THESE ARE NOT ALL OF THE CASES RELEASED BY THE COURTS FOR THE WEEK.
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Condominiums -- Special assessments -- Enforcement -- Action against association by plaintiff who purchased unit at tax deed sale seeking an accounting and declaratory relief concerning amount owed, the effect of the tax deed and surplus proceeds from sale, and association's entitlement to attorney's fees -- Answer by association raising affirmative defenses alleging unit owner had been delinquent in paying assessments and generally requesting such other relief as trial court deemed just and proper -- Summary judgment -- Trial court did not err in entering summary judgment denying plaintiff's request for declaratory relief and an accounting -- Trial court erred in awarding money damages to association where association did not raise claim for monetary damages in any pleading -- Discussion of insufficiency of association's pleadings to support monetary damages award -- Counsel -- Withdrawal -- Corporate party -- Hearing -- Continuance -- Trial court did not abuse its discretion by proceeding to summary judgment hearing before plaintiff, a corporate entity unable to represent itself, had secured replacement counsel following withdrawal of its initial counsel -- Appeals -- Issue was not preserved for appeal where plaintiff never obtained an order denying its motion to continue and there was nothing in record before appellate court establishing a ruling on any renewed oral request for continuance at summary judgment hearing -- Even if issue were preserved, circumstances do not establish an abuse of discretion where plaintiff had meaningful period in which to obtain substitute counsel
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Estates -- Property -- Homestead -- Determination of homestead -- Dismissal of petition -- Lady Bird deed -- Surviving spouse's appeal of order dismissing petition to determine homestead status of real property formerly owned by decedent -- Trial court exceeded the proper scope of dismissal when it considered an enhanced life estate deed that was not attached to petition and decided how that deed affected decedent's ownership interest and surviving spouse's homestead rights -- Admission of deed at hearing on motion directed to petition's sufficiency did not authorize court to decide disputed merits questions -- Reversed and remanded
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Insurance -- Homeowners -- Coverage -- Trial -- Absence of insured -- Mistrial -- Trial court fundamentally erred by denying insured's motion for mistrial after an unexpected medical emergency prevented insured from being able to attend trial -- Denial of motion for mistrial deprived insured of his due process rights because insured was denied the opportunity to be heard and testify at trial -- Insurer would not have been prejudiced by mistrial because insurer also requested a mistrial based on insured's absence
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Municipal corporations -- Zoning -- Variance -- Standing to challenge -- Proper standard -- Special damages rule -- Action brought by adjacent landowner raising Boucher claims alleging that newly constructed building exceeded scope of height variance granted by city and blocked plaintiff's view of city skyline in contravention of assurances made by building's predecessor-in-title -- Trial court did not err by dismissing complaint with prejudice for lack of standing -- Extensive discussion of state and federal standing standards -- The Florida Supreme Court's decisions in Renard v. Dade County, which set forth special damages requirement for standing in certain zoning-related disputes, and State v. J.P., which included a footnote applying the federal standing standard, are not reconcilable -- Court declines to merge special injury standard with federal standard, as merging the traceability and redressability prongs from the federal standard into the special damages rule seems to conflict with Boucher and federal standing law -- Court declines to adopt federal standing standard where supreme court has emphatically emphasized that it does not overrule itself sub silentio and footnote in J.P. was likely nothing more than dicta -- Applying Renard to the facts of case, plaintiff's partially obstructed view, standing alone, was insufficient to create standing under special damages rule -- Conflict certified -- Question certified: Did the Florida Supreme Court in State v. J.P. replace Florida's standing standard with the federal standard?
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Real property -- Homeowners associations -- Assessments -- Enforcement -- Attorney's fees -- County court erred in denying association's motion for attorney's fees incurred in collecting delinquent maintenance assessment and interest on the delinquent assessment on ground that litigation was unnecessary in light of owner's persistent presuit offer of the entirety of the amount sued for -- Owner's presuit payment offer did not resolve association's collection effort in full where offer did not include association's attorney's fees -- Association was legally entitled to file and pursue its prevailing party attorney's fees motion after owner's payment of assessment in full and virtually all accrued interest, despite having filed a notice of voluntary dismissal -- Reversed and remanded
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Torts -- Anti-SLAPP statute -- Attorney's fees -- Failure to pay -- Contempt -- Sanctions -- Incarceration -- Trial court was not authorized to use its contempt power to threaten appellant with incarceration unless he posted a bond or deposited into the court registry the full monetary judgment awarding fees and costs to appellees pursuant to anti-SLAPP statute -- Order violated constitutional prohibition against imprisonment for debt -- Additionally, trial court could not require posting of bond pursuant to rule 9.310 or deposit of money into the court registry under rule 1.600 because neither rule is compulsory
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Torts -- Automobile accident -- Rear-end collision -- Complaint -- Amendment -- Punitive damages -- Plaintiff's vehicle rear-ended by an empty passenger shuttle bus owned by defendant and driven by an employee with a commercial driver's license that did not have a valid passenger endorsement -- Trial court erred by granting plaintiff's request to amend complaint to assert punitive damages claim based on determination that permitting employee to transport passengers without the required endorsement exposed public to risk and demonstrated a conscious disregard for the safety of others -- Intentional misconduct -- Plaintiff failed to proffer evidence demonstrating specific intent required for intentional misconduct -- Existence of a statutory or licensing violation, even if knowingly disregarded, does not supply the additional conduct necessary to transform ordinary negligence into intentional misconduct -- Furthermore, licensing deficiency bore no direct relation to the conduct that caused plaintiff's injury -- Gross negligence -- Plaintiff failed to proffer evidence demonstrating conscious disregard necessary for gross negligence -- A licensing or traffic violation does not, standing alone, meet the heightened gross negligence standard -- Any missing passenger endorsement was a licensing deficiency, not conduct that was “so reckless or wanting in care” as to constitute a “conscious disregard or indifference of” the life, safety, or rights of others -- Licensing deficiency also lacks requisite nexus to plaintiff's gross negligence claim as any missing passenger endorsement bore no direct relation to employee's failure to timely brake or the resulting collision
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Workers' compensation -- Firefighters -- Compensable accidents -- Heart disease -- Presumption of compensability -- Entitlement -- Claimant who developed supraventricular tachycardia and atrial tachycardia from an indeterminate source -- Judge of compensation claims did not err in determining that claimant was diagnosed with heart disease and was entitled to section 112.18's presumption of compensability where both parties' IME doctors testified that claimant's cardiac rhythm-related ailments constituted “heart disease” as that term has been medically understood since heart-lung statute was enacted -- Discussion of appellate court's decision in North Collier Fire Control & Rescue District v. Harlem and the meaning of “heart disease” under section 112.18 -- Decision in Harlem, which addressed a cardiac plumbing-related issue concerning proximate arteries and valves, does not preclude a firefighter with an arrythmia-based heart condition from receiving the benefit of section 112.18's presumption of compensability
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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.
To see others not presented here, log in for more comprehensive weekly listings.

Criminal law -- Evidence -- Autopsy -- Confrontation of witnesses -- Trial court did not violate defendant's rights under Confrontation Clause by allowing chief medical examiner to testify regarding contents of a routine toxicology report prepared by a non-testifying analyst as part of autopsy where report was prepared as part of autopsy's standard protocol, and autopsy was performed as part of chief medical examiner's statutory duty -- Toxicology report was not testimonial in nature where, although report contravened statements defendant gave to police, its primary purpose was not to advance defendant's criminal prosecution
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