Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Brendan FarringtonSeptember 13, 2016

Florida Supreme Court Justice James Perry announced Monday he is stepping down Dec. 30, which will give Gov. Rick Scott his first opportunity to begin reshaping a court that has frustrated Republicans on issues ranging from political maps to protecting doctors from lawsuits. Perry, 72, is forced to leave the court because he’s reached the […]

Jim RosicaSeptember 12, 2016

James E.C. Perry, a justice of the Florida Supreme Court, says he will retire this Dec. 30. Perry, who joined the court in March 2009, announced his retirement in a letter to Gov. Rick Scott, released Monday morning. (Click here to read the letter, which is at the end of the press release.) The vacancy now […]

Brendan FarringtonSeptember 9, 2016

The Florida Supreme Court reduced the sentence of a death row inmate Thursday after the U.S. Supreme Court ordered it to reconsider his intellectual abilities based on factors other than his IQ. Freddie Lee Hall, 71, will now serve a life sentence for the 1978 murder of a 21-year-old pregnant woman who was abducted while […]

Jim RosicaAugust 25, 2016

The Florida Supreme Court Thursday ruled the husband of a Venice woman who committed suicide can sue her doctor for medical malpractice. The court sent the case back “with instructions to proceed to trial.” Robert Granicz had sued Dr. Joseph S. Chirillo Jr. after his wife, Jacqueline Granicz, hung herself in the couple’s garage in October 2008, according to […]

Staff ReportsAugust 25, 2016

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Two Florida lawyers accused of orchestrating the arrest of a rival attorney have been permanently disbarred by the state’s Supreme Court. The court on Thursday, in its first release of opinions after the 2016 summer recess, unanimously agreed with a referee’s earlier recommendation on Robert Adams and Adam Filthaut of Tampa. A third attorney involved, Stephen […]

Michael MolineAugust 16, 2016

Trial attorneys mounted an ardent defense Tuesday of Florida Supreme Court rulings blamed by business interests for threatening an increase in workers’ compensation insurance premiums of nearly 20 percent. Mark Touby, a Coral Gables attorney who helped persuade the justices to eliminate a limit on attorney fees in workers’ compensation cases, insisted during a public […]

Michael MolineAugust 16, 2016

A leading open-government advocate offered strong support Monday for a legal challenge to a proposed workers’ compensation insurance premium increase of nearly 20 percent. “I think he’s got a cause of action,” First Amendment Foundation President Barbara Peterson said of Miami attorney James Fee, who is challenging the rate hike on open-government grounds. Fee filed suit in Miami-Dade […]

Michael MolineAugust 15, 2016

An insurance industry council moved Monday to block a legal challenge to proposed workers’ compensation premium increases of nearly 20 percent, warning that delay would threaten the solvency of Florida’s system for compensating injured workers. The state Office of Insurance Regulation is scheduled to take up the rate hike Tuesday morning in Tallahassee. Delay, the […]

Jim RosicaAugust 2, 2016

In a Stand Your Ground-related case, an appeals court has affirmed a Jacksonville man’s conviction and life sentence — after previously reversing it. A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal on Tuesday unanimously upheld the punishment for John Swearingden, 48. Swearingden was convicted of second-degree murder in the stabbing of another man during a fight in […]

A.G. GancarskiJuly 27, 2016

The case of Carol Scott, et al v. Mike Hogan, et al — better known as the “sham candidate” case in Florida’s 4th Circuit state attorney race — has been requested to be added to the Florida Supreme Court docket by the lawyers for Carol Scott’s side. The plaintiff’s lawyers are invoking the discretionary jurisdiction of the court, which […]

Tag: Florida Supreme Court

Rick Scott to get first state Supreme Court pick

James E.C. Perry announces retirement from Supreme Court

Death to life: Florida reduces disabled murderer’s sentence

Supreme Court allows lawsuit against doctor for patient’s suicide

‘Love Sponge’ lawyers permanently stripped of law licenses

Attorneys defend Florida Supreme Court decision on workers’ comp rate increase

Open government activists back legal challenge to worker’s comp rate increase

Insurance Council counters challenge to big workers’ comp rate hike

Court affirms Jax ‘Stand Your Ground’ conviction

4th Circuit State Attorney race ‘sham candidate’ case put up for Supreme Court consideration