Family Law

• Divorce
• Child Support
  Child support -- Modification -- Error to reduce child support obligation where obligor did not establish that a substantial change in circumstances had occurred.
• Child Custody and Visitation
  Paternity -- Child custody -- Child support -- Attorney's fees -- Trial court abused its discretion by failing to include in final judgment sufficient findings regarding father's net income and allowable deductions, basis for amount of child support and child support arrearages awarded, and findings regarding father's ability to pay -- Error to include attorney's fees award in final judgment without determining father's ability to pay
• Adoption
• Paternity
• Guardianship
  Dependent children -- Trial court abused discretion by denying non-offending father's motion for reunification and awarding permanent guardianship and placement with maternal grandparents -- Record does not support finding that father abandoned children or that father failed to complete case plan for which he was given no tasks -- Record does not support conclusion that transitional reunification with father would endanger health, safety, or well-being of children.
• Spousal Support
  Dissolution of marriage -- Alimony -- Modification -- Change in circumstances -- Improvement in former wife's financial position due to increased income -- Trial court's finding of no substantial change of circumstances is inconsistent with findings concerning former wife's income and expenses -- Remand for reconsideration

Criminal Law

• Criminal Defense
• Wrongful Death
  Wrongful death -- Product liability -- Tobacco -- Fraudulent concealment -- Conspiracy -- Engle progeny case -- Jury instructions -- Trial court did not reversibly err in giving concurring cause instruction on class membership, although the decedent's own negligence in failing to quit smoking was the only other alleged concurring cause -- Argument -- Comments by plaintiff's counsel during closing argument to the effect that defendant tobacco companies failed to take responsibility for their actions and comparing distribution of cigarettes to the distribution of heroin, although improper, were not preserved for review by contemporaneous objection and did not rise to level of fundamental error.

Business and Corporate Law

• Corporate Law
  Representative/Office manager/Paralegal. Coordinated all law office functions. Interviewed clients then drafted legal documents for bankruptcies, divorces, adoptions, immigration proceedings, wills, trusts, incorporations, ante-nuptial agreements, etc. Drafted pleadings, briefs and motions and represented clients in immigration proceedings.
• Limited Liability Companies
  Corporations -- Limited liability companies -- Action by plaintiff having minority ownership interests claiming unlawful denial of access to corporate books and records and unlawful denial of access to limited liability company records -- Corporation is not obligated to produce a corporate record that it does not have at the time the request is made, and is not required to prepare the requested record from documents that it might obtain from others -- Corporation is required to provide access to its existing records that would be used to prepare statement of cash flows, and trial court properly found that defendants provided such access.

Employment Law

• Workers Compensation
  Hernando and Citrus). Drafted legal documents such as contracts, subpoena objections and other pleadings for cases involving health, environmental, workers' compensation and labor and employment law.
• Employment Discrimination
  Civil rights -- Employment discrimination -- No error in dismissing action brought under Florida Civil Rights Act alleging employment discrimination based on pregnancy.
• Employment Contract
  Injunctions -- Contracts -- Employment -- Non-competition covenant -- Error to deny temporary injunction after finding restrictive covenants in employment agreement were enforceable and had been violated on ground that employer had failed to prove element of irreparable harm -- Findings triggered statutory presumption of irreparable injury and, accordingly, burden shifted to defendants to rebut presumption
• Non-compete Agreement
  Injunctions -- Contracts -- Employment -- Non-competition agreement -- Error to deny temporary injunction to enforce non-compete agreement on ground that non-compete period had run, mostly during the time it took to appeal an erroneous ruling on the interpretation of the non-compete clause -- Where there has been delay in entry of non-compete injunction enforceable under section 542.335(1)(c), party seeking to enforce the non-compete clause is entitled to receive full benefit of its bargain, which is the enforcement of the full non-compete period specified in the agreement between the parties -- Remand for determination whether company proved section 542.335's requirements or elements of temporary injunction.

Property Law

• Premises Liability
  Torts -- Rescue doctrine -- Action against rehabilitation hospital by plaintiff who was injured while assisting in the gait training of her mother in hospital when she threw herself from a position of safety in an attempt to cushion her mother's fall -- Under plaintiff's theories of liability of premises liability and physical therapy malpractice, duty and proximate cause cannot be established except by application of rescue doctrine -- Because rescue doctrine was not pled or argued to trial court, summary judgment for defendant is affirmed.

Immigration Law

• Citizenship and Naturalization

Health Law

• Personal Injury
  Insurance -- Personal injury protection -- Under 2008 amendments to PIP statute, a PIP insurer cannot take advantage of Medicare fee schedules to limit reimbursements without notifying its insured by electing those fee schedules in its policy -- Because policy in instant case did not reference permissive method of calculation based on Medicare fee schedules, insurer could not limit its reimbursement based on those fee schedules.
• Medical Malpractice
  Wrongful death -- Medical malpractice -- Dismissal -- Fraud on court -- Trial court did not abuse its discretion by dismissing case with prejudice based on fraud on court where there was competent, substantial evidence that plaintiff sentiently set in motion an unconscionable scheme calculated to interfere with judicial system's ability to adjudicate the matter impartially -- Plaintiff not only kept diary chronicling decedent's medical condition which he failed to disclose to defense in response to requests for production of any notes or diaries maintained by him that pertained to issues raised in lawsuit, but notations in diary, once it came to light, revealed repeated fabrications which contradicted plaintiff's trial testimony in several key aspects.

Trusts and Estates

• Estate Planning
  Guardianship -- Incapacitated persons -- Guardian's action against attorneys and law firm who provided trust and estate services to ward, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief based on allegations that defendants breached legal duties to ward by allowing family members to exploit her and to dispose of her assets against her express wishes -- Appeals -- Certiorari -- Discovery -- Compulsory mental examination -- Petitioners not entitled to relief on claim that trial court departed from essential requirements of law by ordering compulsory mental examination of defendant after defendant filed motion for protection from discovery on ground that defendant suffered from medical conditions which would render his ability to participate in depositions and/or respond to interrogatories impossible -- Petitioners failed to meet burden of showing that order results in irreparable harm -- Trial court departed from essential requirements of law by allowing guardian's counsel to be present at examination.
• Wills
• Power of Attorney
  Guardianship -- Incapacitated person -- Less restrictive alternatives to guardianship -- Trial court did not err in relying on verified statement by interested person to determine that trust, trust amendments, and durable power of attorney were not an alternative to guardianship.
• Probate

Finance Law

• Bankruptcy
• Foreclosure
  Mortgage foreclosure -- Dismissal -- Failure to prosecute -- Error to dismiss action for lack of prosecution where docket reflects that plaintiff made timely filing of record after notice was issued.