Fort Myers, FL civil rights lawyer represented Plaintiff who sued Defendant on a Family Medical Leave Act violation theory.

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year. It also requires that their group health benefits be maintained during the leave.

FMLA is designed to help employees balance their... More...    $0 (07-21-2023 - FL)

Orlando, Florida criminal defense lawyer represented Defendant charged with failing to register as a sex offender as required by 18 U.S.C. 2250(a).


Defendant Robert Powers is a 43 year-old man with an IQ of 68 and a second-grade reading level. In 1995 he was convicted under South Carolina law of "Assault to Commit Sex Crimes". (Doc. 6 at 1). In compliance with South Carolina law, Mr.... More...    $0 (04-18-2008 - FL)

The City of Pensacola, Florida appeals a district court decision ordering it to remove a 34-foot Latin cross from a public park on the ground that the City’s maintenance of the cross violates the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. Having concluded that we are bound by existing Circuit precedent, we find ourselves constrained to affirm.
I
The pertinent facts are undisputed. In 1941, th... More...    $0 (09-12-2018 - FL)

Edroy James Ballard Jr. was shot and killed on June 3, 2014, in Horn Lake, Mississippi. A DeSoto County grand jury charged Lofton with Ballard’s murder. Lofton was deemed indigent, and Adam Emerson was appointed to represent him. Several months later, Emerson filed a motion to reconsider Lofton’s indigent status. Emerson informed the trial court that Lofton had refused to meet with him and wi... More...    $0 (07-15-2018 - FL)

Appellant admitted in his recorded pre-trial confession, and at trial, that he was aware that the victim had been sexually abused previously by two separate men including her biological father, giving rise to legal proceedings culminating in her adoption into Appellant’s family. The victim testified that after Appellant and his wife adopted her, Appellant raped her two or three times a week for ov... More...    $0 (07-14-2018 - FL)

Budry Michel was charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery, armed
kidnapping, and attempted armed robbery in the shooting death of Lynette Grames
and robbery of Adnan Shafi Dada. The crimes occurred in 1991 when Michel was
sixteen years old. After a jury convicted him of first-degree premeditated murder
and armed robbery, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with the p... More...    $0 (07-14-2018 - FL)

The evidence taken in the light most favorable to the judgment reflects the following. Born in South Korea, Ms. Chang moved to the United States in 1999. Her sister, Sook Chang, was married to Mr. Kim and lived in Tampa. Mr. Kim and Sook Chang had a grocery store on Hillsborough Avenue. Ms. Chang and her son moved in with Mr. Kim and Sook Chang, and Ms. Chang worked at the store. Mr. Kim and ... More...    $0 (06-27-2018 - FL)

One evening in February of 2016, Mr. Martin and his girlfriend, Kathryn Lawson, went out for a night on the town that ended in an altercation in a McDonald's parking lot over who should drive to their next destination. According to Ms. Lawson, Mr. Martin punched her twice in the face after she refused to get into the vehicle. According to Mr. Martin, it was he who refused to get in the car, whic... More...    $0 (05-04-2018 - FL)

The City entered into a contract with American Traffic Solutions, Inc. (“the
Vendor”) to service the City’s red light camera enforcement program. Jimenez,
211 So. 3d at 159. The contract states in pertinent part:
Vendor shall act as City’s agent for the limited purpose of making an initial determination of whether the recorded images should be forwarded to an Authorized Employee t... More...    $0 (05-04-2018 - FL)

This appeal presents the issue whether warrantless forensic searches of two cell phones at the border violated the Fourth Amendment. U.S. Const. amend IV. Hernando Javier Vergara appeals the denial of his motion to suppress evidence found on two cell phones that he carried on a cruise from Cozumel, Mexico to Tampa, Florida. He argues that the recent decision of the Supreme Court in Riley v. Califo... More...    $0 (03-21-2018 - FL)

This Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”) case comes before this Court after a twelve-year battle by two sets of parents on behalf of their children to receive the specific therapy they believed their children deserved. Beginning in 2005, Appellant L.M.P., a mother of triplets acting individually and on her children’s behalf, sought the aid of the courts to force Appellee School Bo... More...    $0 (01-21-2018 - FL)

In this common-law trademark case, Thomas McClary appeals from an order granting judgment as a matter of law to Commodores Entertainment Corporation (CEC) and converting a preliminary injunction into a permanent one against McClary and his corporation, Fifth Avenue Entertainment, LLC. The dispute concerned ownership of the mark “The Commodores,” the name of a famous Grammy Award–winning rhythm and... More...    $0 (01-09-2018 - FL)

Fort Lauderdale, FL - Jury Convicts Woman of Murder But Fails to Agree On Death Penalty

The State of Florida charged Jacqueline Marie Luongo with capital murder for handcuffing and killing Patricia Viveiros, age 68, by rapping her head in duct tape suffocating her.

