On appeal, the trial court’s decision dismissing a defamation case against President Donald Trump was upheld. Cheryl Jacobus, a political strategist, filed a defamation action against Mr. Trump after he called her, during his political campaign, “A real dummy” on Twitter and claimed she “begged for job.” In 2015, Trump’s campaign reached out to Ms. […]
In Golchin, the Fifth District reversed the trial court’s order requiring a father to pay retroactive child support. The proceedings commenced in early 2016, when the father transferred his share of the marital home to the mother to offset child support and other obligations for their child. At the time, both parents agreed to waive […]
David Duncan v. Thalia Tatham Brickman, 2017 WL 4798919, (Fla. 2d DCA Oct. 25, 2017) In Brickman, the Second District agreed with a father that a trial court cannot modify timesharing as a sanction for a parent’s contempt of a custody order. The proceedings first began in 2006, following a divorce. While the husband and […]
Fort Lauderdale area residents who are busy posting their holiday photos to Instagram should be aware of pending changes in subscribers’ legal rights as defined in the Terms of Use. Instagram, the photo-sharing service owned by Facebook, is the subject of a class action lawsuit filed in California federal court late last week. The lead […]
Maria Supria v. Goshen Mortgage, LLC, 2017 WL 6029671, (Fla. 4th DCA Dec. 6, 2017) As a consequence of transferring mortgages in the secondary market, a lender’s ability to establish its proper chain of transfers at the time a foreclosure action commences often proves problematic. Recently, the Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed a foreclosure […]
Florida courts disposed of 69,513 mortgage foreclosure cases during the time period from July 1 through October 31, 2012, according to a Palm Beach Post article titled “Decline in foreclosure backlog may give false hope.” While this may sound like good news, underwater homeowners may find two related factors troubling. First, 69,078 new foreclosures were […]
UBS AG recently announced settlements with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in connection with charges that UBS manipulated LIBOR benchmark interest rates. LIBOR, short for the London Interbank Offered Rate, is an international daily reference rate intended to reflect interest rates at which banks borrow unsecured funds. LIBOR is […]
In major Wall Street news, NYSE Eurotext today announced a definitive agreement to be acquired by IntercontinentalExchange (“ICE”), a leading operator of global markets and clearing houses, in a stock-and-cash transaction. The acquisition combines two leading exchange groups to create a global exchange operator diversified across markets including agricultural and energy commodities, credit derivatives, equities […]
Biremis Corp., a now defunct Toronto-based brokerage firm, and co-founders Peter Beck and Charles Kim, failed to supervise overseas day traders who used the firm’s order management system to engage repeatedly in a manipulative trading practice known as layering, according to SEC charges. In layering, a trader places orders with no intention of having them […]
Medical professionals who are diagnosed with an unexpected disability are at risk of losing a significant income stream. Three common misconceptions about disabilities can jeopardize your financial security. Fact #1: The truth is that over 1,000,000 Florida residents, age 16 to 64, suffer from a disability. The tables are turned when a physician becomes disabled. […]