May 05 2012
Read Attorney General Bondi’s Weekly Brief
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Article source: http://www.myfloridalegal.com/newsrel.nsf/newsreleases/E0D0BB8F05882FDD852579F3005D21E3
May 04 2012
MIAMI |
MIAMI (Reuters) – Chevron Corp went to federal court in Miami on Friday seeking to force an Ecuadorean bank to release records of alleged bribes the company says were paid to an independent expert in a multi-billion dollar environmental lawsuit against the oil company.
The company is seeking records of eight bank accounts at the Banco Pichincha, an Ecuadorean bank with a branch in Miami that Chevron says was a conduit for $360,000 in “illicit payments” to the independent expert, Richard Cabrera.
Cabrera was appointed by a court in Ecuador to examine oil exploration pits environmental groups say caused massive pollution to the surrounding rain forest and sickened indigenous residents. Chevron was sentenced by a court in Ecuador to pay $18 billion for environmental damages.
“What we are seeking is a little sunshine,” Andrea Neuman, a lawyer for Chevron told U.S. District Court Judge William Turnoff. “We need to know what this money was used for.”
Chevron alleges that recent court-ordered discovery of documents have
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Article source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/05/us-usa-lawsuit-chevron-idUSBRE84401A20120505
May 04 2012
An electronic digest of media coverage of interest to members of The Florida Bar compiled each workday by the Public Information and Bar Services Department. Electronic links are only active in today’s edition. For information on previous articles, please contact the publishing newspaper directly.
May 3, 2012
STATE CLERK’S OFFICES WARN OF BACKLOG FROM BUDGET CUTS– The Gainesville Sun, http://www.gaineville.com, May 3, 2012.
Court clerks statewide are preparing for budget reductions as they try to work with legislators to prevent an approximately $30 million budget cut to clerks’ offices throughout Florida. Clerks have been meeting with the leadership of the court system to speak about court priorities and the consequences of a budget cut, said Karen Rushing, the Sarasota County clerk of the court and legislative chair of the statewide clerks association. The cut comes to an approximately 7 percent loss for each of the court clerks’ budgets. At the same time, efforts are continuing to get legislators to halt a budget reduction that clerks say could cause a backlog with cases involving foreclosures, wills and divorces and force some clerks’ offices to institute a hiring freeze and cut their existing staff. Gov. Rick Scott
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Article source: http://www.floridabar.org/DIVCOM/PI/PINewsSummary.nsf/FV/54D76255C3B055C1852579F300505DE8
May 04 2012
Wondering how cheating could affect your divorce case? Here’s what you need to know, from Katherine Eisold Miller, a collaborative lawyer and family mediator. Have questions? Ask in the comments.
Marriages can end when one member of the couple discovers that the other has had an adulterous relationship. How important is the impact of the extra-marital relationship on the divorce itself? Legally, the answer varies from state to state. In some states, there is very little impact at all while, in others, it can have a substantial influence on the outcome.
Historically, there was a much higher correspondence between adultery and divorce then there is today. Adultery by a woman was often viewed more seriously and punished more harshly than if committed by a man. This remains the case in some countries today, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, where an adulterous wife could face a violent death. In the United States, adultery remains a crime in some states but is rarely prosecuted.
These days, adultery rarely has much of an impact on the distribution of assets — except
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Article source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/03/divorce-questions-adultery_n_1471111.html
May 03 2012
An electronic digest of media coverage of interest to members of The Florida Bar compiled each workday by the Public Information and Bar Services Department. Electronic links are only active in today’s edition. For information on previous articles, please contact the publishing newspaper directly.
May 2, 2012
FLORIDA BAR LAUNCHES VOTER EDUCATION CAMPAIGN ON MERIT RETENTION– The Miami Herald, http://www.miamiherald.com, May 1, 2012. [Also: WITH JUSTICES UNDER FIRE, FLORIDA BAR LAUNCHES VOTER CAMPAIGN ON MERIT RETENTION-- The Palm Beach Post, http://www.palmbeachpost.com, May 1, 2012; FLORIDA BAR OUT TO EDUCATE VOTERS ON JUDICIAL MERIT RETENTION-- Sunshine State News, http://www.sunshinestatenews.com, May 1, 2012; FLORIDA BAR: 90-PERCENT OF CITIZENS UNAWARE THEY HAVE A VOTE ON WHETHER JUDGES STAY-- WFSU, http://www.wfsu.org, May 1, 2012; THE VOTE'S IN YOUR COURT-- First Coast News, http://www.firstcoastnews.com, May 1, 2012].
When Florida voters go to the polls this November to pick a president, they’ll also be asked to decide on races that will get much less fanfare: whether to retain three Florida Supreme Court justices and 15 appellate court justices in various regions of the
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Article source: http://www.floridabar.org/DIVCOM/PI/PINewsSummary.nsf/FV/93DF9370510161D4852579F2004FE1A8
May 03 2012
BY KIM JANSSEN
Staff Reporter
kjanssen@suntimes.com
May 1, 2012 11:52PM
Updated: May 2, 2012 2:23AM
A Will County divorce court judge was reassigned following revelations in the Chicago Sun-Times that his county computer account was repeatedly used in an attempt to view hardcore pornography.
