Category: Case Law Updates

Yep. F.M. v. DCF, GALP, — So.3d —- (Fla. 3rd DCA 2012).  

That’s the question pending in the Third DCA. According to buzz around the courthouse (which I’ve had to sit in for a while these past 48 hours), a certain youth in a certain courtroom had gone “on run”, a term I despise for what it implies and what it omits. The only person who the…

From J.B. v. M.M., — So.3d —-, 2012 WL 2913287 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012): While we acknowledge that “past conduct” may be taken into consideration when determining whether a parent has been able to meet the needs of the child, the information relied upon regarding the mother’s alleged inability to parent her daughter is over eight years old.…

The case is G.W. v. Department of Children & Families, — So.3d —-, 2012 WL 2947772 (Fla. 3rd DCA 2012). The father appears at his shelter hearing; he’s appointed counsel, an attorney who is understandably not present at the time; and his child is sheltered then and there. He’s sent off. This happens every day at just…

Though this isn’t as exciting as the Affordable Healthcare Act ruling, it’s at least a substantive dependency case, which we haven’t seen in what feels like forever. It’s been a very quiet summer. Thank goodness for the Fourth DCA who this week adopted the Second DCA’s reasoning from In re G.M., holding that an implied consent…

Is the imposition of a life-without-parole sentence on a fourteen-year-old child convicted of homicide a violation of the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments when the child did not personally engage in any physical violence toward the victim and when the sentence resulted from a mandatory sentencing scheme? In…

(1) You can only default at an advisory or trial, not a pretrial or calendar call. J.E. v. DCF, — So.3d —-, 2012 WL 1889781 (Fla. 2nd DCA) (haven’t we learned this by now?). (2) In M.W. v. DCF, — So.3d —-, 2012 WL 1889783 (Fla. 2nd DCA) (so close), the mother and father were TPR’d. The…

The ACLU and National Association of Social Workers have filed amicus briefs in the Dual Maternity case. I haven’t read them yet, but they’re available here.