Florida Insurance Claims Lawyer Blog

Our Palm Beach legal malpractice attorney was interested to read recently in the Sun-Sentinel that the complaint against State Attorney Michael McAuliffe has been dismissed by Florida's Commission on Ethics after the complaint was deemed legally insufficient. The complaint, which was filed by a police officer named Rick Sessa earlier this year, alleged that McAuliffe had abused his prosecutorial discretion by dropping and reducing charges against two other police officers. The two officers in question were caught on video beating and kicking a suspect after he had been subdued and handcuffed. Sessa's complaint against McAuliffe charged that McAuliffe had dropped charges against one officer altogether and dropped the charges against the other down to a misdemeanor, all in hopes of gaining the endorsement of the Police Benevolent Association for an upcoming re-election bid.

The Florida Commission on Ethics dismissed the complaint, saying that Sessa failed to allege enough concrete facts to support his claim. They ruled that the complaint consisted mainly of speculation and conclusion-drawing. The Commission's decision does not reflect the validity of the charges against McAuliffe; it is simply a legal conclusion that states there simply is not enough evidence to move forward on the complaint.

Part of what makes it difficult to prove a claim like this one is that state attorneys like Michael McAuliffe have an enormous amount of discretion in determining whether or not to bring charges against any individual and what charges to pursue. The reason for giving prosecutors so much discretion is to allow them to take circumstances into consideration when deciding whether or how to prosecute. For example, a young man who steals food from a grocery store to feed his family may not be prosecuted the same way as he would be if he stole a television or other non-necessity. Because of all of the many ways that a particular law can be technically violated, it is usually not practical or reasonable to try to include them in the language of the law itself. The prosecutor's nearly unfettered discretion allows him or her to make the exceptions that are necessary.

Additionally, prosecutorial discretion serves the purpose of allowing for the limited resources available to the state attorney's office to be used efficiently. Because prosecuting any suspect costs money, prosecutors must determine which crimes should be prosecuted most vigorously. Prosecutors must be able to make those choices without fearing retribution by victims, victims' rights groups, and other state officials.

As a Palm Beach legal malpractice lawyer, Attorney Eric Luckman understands and appreciates the importance of avoiding any even questionably unethical conduct. Under Florida attorney ethics law, many situations do not allow for easy answers, and sometimes what seems like the best answer to a moral question is not the correct answer under the law. Still, it is a very big part of any attorney's job to be aware of and sensitive to legal ethics laws. If you have witnessed what you believe could be unethical behavior on the part of an attorney or received treatment that you believe could be a violation of Florida's ethics laws, our office may be able to help you or other victims get compensation. Give our office a call today to schedule an appointment with our West Palm Beach legal malpractice attorney.

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When meeting with a West Palm Beach personal injury lawyer it is reasonable for all local residents to expect to have one-on-one meeting with their attorney and receive close, personal updates with the professional regarding their case. Of course, it is also reasonable for local clients to expect that their Florida injury attorney that they are meeting with is the one who is doing the work on the case and ensuring that everything is developing accordingly. Our office prides itself on this close, client-centered relationship--no residents should tolerate anything less.

However, this is not the case in many firms these days. Unfortunately, many local observers have explained how a new trend has developed where many law firms hire outside lawyers, and sometimes paralegals, to help out at the firm on a temporary basis, usually until the completion of a particular project or set of projects. In most cases, after a lawsuit has been filed, the parties go through a process called discovery, where each side is permitted to request certain documents and information from the other side. The parties must respond to these requests within a limited amount of time. Sometimes, where many different employees may have been involved, especially in cases involving big companies, the discovery responses can include thousands and thousands of pages of documents. These documents must be sifted through in a fairly short time, so law firms have gotten into the habit of hiring temporary lawyers who work as independent contractors and go through the documents in order to see if they contain any information relevant to the case.

Temporary lawyers do not work for the firms, but instead, they provide services on an hourly basis for as long as they are needed. Then they move on to other projects with other firms. Therefore, some of these lawyers are not as personally invested in the projects on which they are working, and more importantly, in the clients whom they are serving.

Recently, according to Staffing Talk News one such client launched a lawsuit against its own lawyers in which the client alleged that the firm's use of temporary attorneys had been detrimental to the client's case. Specifically, the client accused the firm of failing to provide adequate supervision over the temporary workers and said that because of the lack of proper supervision, the attorneys ended up turning over documents to the opposing party that were not supposed to be released. It remains to be seen how this case will be resolved, but it has the potential to limit the use of temporary attorneys in major cases throughout the country.

Continue reading "Lawsuit Aims to Expose Inadequacies of Temp Lawyers" »

With the economy's rapid decline, many consumers, even those who once thought they had excellent job security, have found themselves unemployed and in dire straits. Some have had to rely on credit cards and have gone into debt trying to feed their families and maintain the lifestyles they had before losing their jobs. As the economy has continued to struggle many struggling families have seen their credit card balances grow. Now, many people are struggling to find their way out from underneath mounting debt, even while they continue to try to keep food on the table and clothes on their backs.

With so many consumers battling credit card debt, not to mention mortgage payments and student loans, there has been a glut of companies advertising themselves as loan consolidation experts. These companies target the most desperate and vulnerable of consumers, the ones with high credit card debt, especially those who are struggling just to keep up with the payments each month. In some cases, loan consolidation companies are legitimately helping people in need. However, all too often, these companies charge consumers a fee that can be as high as a few thousand dollars, but they do not deliver the results that they promised. Unfortunately, consumers who are victimized by such companies are often unaware that they have options for fighting back and recovering the fees they paid.

There are two main ways in which consumers can deal with these types of companies. The first is by contacting their state's Attorney General. In Florida, the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Office is available to field complaints about loan consolidation scams. You can even file a complaint online. This option really helps to make sure that others do not become victims of unscrupulous companies who are preying on the vulnerable.

Recently, the Attorney General of Indiana took action against a Florida lawyer, accusing him, in a lawsuit, of being involved in a loan consolidation company that took clients' money upfront but failed to provide loan consolidation services. The Florida Attorney General's office has also received more than 75 complaints about this same attorney, but, according to an article by the Palm Beach Post, those complaints were referred to the Florida Bar, the organization which is responsible for often dealing with accusations of Florida legal malpractice. In spite of all of these complaints, however, the lawyer is in good standing with the Florida bar, with no history of disciplinary action in the last 10 years. Therefore, relying just on the Attorney General or the Florida Bar to discipline rogue attorneys does not always prove very effective.

In order to ensure that dishonest lawyers are stopped and that consumers recover fees paid to unscrupulous lawyers, it is necessary to sue an attorney. In order to do so, it is important to hire a lawyer who has experience with Florida legal malpractice and other lawsuits against attorneys. These types of cases can be especially difficult. Finding an attorney to handle these cases can also be hard because many lawyers feel a duty to protect "their own," which, unfortunately, sometimes surpasses their pursuit of what is right. The type of lawyer who handles Florida legal malpractice claims or any other kind of attorney lawsuit is one who is dedicated to seeking justice in every case and fighting for those who need help.

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