Associate Judge Joseph Polito, 69, was given new
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Article source: http://www.suntimes.com/12255654-418/will-county-divorce-court-judge-reassigned-after-porn-story.html
May 03 2012
Print Version
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. –Attorney General Pam Bondi today announced that three defendants pleaded guilty to racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering for mortgage fraud related crimes. Craig Hudson, 40, Lynne Hudson, 35, and Eric Rivero, 39, all residents of Tampa, will be sentenced at a later date for the mortgage fraud scam that involved more than 50 fraudulent mortgages totaling $8.8 million. Craig Hudson faces a maximum sentence of 12 years prison and Lynne Hudson and Eric Rivero each face a maximum sentence of 4 years prison. As part of their plea agreements, the Hudson’s and Rivero will cooperate with authorities in the cases pending against their co-defendants William Bolton and Stephanie Bolton.
“Mortgage fraud directly affects the lending industry and exacerbates Florida’s housing market crisis,” stated Attorney General Pam Bondi. “This case exemplifies our commitment to working together with state and local agencies to stop mortgage fraud in our state,” stated Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The subjects were part of a group that prepared and submitted fraudulent residential mortgage loan applications and associated documents to residential mortgage loan lenders. Ultimately, the lenders approved the residential loan applications and funded mortgage loan applications totaling
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Article source: http://www.myfloridalegal.com/newsrel.nsf/newsreleases/AE681EA046175796852579F20073ABCC
May 02 2012
An electronic digest of media coverage of interest to members of The Florida Bar compiled each workday by the Public Information and Bar Services Department. Electronic links are only active in today’s edition. For information on previous articles, please contact the publishing newspaper directly.
May 1, 2012
FLORIDA BAR, ALLIES UNVEIL VOTER ED CAMPAIGN– News Service of Florida, http://www.newsserviceflorida.com, April 30, 2012. [Also: FLORIDA BAR PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE-- The Florida Bar, http://www.floridabar.org, April 1, 2012; FLORIDA BAR ANNOUNCES MERIT RETENTION EDUCATION PUSH-- The Tampa Tribune, http://www.tbo.com, May 1, 2012].
The Florida Bar, the National Bar Association and the League of Women Voters of Florida on Monday unveiled “The Vote’s in Your Court,” a campaign designed to educate voters about judicial merit-retention elections. The effort comes ahead of what is expected to be hard-fought retention campaigns for Supreme Court Justices Fred Lewis, Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince, who face criticism from conservatives as the core of the court’s liberal majority. Former Gov. Reubin Askew, who pushed for the merit retention system while in office, said Monday [April 30] the system has served the state well. “As
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Article source: http://www.floridabar.org/DIVCOM/PI/PINewsSummary.nsf/FV/41ACEB259CD3D899852579F1004E6B13
May 02 2012
Photo credit: Wikipedia
A few weeks ago, New York’s highest court unanimously confirmed what I’ve been telling my clients for years:
There are no do-overs in divorce.
The court’s decision stemmed from controversy surrounding the divorce of Steven Simkin and Laura Blank, a case that The New York Times described as “one of the most unusual lawsuits resulting from the Madoff fraud — and one that riveted the matrimonial bar.”
What made this lawsuit so remarkable? Well, for starters, Simkin is a partner at one of the country’s most prominent and powerful law firms, and the division of property in this divorce involved millions of dollars of assets. But even so, the Simkin-Blank divorce was settled uneventfully back in 2006, and it’s likely it would have stayed out of the headlines, if not for one thing:
Simkin requested a do-over.
Why did he do that? Well, he requested a do-over because as part of the divorce settlement, the couple split a fortune in excess of $13 million, of which $5.4 million was invested with Bernard Madoff. After the divorce, Simkin continued to keep a
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Article source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jefflanders/2012/05/01/divorce-is-final-no-do-overs-allowed/?feed=rss_home
May 01 2012
An electronic digest of media coverage of interest to members of The Florida Bar compiled each workday by the Public Information and Bar Services Department. Electronic links are only active in today’s edition. For information on previous articles, please contact the publishing newspaper directly.
April 30, 2012
BUMPY ROAD TO RETENTION FOR FLORIDA SUPREME COURT JUSTICES– The Palm Beach Post, http://www.palmbeachpost.com, April 29, 2012. [Also: GET READY FOR 'MERIT RETENTION' FIGHT-- Orlando Sentinel, http://www.orlandosentinel.com, April 28, 2012].
From The Palm Beach Post: With three Florida Supreme Court justices already raising $500,000 and drawing heat for a near-fatal ballot snafu, this year’s normally quiet merit retention contest already is sparking fireworks. Plenty more may be coming. An organization is targeting Justices Fred Lewis, Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince. Critics say the justices represent a left-leaning bloc that has turned Florida’s court into one of the nation’s most activist judiciaries. The justices are defending themselves, raising an unprecedented level of campaign cash for what could prove to be Florida’s first hard-hitting Supreme Court campaign. Additionally, The Florida Bar plans to announce today that it will lead a months-long campaign educating
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Article source: http://www.floridabar.org/DIVCOM/PI/PINewsSummary.nsf/FV/590013246CFDB0B7852579F0004C9375
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