Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeal considered the question whether, under the Fourth Amendment, the State of Florida could search the cellphone of a man on probation for child abuse convictions (and who was a registered sex offender) when there was no warrant or reasonable suspicion. The court, in Florida …

In the song, “Hello,” Adele sings as a jilted lover, calling “a thousand times… to tell you I’m sorry.” It became a hit song in 2015. Contrast that with the facts of U.S. v. Hobgood, out of the Eighth Circuit, where the defendant had a brief romantic relationship with “KB,” …

The case of New Prime, Inc. v. Oliveira is the second arbitration / delegable / arbitrability question which the U.S. Supreme Court decided in a week. This case may have limited application to disputes involving transportation workers however it is worth discussing to ensure a clear understanding the delegation of …

Justice Kavanaugh issued his first Supreme Court opinion (unanimous) which helped streamline enforcement of arbitration AND provided contract-drafting lawyers some model arbitration language (which, as we’ll see, still needs some work). The question before the Court was whether a trial court could still decide the threshold question of “arbitrability” — …

Florida courts have long determined that the “offer of judgment” statute, Florida Statute 768.79, and the corresponding “proposal for settlement rule, Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.442, should be strictly construed. The problem, however, is that the “strict compliance” approach opened a pandora’s box of litigation by losing parties who …

When drafting an arbitration agreement, a party often may want the matter to be heard by a professional arbitration panel, such as AAA or JAMS. However, from time-to-time, some of these groups have declined to hear matters governed by pre-incident arbitration waivers in consumer agreements. How do you write a …

Florida cases involving disputes over the enforcement of arbitration most frequently arise out of auto sales or long term care facility contracts.  These three cases from late November 2018 fit the bill.  The topics are: waiver of the right to arbitration, parties to the agreement, and severance clauses.  Shamelessly, one …

Have you checked your LinkedIn privacy settings? Don’t be fooled with a “I barely even used LinkedIn” attitude. Take 2 minutes. From the article below, here are the key steps: [easier if you have two screens, keep this open and then open your LinkedIn account on your second screen] 1. …

According to a new case from the First District, yes.  But be careful relying too heavily on this case of first impression, which may go a little too far without enough authorities. While this is a construction case, these issues apply to ALL business contracts. The case is Keystone Airpark …

The Florida Supreme Court resolved a conflict between two intermediate appellate courts when it determined that a judge-lawyer “Facebook friend” relationship, alone, was not enough to warrant recusal of the judge.  The Court deemed its position was the majority position around the country.  However, four justices noted that caution, if …

It’s not often that banking cases are “fascinating,” but the facts underlying Pablo Antoniazzi v. Hamed Wardak certainly are interesting.  More importantly, the Third District provides some guidance to lawyers writing and seeking to enforce (or avoid) a mandatory forum selection clause. First let’s discuss the points of law in the …

Special thanks to the Palm Beach Bar Association for inviting me to speak at the CLE, “How to Get Your Claim Move-In Ready for Trial.” Space is still available and you can sign up here. My small portion of the event was to discuss Florida social media discovery as well …

A federal court in Florida has ruled that the “personal injury” provisions of a Travelers / St. Paul commercial general liability (CGL) policy does not cover a data breach caused by third party hackers.  The court left unresolved the question whether the “property damage” or the costs of compliance with …

Google’s arbitration and class action waiver provisions in their AdWords agreement provides some lessons for lawyers who draft contracts, particularly ones accepted online and updated via notice, as well as lawyers who litigate over enforcement of arbitration.  The recent case of Mark Trudeau and Troy Martial Arts, Inc. v. Google …

Special thanks to ASIS International (Broward County, Florida chapter) for inviting me to speak to them about data breach and cyber security litigation. You can review my powerpoint, here, which explains data breaches in general and then discusses how claims / litigation arises.  Most importantly, we discussed how companies can …