Why You Should Take a Time Stamp Photo of Your Car’s Mileage When You Drop It Off for Service

Dropping your vehicle off at a service center is something that virtually all vehicle owners are familiar with. Over the lifespan of a passenger car or truck, there are many types of necessary maintenance.  However, most people drop their cars off for service without considering the possible downsides. Consumers should be able to trust that… read more

Small & Medium Business Insurance Claims During the Pandemic

Business Owners Who Are Struggling Due to COVID-19 Could Be Able to Receive Insurance to Cover Their Losses Like many “non-essential” businesses, we’ve been asked to close our offices to avoid spreading the novel coronavirus. Though this has come as an inconvenience, we consider ourselves relatively lucky, overall. Our team has settled into a work-from-home… read more

Manafort Sentence Illustrates Power of Judges

The legal community was collectively astonished last week when Paul Manafort received a roughly four-year sentence for serious financial crimes in federal court. The judge, T.S. Ellis, had already made his contempt for the case clear, and many court watchers expected something relatively mild. But most court-watchers found the sentence Ellis imposed to be shocking:… read more

Recent FBI Raid Shows Limits Of The Attorney-Client Privilege

One of the most sacred forms of confidentiality in the law is the attorney-client privilege. Most people know the things they tell their lawyers will never be revealed to the world. In the great majority of cases, that’s true. This is for a good reason: a lawyer cannot effectively represent a client unless the client… read more

All Bay Area Counties Now Eligible for Federal Disaster Relief

People all over Florida are trying to get their lives back to normal following Hurricane Irma. While no part of the Florida peninsula was unscathed, the Tampa Bay area fared better than many feared. Irma tracked a little further east than projected and weakened as it moved north, sparing our area the worst of the… read more

Social Media Creates Challenges for Choosing and Keeping Jury Members

The law sometimes can’t keep up with changes in technology. Trying to apply the law to the relatively new technology of social media has proven to be a challenge for judges and lawyers in many ways. We’ve commented here before about how parties will try to use an opponent’s comments or postings on social media… read more

Florida Court Limits Discovery of Facebook Postings

Social media has exploded in popularity in the last decade. Many people enjoy using sites like Facebook and Twitter to keep in touch with friends and family. At the same time, use of social media has raised some serious concerns about privacy. Media reports tell us that people venting about their jobs on social media… read more

Amanda Knox Case Shows Our Justice System Isn’t So Bad

Amanda Knox, the American college student accused of murder in Italy, came out with a book this week about her ordeal in the Italian criminal justice system. Her book,Waiting to Be Heard, is likely to reignite the media attention her case has received in the last several years. Knox was initially convicted of the 2007… read more

Bar Issues Scathing Report on Medical / Legal Referral Services

In the last few years, they’ve been impossible to avoid: an onslaught of radio ads, TV ads, and billboards for companies calling themselves medical/legal referral services. These companies promise to arrange medical care and legal consultations for people involved in auto accidents. Because of concerns about how these companies operate and the claims they make,… read more

Safety: A Point Everyone’s Missing In The Public Transportation Debate

Floridians, particularly those in the Tampa Bay area, have heard a lot about Governor Rick Scott’s rejection of federal money for a bullet train between Orlando and Tampa. Scott cited the potential cost to Florida in rejecting the money. His opponents, on the other hand, have said the death of the project will prevent jobs… read more