!1!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. Koikos Case: Fraternity rented Spartan Restaurant and party crashers shot 5 people at the party. • 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.!2!• 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:!3!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 the surviving spouse. o 2. If there is a surviving spouse and surviving children, to the 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)!4!• 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. § Our society is the opposite, we continue to improve, modernization 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 § judges preside individually § handles less
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