Law News Florida - Legal News and Blawg - Douglas R. Beam

Opinions

Douglas R. Beam — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:10:14 +0000

I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect.

Edward Gibbon

Palm Beach County Gets $144,000 In State Funding To Fight Workers Comp Fraud

Douglas R. Beam — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:07:56 +0000

State Attorney Dave Aronberg announced Tuesday [May 21] that Gov. Rick Scott signed into law a $143,720 appropriation that will allow the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office to have a full-time prosecutor assigned to fight workers compensation fraud. The Department of Financial Services’ Division of Insurance Fraud in 2010 called it the largest organized financial crime in the state. Aronberg, a former state senator, pushed for the money for the new initiative with the help of Florida Department of Financial Services leaders when he visited the state’s capitol during the recently ended legislative session. (Read Full Article Here)

Floridians Get Nearly $9 Billion In Mortgage Aid From National Settlement

Douglas R. Beam — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:07:55 +0000

A report released Tuesday [May 21] from National Mortgage monitor Joseph Smith shows Florida homeowners have received $8.6 billion in mortgage relief from last year’s settlement between the nation’s five largest banks and its attorneys general. About 112,000 homeowners have benefitted from the settlement. “Today’s report indicates that Floridians have benefited from $9 billion in relief, significantly more than the $8.4 billion that we expected when we entered the settlement,” said Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. (Read Full Article Here)

Federal Court Rejects Appeal By Miami Mass Killer John Ferguson

Douglas R. Beam — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:07:52 +0000

The Atlanta-based U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday [May 21] rejected an appeal by Miami killer John Errol Ferguson that he should not be executed because he is mentally incompetent due to schizophrenia. Ferguson was been on Death Row for more than three decades after being convicted of the July 1977 murders of six in Carol City during a home-invasion robbery. At the time, it was the worst mass murder in Miami-Dade history. Ferguson was originally slated to die by lethal injection in October but was issued a last-minute stay as defense lawyers insisted the schizophrenics’ execution was cruel and unusual punishment. His defense team can now ask the 11th Circuit to re-consider the case, or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. (Read Full Article Here)

Suspect slain in Fla. in Marathon bombing probe was a mixed martial arts …

Douglas R. Beam — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:07:46 +0000

By Todd Feathers, Erin Ailworth, Mark Arsenault, Andrew Ba Tran and John R. Ellement, Globe Correspondent and Globe Staff. Ibragim Todashev would not be pushed around, at least not on May 4 when he got into an argument over a parking space at an … (Read Full Article Here)