Charges:

09/27/2014 1 (F1) Criminal Attempt 1st Deg Felon
Date Filed: 05/24/2016
Current Statute: ... More...    $0 (11-04-2017 - FL)

The City of Cooper City appeals the court’s final judgment in favor of the Plaintiffs, a class of citizens challenging the city’s special assessment. The court found the special assessment void and, therefore, found its twenty-day deadline to challenge it inapplicable. We disagree. The Plaintiffs limited their challenge to Cooper City’s apportionment of the special assessment and the improper appo... More...    $0 (10-02-2017 - FL)

This case involves an area of law – regarding how advances in reproductive
technology impact the definition of the modern family – which is struggling to
catch up with and reflect the rapid changes taking place in society. In this case, a
same-sex couple arranged to have a child together. When the couple separated, the
birth mother blocked all contact between the child and the form... More...    $0 (08-16-2017 - FL)

Early one morning, a convenience store was robbed. One man first cased the store to see who was present. After he left, two men, masked and armed, entered. Inside, the two masked men shot and killed two customers, shot at but missed two employees, and stole money from the register. When the two men returned to their vehicle, they drove away.

During law enforcement’s investigation o... More...    $0 (07-06-2017 - FL)

This Petition for Writ of Prohibition is a sequel to a series of pleadings filed by Clifton Cornelius invoking his right to a speedy trial and seeking discharge from the criminal charges pending against him.1 Although Cornelius, like other criminal
1 A writ of prohibition is an appropriate remedy to address alleged speedy trial violations. See She... More...    $0 (07-06-2017 - FL)

STATEMENT OF FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
The Events at Headley Insurance
The evidence introduced at Davis’s trial revealed the following. Around
3 p.m. on December 13, 2007, Davis entered the Lake Wales location of the
Headley Insurance Agency (Headley) with the intent to commit robbery. Davis
was armed with a loaded .357 magnum revolver and equipped with duct tape, a <... More...    $0 (11-21-2016 - FL)

Byron Damon Lavender appeals his judgment and sentence for burglary of a dwelling with assault. We affirm his judgment without further comment. We also affirm his sentence,1 but we write to address his challenge to the imposition of two special conditions of probation for which the State conceded error. Special condition 17 required Lavender to maintain an hourly accounting of all of his activ... More...    $0 (11-07-2016 - FL)

Appellant was indicted along with several co-defendants on allegations 1 We deny the State’s motion to certify questions of great public importance. 2 that he was a member of the “Top 6” gang, a violent criminal enterprise operating in Palm Beach County. Appellant initially cooperated with the authorities in hopes of securing a plea agreement. The record reveals that two plea agreements w... More...    $0 (10-29-2016 - FL)

Appellant, Tiffany Plaza Condominium Association, Inc., defendant below, is an association organized pursuant to chapter 711, Florida Statutes (1974 Supp.), and the Declaration of Condominium of Tiffany Plaza Condominiums entered into in July 1975. Tiffany Plaza Condominium is a forty-two unit residential condominium located at Longboat Key, Florida. Appellees, plaintiffs below, are the individual... More...    $0 (05-26-1982 - FL)

In this appeal, Martice Spears appeals his criminal convictions and sentences in two unrelated cases, CF13-3400 (possession of a firearm by a convicted felon) and CF14-0275 (grand theft). The trial court sentenced Spears to twelve years' imprisonment for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in CF13-3400, to run consecutively with the already imposed five-year sentence in CF14-0275. We va... More...    $0 (08-29-2016 - FL)

The central issue in this case is whether the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury on manslaughter as a category one lesser included offense of second-degree felony murder. We hold that, at the time of trial, the law in this district supported the trial judge’s decision not to give the instruction. Appellant Christopher Dean was found guilty of burglary and seconddegree felony murde... More...    $0 (05-18-2016 - FL)

Appellant was convicted of carjacking with a firearm (count 1), attempted
second degree murder (count 2), and attempted armed robbery (count 3). He was
originally sentenced to 20 years in prison with a minimum mandatory of 10 years
as to count 1, life in prison with a minimum mandatory of 25 years as to count 2,
and 25 years with a minimum mandatory of 25 years as to count 3. ... More...    $0 (04-25-2016 - FL)

The defendant is a former corrections deputy who was convicted of official misconduct, culpable negligence, and accessory after the fact. The convictions arose out of allegations that an inmate was allowed to leave his cell and attack another inmate, and that the defendant and her coworker falsified records in a failed attempt to cover up the incident. A key piece of evidence leading to the defe... More...    $0 (04-08-2016 - FL)

Lake claims that his annual review trial, a civil proceeding, should be closed because the Treatment Progress Report from the commitment facility, which is confidential pursuant to section 394.921, Florida Statutes (2015), will necessarily be discussed at the hearing. Lake cannot overcome the strong presumption of openness in civil proceedings and the public policy set forth section 394.921 does ... More...    $0 (04-01-2016 - FL)