3d DCA Watch -- Special Tuesday Edition!

I know I know it's now Wednesday, but those sneaky coffee-swillers got together and decided to pull a fast one on us yesterday, knowing that nobody in their right mind pays any attention to the bunker except on hump day:

Sunbeam Television v. Clear Channel:

Hey, what do you know -- Judge Logue wrote an opinion!

BTW, his induction is set for October 26 at 3 p.m -- I'm sure everybody got the letter asking for sponsorships.  (I got naming rights to the broken Total Gym 3000!!)

Of course I kid -- we're actually happy about this choice and think he'll do a great job.

However, you can tell he's still new -- he didn't rule in favor of Laurie Waldman Ross.  How could that have happened?

Interesting legal issue, too -- how do you get appellate review on a motion to stay when the trial judge won't rule on the motion?

You apparently need to nudge the trial judge really hard:

Sunbeam asks us to rule on its stay request, based on the assertion that the stay request should be treated as denied because the trial court has not ruled on the request. Sunbeam asserts in the alternative that, because the trial court has yet to rule on its stay request, we should issue a writ of mandamus ordering the trial court to do so. We decline either alternative because the record reflects that Sunbeam still has avenues available to it to get this matter before the trial judge.1

Oh and here's footnote 1:

For example, Sunbeam could hire an actor to dress like Shakespeare and endlessly recite the motion out loud in an exaggerated acterly British accent during motion calendar.  Sunbeam could have Joe Matthews parachute over the courthouse and hand the judge a copy of the motion as he lands ever so gently on Judge Bailey's desk.  Sunbeam could surreptitiously rearrange the magnet letters on Judge Bailey's fridge to simply say "RULE NOW."

The third example brings up a terrific war story, though I've been enjoined from discussing it further until at least 2025.

3d DCA Watch -- I'm Only Sleeping Edition

Hi kids!

For once Tallahassee kept their grubby hands out of it and thus the carefully packaged written utterances have been released from the concrete bunker precisely on schedule, much like well-timed stink bombs at a high school assembly.

So let us not prevaricate, as it is notably apodictic that we are poised to decline the parties' invitation.

Oops -- I was channeling my favorite judge there for a moment.

How about we start by declaring Barbara Green the world's finest 3d DCA appellate lawyer -- just this week alone she is two for two.

Ok ok -- Lauri Waldman Ross won one today, too.

Do you ladies ever lose?

I have carefully reviewed this week's opinions for a whiff of anything remotely interesting, and have decided to translate them into the ancient language of Euskara so as to stay awake and find a way to finish this blog po........

ZZZZZ

Huh?

Right, as I was saying, you'll be surprised to learn that the 3d overruled the 11th Circuit sitting in its appellate capacity, which had affirmed a trial ruling against United Auto.

See what I mean?

Let's see if this is more interesting -- let me provide the core holding of the Carlton Fields malpractice case, except translated into Dutch (not all of you are Basque separatists):

Wij gaan met het proefhof akkoord. NAI de eisen van het procesmisdrijf zijn volledig verstoken van verdienste. Zoals het proef gevonden hof, en het omvangrijke verslag openbaren, waren beide firma's bewonderenswaardig gepresteerd tijdens de vertegenwoordiging van NAI, en resultaat van het federale proces gebaseerd, niet op het ontoereikende gedrag van de procureurs, maar op de mislukking van NAI en Estrin om een gebeëindigd contract te bereiken.

Now that I find mentally stimulating.

3d DCA Watch -- When Stars (Sleepily) Collide Edition

Hi kiddies, it's our first 3d DCA Watch of the New Year and boy am I excited! I am sure our resplendently robed coffee-swillers to the south have been very very busy, toiling in that cold concrete courthouse by the highway just so all of us good boy and girl lawyers have something to ponder, nod, roll our eyes and/or laugh about each Wednesday. So let's get right into it, shall we:

First off, we wish Judge Melvia B. Green a fond farewell and happy retirement. Thank you for your dedicated years of service and accomplishment. Here is a very nice tribute by the Florida Conference of District Court of Appeal Judges.

We do hope you will stay at least as active as "retired" Judge Schwartz (please, please, and pretty please!).

Let's see, anything else...

Breakstone v. Breakstone Homes:

Hey now. Jeff Crockett on one side, Laurie Waldman Ross on the other, Michael Olin, Manny Dobrinsky, with an opinion from Judge Salter. This is an A-List matchup.

Umm, no, sorry, the opinion is a dud. Shareholders had a broad arbitration agreement. One elects the buy/sell provision. Company then sues for breach of fiduciary duty:

The interpretive question in this case arises because the dispute between Breakstone Homes and Breakstone (Count X of the Breakstone Homes complaint in circuit court, and Count IX of the amended complaint) alleged that Breakstone had breached his fiduciary duties as a corporate director of Breakstone Homes. Relying on Seifert v. U.S. Home Corp., 750 So. 2d 633, 640 (Fla. 1999), Breakstone Homes argues that this is a tort claim “unrelated to the rights and obligations of the contract” and is therefore not an arbitrable issue. We disagree.

. . . .

The statutory breach of fiduciary duty claim in the Breakstone Homes complaint is related to the rights set forth in section 5.1(b) of the Agreement. That provision arguably anticipates that a director might engage in a competing enterprise, and in that event provides a remedy. . . . In short, the Breakstone Homes claims are significantly related to the rights and obligations in the Agreement, distinguishing this case from the analysis and result in Seifert.

Zzzzzz.

Anyone awake? No, me neither. Hail, this opinion even put Jeff Crockett asleep, and he won the case!

3d DCA Watch has been officially cancelled this week due to excessive boredom.

Come back, Melvia, come back!

Congratulations Laurie!!

Uber-appellate lawyer Laurie Waldman Ross has been appointed to the 3d DCA Judicial Nominating Commission.

Hey, whaddaya know, sometimes they do get things right!