After his insanely demogogic "Obama's Mosque" ad, I thought Rick Scott had given up on the Constitution, First Amendment, hail on the Bill of Rights entirely.
Turns out I was wrong -- he likes adores the 5th Amendment.
I don't think even "adores" cuts it.
Seriously, the dude LOVES IT. And LOVES IT. And LOVES IT again the next morning.
Slavishly devoted?
Fifth Amendment automaton?
I'd like to answer, but upon advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer the question by asserting my rights and privileges under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
In another decision, the Supreme Court ruled to stop a suit intended to remove Amendments 5 and 6 from the ballot. A group of incumbent politicians tried to take a second bite of the apple by raising issues they could have raised earlier. The court’s decision soundly rejected the politicians’ challenge, thus reaffirming that the FairDistricts Amendments will be on the ballot this November. A YES vote on 5 & 6, will stop politicians from selecting their voters and put power back in the hands of the people.
Amendments 5 and 6 will: •Prohibit politicians from designing districts to favor themselves or their parties; •Require them to make the districts compact and community based; and •Make it impossible for legislators to draw districts to diminish the ability of minority voters to elect representatives.
The local "incumbent politician" is Mario Diaz-Balart, and the Florida Supreme Court opinion is here.
Justice Polston, who coincidentally will be in Miami next week to speak at a Federalist Society dinner, concurred in part and dissented in part.
Martin, 35 FLW 1876, 4th DCA, Alibi witnesses. Trial court abused its discretion in excluding defendant's two alibi witnesses under rule 3.200. The defense was not required to provide state with the alibi witnesses when the state did not comply with 3.200, written demand for notice of the alibi. The defense did not have to comply with 3.200 because they participated in discovery and thus were required to supply the state with defense witnesses under Rule 3.220(d)(1)(A). Trial court was required to conduct a Richardson hearing for this discovery violation, failed to do so. Not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. New Trial.
Walton, 35 FLW 1895, 2nd DCA, Where evidence established that all three occupants of the vehicle had been drinking and showed signs of impairment, and that vehicle ran a red light, collided with another vehicle, and caused serious injury to the occupant of the other vehicle, it is not necessary for the state to prove the identity of the driver to establish that DUI-SBI had occurred. An interesting corpus delicti discussion.
Everyone's favorite federal blogger has a few more days to prepare for trial, as Buju Banton's co-defendant asked for and received a short continuance from MD FL Judge Moody:
Trial is rescheduled to MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2010, at 9:00 a.m. at the U. S. Sam Gibbons Courthouse, 801 North Florida Avenue, Courtroom #13A, Tampa, Florida 33602.
The Court grants this continuance to allow Defendant Mack additional time to prepare for trial. The Court finds the ends of justice served by the continuance to allow the Defendant(s) more time to prepare outweighs the best interest of the public and the Defendant(s) in a speedy trial.
Initially, their trial was set to begin on March 3, but due to conflicting reports, the defence moved to start the trial on April 12. The court granted the motion and set the trial to begin on April 19. This was later shifted to June 21, and then to September 13.
The new trial date is just over one week before the scheduled release of Buju's latest album titled Before The Dawn.
The album will contain 10 tracks that comprise some of the more prophetic songs written by Buju since his entry into the music business more than 20 years ago.
Leesburg/Orlando civil practice attorney, George L. Metcalfe has entered the race for Congress to represent Central Florida's 8th Congressional District as an independent candidate.
Hey, I didn't know George was a Ransom grad and went to St. Thomas for law school!
And look at that -- George supports "One Man, One Woman" marriage (no more divorces, Newt!) and wants prayer in our schools.
I can agree with George on the last part -- pray kids, pray.
You let me down, bro. I was really starting to think we had something, you know, our Wednesday thang, but then you go and pull a disappearing act and it just ain't cool.
What am I supposed to think? How am I supposed to feel?
Sure you offered me a small lis pendens opinion, one anytwo-bit appellate clerk could draft, and you expect me to be satisfied? That I'm going to be ok with that?
Go back to your temperature-controlled bunker, we're through!
Here's what I think of your lis pendens, take it away Mike Allen:
lis pendens
I filed suit for your soul today. You felt the service in your bones. If by tonight you don't respond, Your spirit will become my own.
Who will stop the judgment nigh And represent you in your plight? The counsel who will face this court Cannot be hired in noonday light;
So summoned, come, quaking pro se And foolishly fight this complaint. The jury picked to hear your plea Will not be stricken of my taint.
No verdict cap or tort reform Will curb the cost this judge demands Once you've demurred and left your fate Unbalanced in his scaly hands.
I sued you for your soul this eve And placed a lien upon your bones; No matter how just your appeal, Your spirit will become my own.
Ok, that was little much.
Maybe I overreacted.
Let's just forget about the whole thing. We both said some things.....
A side note to the reader who found our humble blog through a Google search for "bra padding" -- we're flattered and hope you found what you are looking for.
On to this great John Dorshner article about Jackson Health System settling a lawsuit that was arbitrated before former Chief Judge Davis:
Under a court-ordered arbitration agreement, International Portfolio of West Conshohocken, Pa., is getting $310 million in billings that Jackson has never asked the patients to pay. Whatever money the company collects, it keeps. Jackson gets nothing. The arbitration agreement -- revealed recently to The Miami Herald -- settled a lawsuit filed by International Portfolio that alleged Jackson had reneged on a 2006 contract. Under the contract, the company paid Jackson $5.7 million to get $1.8 billion in billings that the health system had tried but been unable to collect on.
Coming on the heels of a grand jury report earlier this month that called Jackson ``a colossal mess,'' Sal Barbera, a former hospital administrator who teaches at Florida International University, found the new revelation ``unacceptable . . . an example of mismanagement on the part of Jackson. . . . I can only hope the taxpayers of Miami-Dade County are not paying for this due to the incompetence of Jackson.''
Barbera noted some uninsured patients could be extremely lucrative. Besides the poor who have no coverage, ``Jackson also attracts wealthy, self-pay international patients that are more than capable of paying their healthcare bills. . . . What about patients that come to Jackson for cosmetic surgery that is not covered by insurance?''
Ted Shaw, Jackson's interim chief financial officer since March, said hospitals frequently sell off old, uncollected bills, but giving away billings that a hospital has never tried to collect on was highly unusual. He said this was a bad deal that Jackson was stuck with because of actions before his time.
So who was the superstar who litigated this case against Jackson? That one's easy:
The company's Miami attorney, Joel Hirschhorn, told about criticism that the deal was bad for Jackson, responded: ``That means I did a good job.''
Indeed he did.
But who represented Jackson and possibly did the opposite of a "good job"?
