(CNN) -- A flurry of last-minute legal maneuvers Tuesday spared, for now, the life of John Ferguson, a Florida death row inmate who suffers from mental illness and at one point called himself the 'prince of God.' Ferguson, a diagnosed schizophrenic convicted of killing eight people, was scheduled to get the lethal injection Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET at a Florida State Prison. But an appeals court in Atlanta granted an emergency stay of execution Tuesday night. Florida officials then asked the Supreme Court to allow the lethal injection to proceed. Just before midnight the high court denied Florida's request, keeping in place the stay of execution, according to court documents. http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/23/justice/florida-ferguson-execution/index.html … [Read more...]
Issue Over Concealed Handguns Crops up at RNC
ANNA M. TINSLEY The Fort Worth Star-Telegram Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson likes to be prepared. So when he headed to Florida to attend this week's Republican National Convention, he had his concealed handgun with him, as he usually does. "It's like a smoke detector. You don't know when you'll need it, but you keep fresh batteries in it anyway," said Patterson, a delegate to the convention. Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/27/3780987/issue-over-concealed-handguns.html#storylink=cpy … [Read more...]
Altman: Scott cost FL 50,000 Jobs, $2.4B and High-Speed Rail
By DONNA BALANCIA TALLAHASSEE -- Florida's Sen. Thad Altman (R-Rockledge) has accomplished much since getting elected to the Florida Senate in 2008. He has worked to help Florida's military families, he promotes space exploration, and he is an avid supporter of the restaurant and tourism industries. His one regret: He couldn't do more to keep in Florida a high-speed rail, a project that he says could have employed 50,000 people -- many of them displaced aerospace workers. The project which was cancelled last March, still represents a sore spot for Altman, who waged a court battle to keep the Florida portion of the project alive. Altman says Gov. Rick Scott's wanted to sabotage President Barack Obama's plan for the first phase of the high-speed rail -- as well as all the jobs and the $2.4 billion that went with it. "Gov. Scott is a pick-pocket," Altman said. "Gov. Scott … [Read more...]
FRLA Selects Law Firms to take on BP
TALLAHASSEE -- Weitz & Luxenberg, Levin Papantonio, and Cooney & Conway have been selected to represent the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association's member hoteliers and restaurateurs affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Our Association believed it could avoid litigation, hoping that the BP claims process would fairly and fully compensate our collective losses, said Carol Dover, President and CEO of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association. But as the BP claims process denied requests for emergency payments and/or paid merely pennies on the dollar in interim payments to our members, we realized we had to seek legal counsel now to protect our membership and the future of Floridas tourism. This consortium of firms are well-known for complex and mass tort litigation and for litigating against the largest corporations in the world and have pledged to work … [Read more...]
Oil Spill Lawsuits Flood Courthouses
By DONNA BALANCIA, The Florida Law Journal May 2, 2010 -- ORLANDO, FLORIDA -- About 40 lawsuits have been filed against BP Plc and Transocean Ltd. as thousands of barrels of crude oil pollute the Gulf of Mexico in what could be considered the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. Roughly 30 class action suits have been filed in courthouses along the Gulf Coast, in states including Texas, Louisiana and Florida, by charter-boat operators, shrimpers, fishermen and property owners. BP is primarily responsible for the damage, mainly because it is the owner of the oil, attorneys say. Also named in the suits are Transocean, Cameron International Corp. and Halliburton Energy Services. Louisiana, which has been on the verge of recovery from Hurricane Katrina, has been hit particularly hard by the oil slick. According to statistics, Louisiana yields about one quarter of United … [Read more...]
