The SDFLA Blog is dedicated to providing news and notes regarding federal practice in the Southern District of Florida. The New Times calls the blog "the definitive source on South Florida's federal court system." All tips on court happenings are welcome and will remain anonymous. Please email David Markus at dmarkus@markuslaw.com
1. Does Seaquarium’s orca tank currently meet AWA space and shade/shelter requirements?Here's a picture of her shortly before the storm.
2. What impact, if any, would the tank’s current failure to meet AWA space and shade/shelter requirements have on the pending Motions to Dismiss?
3. If Seaquairum’s orca tank does not currently meet AWA space and shade/shelter requirements, what, if any, remedy can this Court order to correct those deficiencies?
Convicted South Florida Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein, a disbarred attorney who ran a $1.2 billion investment scheme out of his Fort Lauderdale law firm, will not be receiving a reduction in his 50-year prison sentence because he lied to federal prosecutors, authorities said Tuesday.
Prosecutors withdrew their pending motion to reduce Rothstein's sentence based on his cooperation in the sprawling racketeering investigation because he was “untruthful in an affidavit” filed with the federal court. Rothstein, who helped the U.S. attorney's office gain convictions of almost 30 defendants, was hoping to see many years cut from his sentence for his assistance.
That reward won't happen.
“In the judgment of the United States, the defendant provided false material information to the government and violated the terms of his plea agreement,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence LaVecchio wrote in a motion to withdraw an earlier request for a sentence reduction with U.S. District Judge James Cohn. “Therefore, in the exercise of its sole discretion, the government moves to withdraw the previously filed motion.”
Goggins Motion to Dismiss Trump emoluments clause case by David Oscar Markus on Scribd
This is a tax case. Fear not, keep reading. In determining whether the IRS properly denied a taxpayer’s claimed deduction on his 2011 return, we must decide two important and (as it turns out) interesting questions. First up: Was the money that a homosexual man paid to father children through in vitro fertilization—and in particular, to identify, retain, compensate, and care for the women who served as an egg donor and a gestational surrogate—spent “for the purpose of affecting” his body’s reproductive “function” within the meaning of I.R.C. § 213? And second: In answering the statutory question “no,” and thus in disallowing the taxpayer’s deduction of his IVF-related expenses, did the IRS violate his right to equal protection of the laws either by infringing a “fundamental right” or by engaging in unconstitutional discrimination? We hold that the costs of the IVF-related procedures at issue were not paid for the purpose of affecting the taxpayer’s own reproductive function—and therefore are not deductible—and that the IRS did not violate the Constitution in disallowing the deduction.
A Miami family court judge is emerging as a new favorite to become the next U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, a post of keen interest to President Donald Trump because its jurisdiction includes his self-styled winter White House, Mar-a-Lago.
Circuit Judge Ariana Fajardo Orshan in recent days has risen to the top of a crowded pack of potential nominees and has the backing of Sen. Marco Rubio and Gov. Rick Scott, one of Trump’s most loyal supporters. Scott appointed her to the bench in Florida’s Eleventh Circuit Court in 2012 before she was reelected without opposition in 2014.
“Governor Scott was glad to appoint Judge Ariana Fajardo Orshan to the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court in 2012," said Scott spokesman John Tupps in an email to POLITICO Florida. "The Governor believes that Judge Fajardo Orshan has served the families of South Florida faithfully during her time on the bench.”
Fajardo Orshan, who gave POLITICO a “no comment” when called about the buzz over her possible nomination, also has the support of Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, a fellow Miami Republican who served as the top prosecutor in the South Florida district under President George W. Bush, according to sources familiar with the nominating process. Acosta was also dean of Florida International University’s law school, where Fajardo Orshan is an adjunct professor.
CERTIFICATION FROM THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT TO THE SUPREME COURT OF TEXAS PURSUANT TO ARTICLE V, § 3–c(a) OF THE TEXAS CONSTITUTION TO THE SUPREME COURT OF TEXAS AND ITS HONORABLE JUSTICES:
This appeal arises from an allegedly defective surgical mesh implant. The question to be answered concerns whether under the Texas “discovery rule” a claim accrues for purposes of starting the applicable statute of limitations period when a plaintiff knows, or has reason to know, that there is a connection between her injury and the defendant’s product or whether instead accrual (and the corresponding start of the limitations period) occurs only when the plaintiff also has reason to know that the manufacturer acted wrongfully or negligently in its manufacture of the product.
The District Court concluded that the former interpretation of Texas law was correct, and therefore granted summary judgment in favor of Mentor Worldwide LCC, the Appellee in this case. The Appellant, Ms. Ann Bergin—a resident of Texas—argues that accrual requires discovery of both the injury and its negligent cause. Thus, she avers, the District Court erred in its application of Texas law. To resolve this appeal, we must decide which of the above positions is correct, but that answer depends on an unresolved question of Texas law. We therefore certify this question of law, based on the factual background recited below, to the Supreme Court of Texas and respectfully request its guidance.
