THESE ARE NOT ALL OF THE CASES RELEASED BY THE COURTS FOR THE WEEK.
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Civil procedure -- Service of process -- Validity -- Return of service -- Corporate defendant -- Trial court properly determined that return of service was regular on its face where it contained all facts required by section 48.21(1) -- Whether process server's omission of the last name of the person served rendered return of service irregular on its face is not a question before the appellate court where appellant did not raise argument below or in its brief -- Return of service was not irregular for failing to show, as required by section 48.081(3), the absence of all officers of a superior class designated in the statute before resort to service upon an officer or agent of an inferior class was made -- Because service made on a representative of corporation's registered agent as authorized by subsection (2), there was no need to resort to manner of service specified in subsection (3) -- Trial court correctly place burden on appellant to come forward with evidence that person served was not a representative of registered agent, which appellant failed to do
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Contracts -- Torts -- Attorney's fees -- Prevailing party -- Multiple defendants -- Allocation of fees -- Evidence -- Claims for breach of contract and professional negligence brought against mechanical engineer, water system consultant, and successor consultant stemming from allegedly defective construction of tanks within air conditioning facility -- In determining amount of prevailing party attorney's fees to award against successor consultant, trial court did not err in determining that the claims against the other two defendants were not inextricably intertwined where claim against mechanical engineer was for professional negligence based on engineer's defective and deficient design and claims of professional negligence against original consultant and successor consultant related to servicing the system -- Additionally, consultants had different servicing contracts with plaintiff that encompassed different periods of time and imposed different obligations -- Trial court did not err by denying plaintiff's motion for reconsideration to allow it to present evidence of allocation where affidavit regarding allocation was first submitted with motion for reconsideration without stating any compelling reasons or exigent circumstances to excuse affidavit's tardiness -- Amount -- Hours expended -- Trial court did not abuse its discretion by striking time entries based on block billing, vague entries, and duplicate entries
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Counties -- Elections -- County commissioners -- Charter -- Amendment -- Referendum -- Trial court erred in finding that ballot language of referendum proposing to amend county charter's voting system for county commissioners did not comply with section 124.011 because it did not include language specifically found in subsection (9) -- Discussion of section 124.011 -- Subsection (9) only applies when a referendum is proposing a switch from at-large voting to single-member districts -- Because referendum at issue in case addressed the potential return to at-large voting from a single-member system, section 124.011(10), which is the only provision in the statute that contemplates a reversion back to an at-large system of voting, was applicable -- Because subsection (3) is the only provision that subsection (10) references, procedures outlined in subsection (3) must be followed in order to return to that system -- Subsection (3) says nothing about how the proposal to return to at-large voting must be worded
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Estates -- Distributions -- Residuary beneficiaries -- Business interests -- In-kind distributions -- Probate court's order denying personal representative's petition to distribute certain business interests to residuary beneficiaries on an in-kind basis and requiring instead that these distributions be made in cash violated plain language of decedent's will and Florida law, which favors distribution in kind with limited exceptions not applicable to instant case -- Under express terms of will, personal representative had discretion to divide and distribute to estate's residuary beneficiaries the decedent's closely held business interests in kind on a pro-rata basis, and under circumstances there was no evidence of prejudice to estate or other inequity that would justify overriding the discretion expressly provided to personal representative by decedent's will
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Rules of Juvenile Procedure -- Amendment -- Process -- Discovery -- Prehearing motions and service -- Waiver of jurisdiction -- Adjudicatory hearings -- Supersedeas on appeal -- Process, diligent searches, and service of pleadings and papers
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Torts -- Attorney's fees -- Offer of judgment -- Enforceability -- Trial court did not err by denying plaintiff's motion for attorney's fees based on determination that plaintiff's offer of judgment, which was directed solely at defendant's monetary counterclaim, was unenforceable because action involved both a claim for monetary damages and a claim for equitable relief -- Discussion of section 768.79 and statutory interpretation -- According to its plain language, section 768.79 applies only to civil actions for damages -- Even though offer in instant case did not attempt to settle the equitable claim, the reach of section 768.79 does not extend to a pending case where the parties seek both monetary and equitable damages
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Workers' compensation -- Medical benefits -- Entitlement -- Misconduct -- Judge of compensation claims did not err in determining that claimant was not entitled to temporary partial disability indemnity benefits because he was terminated for “misconduct” -- Discussion of the definitions of “misconduct” found in sections 440.02(18) and 443.036(29), and the use of section 443.036(29) in workers' compensation proceedings -- Unemployment agency's finding that claimant did not engage in misconduct was not binding on JCC -- Competent substantial evidence supports JCC's factual findings, and JCC properly employed definition of “misconduct” as set forth in section 440.02(18)
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Criminal Law Headnotes (Jump to Civil Law Headnotes)

THESE ARE NOT ALL OF THE CASES RELEASED BY THE COURTS FOR THE WEEK.
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Criminal law -- Search and seizure -- Digital storage -- Warrants -- Scope -- Limitation -- After finding search warrants associated with digital storage and social media platforms to be overbroad, trial court did not err by severing warrant's impermissible portions and temporally limiting the warrant's scope -- Discussion of U.S. v. Galpin and the severability of search warrant provisions -- Trial court's temporal narrowing comported with warrant's stated purpose to locate defendant's whereabouts to link him to crimes -- Preferred method of limiting scope of a search warrant for a cloud account will usually be time-based
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