We quickly cover a couple opinions from the Florida Supreme Court today, involving sovereign immunity, the Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure, and the proper remedy for unconstitutional findings of dangerousness by trial court judges.
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Preservation
Does the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause prohibit religious-based peremptory challenges during jury selection? We may never know, as the question was narrowly avoided today when the Florida Supreme Court decided, in State v. Pacchiana, that the issue was not properly preserved for appellate review. How specific must an objection be? It seems the answer is, in some cases, more specific even than the trial court needs to determine the nature of the error.
Read MoreWe cover six opinions from the curtailed court in Tallahassee today. A new record for the blog. As a result, however, I was not able to go as in-depth on some of them as I would have liked. I’ll be adding some analysis when I get the chance, so check back. Quite a few retreats from precedent today—the beginning of a trend?
Read MoreJury Selection
Today the Florida Supreme Court decided State v. Ivey, which involved a certified question of great public importance from the First District Court of Appeal. The question was whether a defendant can renew a previously raised objection to a peremptory challenge, after the juror has been excused and the jury has been agreed to, but before the jury has been sworn in. While the First District found that such an objection is not waived and can therefore be renewed, the Florida Supreme Court disagreed with the premise of the question, finding that in this case the defendant’s request for a standing objection was not specific enough to act as a renewal.
Habeas Corpus
A short, unanimous opinion from the Florida Supreme Court today. Mallet v. State comes to the court via the First District Court of Appeal, which affirmed Mallet’s conviction for possession of child pornography, then affirmed the denial of his motion for postconviction relief based on his allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel.
Read MoreProposals for Settlement • Attorney’s Fees
In the United States, unlike in most of the rest of the world, the general rule is that a party pays her own attorney’s fees, win or lose. But there are some exceptions to the “American rule.” Attorney’s fees can be derived from contract, for example, or through statute. Or they can be derived from both, regardless of the parties’ “intention” as expressed through contract. The theory behind this is that the big-wigs write the contracts while those with smaller wigs sign them (or don’t) without negotiating the details.
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