PM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  The Legislature decides October 1st, 2007 if the personal injury protection (PIP) part of the Florida no-fault auto insurance law will "sunset" after being in use for 36 years. If PIP is not renewed, drivers will no longer be required to buy the minimum $10,000 coverage for PIP and will be able to bring law suits against other drivers in auto accidents. The proponents of getting rid of PIP,...

• The Myth of Frivolous Lawsuits

  Staff Writer | June 06, 2007 12:56 PM | 1 CommentTampa Bay, FL

  Frivolous litigation is a legal defense exercised when a plaintiff is trying to assert a claim that is legally baseless, without merit, and full of unsupported assertions. The goal of a frivolous lawsuit is to obstruct the adjudication of proceedings with no real colorable claims of law, forcing defendants to come up with legal reasoning to refute meritless claims. The definition of...

• The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is Lying to You

  Staff Writer | June 06, 2007 11:41 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  "Lawsuit abuse is costing your family $3500 per year" - this is the premise of ads from the US Chamber of Commerce being run on national cable stations. Well, the Chamber is basing their numbers on a Towers-Perrin Tillinghast analysis that examines the cost of ALL lawsuits, not just "abusive" ones. Is it the Chamber's job to decide what "lawsuit abuse" is anyway?Even the author of the study...

• Judge Decreases Demands in Infamous Dry Cleaning Lawsuit

  Staff Writer | June 06, 2007 11:31 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  By now, the entire personal injury world is well aware of the infamous dry cleaning pants lawsuit. Things took an ugly turn last week when Judge Roy L. Pearson finally lowered his demand........to $54 million! Judge Pearson's lawsuit has put a black eye on the personal injury profession and knocked down a wall of defense that respectable trial attorneys and organizations such as InjuryBoard and...

• Tort Reform - An Owner's Manual

  Staff Writer | June 06, 2007 11:26 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  Tort liability evolved as a generalization of specific types of injuries, some of which occur outside the context of economic activity. The U.S. tort system is designed to reduce the number of injuries by providing incentives to exercise the appropriate standard of care. Tort law's diverse origins are reflected by and large in a heterogeneous body of state case law. Given that the origins of...

• What it Means to be an Ambulance Chaser

  Staff Writer | June 06, 2007 10:57 AM | 0 CommentsTampa Bay, FL

  The days of society branding personal injury lawyers as simply "ambulance chasers" is over.....at least it should be. The fact is that personal injury lawyers are helping more victims today than ever before. Tort reform has brought the profession into the national spotlight, allowing the country to see that so-called "ambulance chasers" are actually activists for victims' rights.Personal...