Real Property and Business Litigation Report

Volume V, Issue 22

June 9, 2012

Manuel Farach

Bill Kasper Const. Co., Inc. v. Morrison, — So.3d —-, 2012 WL 2051149 (Fla. 5th DCA 2012).

Disagreeing with its own prior precedent, the Fifth District denies certiorari and holds that late added expert witnesses may be stricken because error, if any, can be remedied on plenary appeal.

Shands Teaching Hosp, and Clinics, Inc. v. Mercury Ins. Co. of Florida, — So.3d —-, 2012 WL 2035832 (Fla. 2012).

Special Law of Florida which permits hospital to create a recordable lien for debts is unconstitutional as violative of Fla. Const. Art. III, Sec. 11 (a) (9) (“There shall be no special law or general law of local application pertaining to: . . . . creation, enforcement, extension or impairment of liens based on private contracts, or fixing of interest rates on private contracts.”)

Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. v. Pavone, — So.3d —-, 2012 WL 2012069 (Fla. 3d DCA 2012).

Juror failing to disclose involvement in his own personal injury case on juror questionnaire and during voir dire invalidates jury award.

Schwartz v. Bloch, — So.3d —-, 2012 WL 2012321 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012).

Independent expert witness testimony is not necessary to corroborate a claim for attorneys’ fees under the Wrongful Act Doctrine (attorneys’ fees may be recovered as an element of damages where “the wrongful act of the defendant has involved the claimant in litigation with others, and has placed the claimant in such relation with others as makes it necessary to incur expenses to protect its interests”).

Martinec v. Early Bird Intern., Inc., — So.3d —-, 2012 WL 2012558 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012).

The Fourth District grants rehearing of its earlier opinion found at 2012 WL 716073 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012) and re-affirms that origination of one or more mortgages within a twelve-month person subjects the originator to the Truth In Lending Act (T.I.L.A.), notwithstanding that the originator is not a traditional lender.

Kaner v. Robert R. Schiffman, D.C., P.C., — So.3d —-, 2012 WL 2013453 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012).

Trial court must rule on pending motions for treble damages and class certification under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, 47 U.S.C. § 227, before granting defendant’s Motion to Enter Consent Judgment under the Act.

Jaffer v. Chase Home Finance LLC, — So.3d —-, 2012 WL 2013725 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012).

Foreclosure sale properly cancelled and summary judgment properly vacated on plaintiff supplied information that affidavits in support thereof may have been improper.

State, Dept. of Transp. v. Florida Gas Transmission Co., — So.3d —-, 2012 WL 2014755 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012).

An easement is a real property right that is compensable in condemnation proceedings. An easement’s characteristics (width, boundaries, etc.) are determined by the intent of the parties at the time of granting the easement, not by present day standards and procedures.

Armour v. City of Indianapolis, Ind., — S.Ct. —-, 2012 WL 1969350 (2012).

City had rational basis for distinction between resident who had already paid for project costs and those who had not, thus there was no Equal Protection Clause violation by City forgiving the obligation of some residents to pay for costs.

Acosta v. James A. Gustino, P.A., Slip Copy, 2012 WL 2017337 (11^th Cir. 2012).

State foreclosure action against defendant and defendant’s federal lawsuit against the attorney’s prosecuting the state foreclosure action are not so substantially similar as to invoke the Colorado River Abstention Doctrine pending the outcome of the state proceedings.