Pacer Surfing With SFL!

Hi kids, in a continuing effort to bore me to tears, I have reviewed some recent civil case filings in our dainty little district, and found one that is mildly interesting.

Indeed, the pretrial conference is set before Judge Ungaro at 11:30 this morning. Good luck Bob Ader and Richard Tuschman.

The case is a FLSA denial of overtime compensation case involving drivers of shuttles for students at UM, FIU, and Barry University. Judge Ungaro recently denied Richard's second motion for summary judgment, thus clearing the path to trial (although back in July of 2008 the Court granted an earlier summary judgment motion that disposed of most of the claims).

At issue at the pretrial this morning is plaintiff's motion for clarification, which will affect how large a pool of drivers remain for the trial, for which the calendar call is July 1 (a great time to be having a trial, right?).

The issue is an esoteric one -- which standard did the Court adopt for determining whether the drivers are exempt under the motor carrier exception -- but the briefs on both sides are uniformly excellent.

While we wait for the results (let us know, Richard!), enjoy this polite and civil exchange between Christian Bale and Bill O'Reilly.

3d DCA Watch -- Melanie Damian Still Rules Our World.

Oy, let us begin our review of the written utterances of those resplendently robed, coffee-swilling judges who must impose their judgments upon us, yes those too-cool-for-school-mensches (hi all clerks who read the blog!!) who labor in the concrete bunker by that beautiful ribbon of highway, yes it is time to examine the exciting, spiritual, almost zeit-geist opinions of our favorite, dreaded Overlords:

United Auto v. Millennium Diagnostic:

Listen, everyone in town knows that lawyers make a lot of money suing and defending United Auto claims. Judges spend a lot of time on these claims too! And they don't make any more money from doing so.

Poor county court judges, thank you for your service.

Lorillard v. French:

Can you believe we are still dealing with the aftermath of the flight attendant suits? Back then Clinton was President, Jeb was Governor and we all made a lot of money!

Here, Judge Salter in an opinion dealing with prejudgment interest, lays it out pretty clearly:

In this case, the qualifying conditions occurred in 2002. The years of further pleadings and arguments about the validity, sufficiency, or good faith of the offer and offeror did not result in any finding of “disentitlement” or “disapproval.” If trial courts defer the accrual date for prejudgment interest until the date any issues pertaining to the validity or good faith of the offer are determined, that will incent the offerees/obligors to delay the day of resolution. Such a result is clearly contrary to both the spirit and the letter of the rule and the statute invoked in this case.

As always, we are pleased to see your intelligence and good judgment on the bench.

Axa Equitable v. Gelpi:

Oh oh. Two of my favorite persons, Richard Tuschman and Melanie Damian, are on opposite side of this appeal.

I like Melanie a lot more than Richard (sorry, dude). See, I should be a judge too!

Unfortunately, the 3d did not agree.

Thus, I can speak no more about this opinion.

That is all, folks!

New Epstein Becker Florida Employment Law Blog

I know there are a few dear readers who actually follow legal trends and whatnot, so for you obsessives (and you know who you are), there's a new, well-designed employment law blog from our Epstein Becker friends Richard D. Tuschman and Hector A. Chichoni.

Good luck gentlemen. Since you have big Mike and JPK looking over your shoulder, I know you will be circumspect and utterly professional on your blog. That's ok, you can cut loose and get all goofy here.