BY JAMAL THALJI Tampa Bay Times Staff Writer Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene’s libel suit against Times Publishing Co., publisher of the Tampa Bay Times, was dismissed by a judge on Monday. Greene, who lost the 2010 Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, filed suit against the Times, then known as the St. Petersburg Times, and the Miami Herald. He alleged that three articles written by Times reporters that also appeared in the Herald cost him the primary and defamed his reputation. But Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Valerie Manno-Schurr decided otherwise in Monday’s ruling. Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/24/2765245/libel-suit-against-tampa-bay-times.html#storylink=cpy … [Read more...]
Lawsuit filed in deaths at sea; two Oregon passengers said they alerted cruise line to a boat in distress
May 14, 2012
A Panamanian man who watched his two companions die while surviving at sea for 28 days in their small disabled boat has sued a U.S. cruise line because one of its ships failed to help, his attorney said Sunday. Attorney Edna Ramos said the lawsuit alleging negligence by Prince Cruise Lines was filed in a Florida state court on behalf of Adrian Vazquez. The 18-year-old Vazquez and companions Fernando Osorio, 16, and Elvis Oropeza, 31, set off for a night of fishing on Feb. 24 from Rio Hato, a small fishing and farming town on the Pacific coast of Panama that was once the site of a U.S. Army base guarding the Panama Canal. The boat's motor broke down on the way back and the men drifted at sea for 16 days before seeing a cruise ship approach March 10. http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2012/05/lawsuit_filed_in_deaths_at_sea.html … [Read more...]
Florida foreclosure case could slam banks
May 10, 2012
(Reuters) - The Florida Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments Thursday in a lawsuit that could undo hundreds of thousands of foreclosures and open up banks to severe financial liabilities in the state where they face the bulk of their foreclosure-fraud litigation. The court is deciding whether banks who used fraudulent documents to file foreclosure lawsuits can dismiss the cases and refile them later with different paperwork. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/10/us-pino-foreclosure-idUSBRE84902920120510 … [Read more...]
Carl Hiaasen: A violent homicide isn’t hazing
May 9, 2012
Eleven of the 13 people who allegedly participated in killing Florida A&M drum major Robert Champion have been charged with "a hazing resulting in death," a low-grade felony. The two others are accused of misdemeanors. You can't blame Champion's family for being disappointed, and a bit confused. Champion was singled out for an attack, then beaten until he died. That it occurred during a hazing doesn't mean it should be handled differently from any other violent homicide, yet it is being handled differently. Way differently. Not one of the 13 suspects was booked for murder or even plain old manslaughter, a second-degree felony that can bring up to 15 years in prison. By contrast, causing a death by hazing is only a third-degree felony for which the maximum term is six years. Read more here: … [Read more...]
Florida’s anti-hazing law among toughest nationwide
May 4, 2012
By ISABEL MASCARENAS -- Tampa, Florida -- Hazing is a growing problem, according to the Novak Institute on Hazing at the University of Kentucky. The institute's research shows hazing begins in high school and by college 55 percent of students involved in clubs, teams and organizations say they experience hazing. The same research finds 95 percent of hazing victims do not report it. Forty-four states have anti-hazing laws but Florida's law is reportedly among the strictest. http://www.wtsp.com/news/article/253824/8/Floridas-anti-hazing-law-among-toughest-nationwide … [Read more...]
