See Miami New Times.
Author: Robert Latham
City of Orlando v. Pineiro
— So.3d —-, 2011 WL 3359613
Fla.App. 5 Dist.,2011.
August 05, 2011 (Approx. 7 pages)
My honest thanks to the Fifth DCA for publishing a whole opinion on improper closing argument. My tongue-in-cheek thanks to anonymous counsel for making it possible.
Improper arguments covered in the opinion include:
- golden rule
- send-a-message
- value of a life
- derogatory remarks about counsel
- “do anything to win”
REVERSED and REMANDED FOR NEW TRIAL.
C.L. v. Florida Dept. of Children and Families
— So.3d —-, 2011 WL 3341490
Fla.App. 1 Dist.,2011.
August 04, 2011 (Approx. 1 page)
Default 101: You can’t default someone who tells you in advance they can’t be at the hearing for financial reasons. REVERSED.
- Norway has a Children’s Ombudsman (barneombudet). According to him, he has no power except his voice. He’s been working on helping people talk to children about the recent (and rare) violence in Oslo, and lowering the voting age for local elections to 16. What a cool guy.
- Missouri has restricted teachers from communicating with former students (who are still minors) privately through any website. (See csmonitor, via feministlawprofs). This is meant to prevent teachers from having sex with former students, which seems silly because it prohibits ALL speech and not just sexual speech. I predict a successful First Amendment challenge in 3, 2,….
- Subsidized interest on government student loans was one of the casualties in the Debt Ceiling Debacle. This wasn’t a surprise. Someone, though, needs to work on reducing education cost bloat and improving education outcomes, instead of just sticking students with higher debt.
The students start a week from yesterday, and we’re busily getting ready, sweeping out the dust bunnies and making sure we have sufficient construction paper and scissors.
When I was in kindergarten I remember very clearly losing all of my crayons except the red one. I borrowed one kid’s yellow and another kid’s blue to color a tree. Turns out that yellow+blue doesn’t work that well with crayons, and my teacher discovered the problem fairly quickly.
I hope I’m half as good as Mrs. Collins was at figuring out what my students need. Happy Thursday
C.G. v. Department of Children and Families
— So.3d —-, 2011 WL 3250545
Fla.App. 3 Dist.,2011.
August 01, 2011.
The only thing interesting about this TPR appeal is the discussion on judicial notice. The Mother argued that the trial court erred in judicially noticing the dependency orders because they were entered at less than clear-and-convincing evidence. Judge Suarez for the Third DCA says that’s fine: dependency orders plus substantial and competent evidence at trial can equal clear and convincing evidence. AFFIRMED.
New job, new blog. Let’s go.