robertlathamesq.org

Author: Robert Latham

  • Three PCAs from the Third DCA

    M.H. v. DCF, 3D13-0343 (PCA’ing J. Figarola) (oral argument here). A.F. v. DCF, 3D13-0202 (PCA’ing J. Cohen). J.E. v. DCF, 3D12-2131 (PCA’ing J. Hanzman). Yawn.

  • 3D13-1025 – RLR v. State of Florida – Attorney Client Privilege

    Edit! This is the official Third DCA video. Court: Florida 3rd DCA Judges: Shepherd, Fernandez, Suarez Attorneys: Angela Vigil for Petitioner Child, Karla Perkins for DCF, Hillary Kambour for GAL Program. Issue: Petition for writ quashing order commanding child’s attorney ad litem to disclose child’s location over assertion of attorney-client privilege.

  • Oral Argument on Drug Use and Dealing – 3D13-0343 – M.H. vs DCF

    3D13-0343 – M.H. vs DCF Florida Third DCA, Judges: Emas, Logue, Schwartz Attorneys: Kevin Colbert for Mother, Karla Perkins for DCF, Hillary Kambour for GALP Issues: Substantial competent evidence to support adjudications, prospective risk, and nexus, substance abuse, drug sales, providing alcohol to minor Quote: “They may know what Four Loko is, but WE don’t know…

  • Attorney-Client Privilege Case Set for Oral Argument, Again

    Once again, R.L-R., the attorney-client privilege case, is set for oral argument on June 10, 2013 at 10:30 in the Third DCA. If you recall, last time the youth ran away and only his attorney knew where he was. The youth refused to tell or communicate with anyone else. DCF moved to compel the attorney…

  • Amendments to the Florida Rules of Juvenile Procedure

    The Florida Supreme Court has finally addressed the following open questions in dependency cases: How to determine parenthood, How to hold someone in civil contempt, How to conduct supplemental findings hearings, and How to withdraw as counsel. May the administration of justice now be a little smoother. In re: Amendment to the Florida Rules of…

  • “The first thing I lost in law school was the reason I came”

    Back in March, I came across this post at Poverty Law blog: A student who wants to do work on social justice came to my office and after I emailed him Bill Quigley’s essay, Letter to a Law Student Interested in Social Justice, he sent me a link to Dean Spade’s essay, For Those Considering Law School.…

  • Throwback Thursday: Mary K. Brennan Arguing for Right to be Heard in 2006

    In 2005, two years after Juvenile Rule 8.350 was enacted, Mary K. Brennan of Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, faced a situation none of us wants: an eight-year-old client being committed to a SIPP facility. At the SIPP hearing the Department submitted the suitability assessment into evidence over a hearsay objection without the testimony of the…

  • Now watch your favorite Florida Third DCA Appellate Moments again and again

    The Third DCA has finally posted video archives! The interface is a lot clunky, so I downloaded all of the Dependency OAs and uploaded them to Youtube. I would encourage the Third to do the same in the future, as it will take strain off their servers and entertain viewers with hilariously non sequitur recommended…

  • Addressing the Harm of Silence and Assumptions of Mutability

    The article’s full title is Addressing the Harm of Silence and Assumptions of Mutability: Implementing effective non-discrimination policies for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer youth in foster care, found here at SSRN. This quote caught me: Children walk the streets today because they were kicked out of a home that saw their struggle as a moral…

  • Reunification Case Plans Mean Something

    Once you give a parent a case plan with a goal of reunification, you have to see it through unless you have a hearing to change it. It’s hard to believe it’s that simple. But it is. We recognize that section 39.521(3)(b)(1), Florida Statutes (2011), gives a court the option to place a dependent child…