Communication with lawyers types Contingency Ads promoting idea of hiring lawyer for contingent fee Many charge only if they are successful Client has zero responsibility if the case is not won Sliding scale of fees depending on how far the case goes 08 30 2012 Business Law Course Tools Help aides Things that will assist us while studying the law Basic things that will pop up over and over again 1 Semantics science of language that deals with the meaning of words Want to understand what the words mean Certain types of words seen in cases Infant means anyone under 18 years of age o An infant and a minor are synonyms Majority is over 18 Technical legal expressions meanings have to be considered when using specific words Reasonable is anything but precise Precision of expression reasonable isn t specific Sometimes very precise other times not and leave it to the decision of the jury judge Occurrence an event in the Koikos case it was the use of semantics to determine whether each shot was an occurrence or the whole event was one occurrence Trying to come up with the language to be the most advantageous to their clients people at the party Koikos Case Fraternity rented Spartan Restaurant and party crashers shot 5 Injured party sued Mr Koikos for negligent careless security Wanted to deal with the semantic issue of occurrence Travelers Insurance Company agreed to pay 500 000 in liability per occurrence Travelers contended all the shootings were a single occurrence Koikos and the victims argued there was more than one occurrence 1 Why is Koikos suing his own insurance company Because the victims could go after him instead Decision very clear that each shooting was a separate occurrence Maximum amount the insurance policy covers was a million dollars Case in versus on semantics his hand was in her or just on her Crime sexual battery of a child Penalty Life in prison without parole capital punishment Crime molestation of a child Penalty 15 years in prison max o Decision Child was a victim of a sexual battery o Sentenced to life in prison o Appeal prosecutor has to prove that it occurred beyond reasonable doubt Reversed the conviction because she said in and on two different times He was then convicted of sexual battery 9 11 case Each occurrence was up to 3 7 billion dollars 2 Logic extracting legal rules from past cases by inductive reasoning Law By Florida statute all unsigned wills are void Statute all laws passed by the Florida legislature Facts this will is unsigned Decision this will is void apply the laws to the facts to come up with your decision Typically not that simple Facts are complex statues are complex Example o Decedent lives in Florida dies in Georgia owns real estate in South Carolina o Argument with which law to apply because each state has a different statue regarding unsigned wills o Conflicts of laws his primary residence will be the place where those laws are derived from If you own real estate in another state then the laws of that state only apply to the real estate in that state Daddy Case 2 o Facts guy was a widow four adult children wrote a will Gives half of his assets to child A the other half to B and nothing to C and D Called disinheriting to the children o Law mandates that you must leave something to your spouse in almost every state Florida law says at least 30 o C and D sues A and B saying that he didn t sign the will with his name instead signed D A D D Y o A signature means that you approve of the document you have ownership over what it says consent to the document etc o Judges definition of a signature any symbol adopted by a party to authenticate a writing o This helped A and B who kept the money Lawyer can use birthday cards to authenticate that his symbol is consistent That isn t a legal document instead needs leases drivers licenses etc to authenticate it as his signature The law is very permissive but what you can do is often not what sound business practice dictates Don t try to push the law to the outer limits Intestate Laws laws applicable to those individuals who die without having a valid will Florida Intestate Law effective 10 1 2011 In the absence of a valid will Decedent s property is distributed as follows o 1 If there is a surviving spouse but not surviving children to o 2 If there is a surviving spouse and surviving children to the the surviving spouse surviving spouse o 3 If there are surviving children but not surviving spouse equally divided among the children o 4 If there is no surviving spouse or children to the decedent s father and mother equally then grandfathers grandmothers uncles aunts 09 04 2012 Business Law Course Tools continued 3 3 Stare Decisis Latin term doctrine of precedent comes from precede which means what went before o Advantages 1 Certainty in the law 2 Equality in the law 3 Makes judicial decision making easier o Disadvantages stagnation in the law it just sits there and nothing happens modernization Our society is the opposite we continue to improve o Judges rely heavily on precedent continuing to do what judges have done in the past we know what we can do and what we cannot do reliance stability and certainty of the law o Judges do not need to reinvent the wheel judges revisit the many cases that deal with complex cases and make your decision based on the past 4 Common Sense the law is not an enemy of common sense o Use common sense o Florida law looks at the negligence of the people Unit 2 Litigation and disputes The Structure of the Florida Judicial system 2009 Trial Courts o Circuit Courts 599 judges six year terms twenty judicial circuits different number if judges in each circuit judges preside individually felonies handled by this court system punishment of more than a year more than 15 000 what you are suing for o County courts lowest court system in Florida 322 judges six year terms at least one judge in each of the 67 counties handles less serious cases known as misdemeanors the most punishment you can get is less than a year judges preside individually 15 000 or less Appellate Courts 4 o Supreme court Seven justices six year terms A justice is a term of honor a judge that is on the supreme court On the US supreme court there are 9 justices Sits in Tallahassee Five justices constitute a quorum Any case is argued in front of all seven justices Sometimes there is a conflict of interest recuse yourself when you remove yourself from the court o District courts of appeal 62 judges six year terms
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