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The Florida Legislature closed out the 2016 Regular Session at 6:45 pm last Friday, March 11, 2016. Throughout the session, over 1800 bills were filed but the Florida Legislature only passed 261 before its adjournment. Governor Rick Scott has already signed several items into new law. Florida...

On February 22, 2016, the Eleventh Circuit handed down a decision in Linda Jean Quigg v. Thomas County School District, a ruling that has significant potential to alter the analysis of employment claims.  Dr. Quigg was Superintendent of the Thomas County School District under a contract that was...

Entitlement to attorney's fees and costs in workers' compensation claims is often evaluated based on the timely provision of benefits. However, in Jennings v. Habana Health Care Center, (2015 WL 9438007), the First DCA ruled that the issue of timeliness is irrelevant in addressing entitlement to...

McConnaughhay, Coonrod, Pope, Weaver, Stern & Thomas P.A. is proud to announce John Trawick received an AV Preeminent Peer Review Rating from LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell. John is located in our Pensacola Office. John was given an AV rating from his peers, which means that he was deemed to...

Furthering our representation of businesses and employers, Jim McConnaughhay and David McCranie submitted an Amicus Brief to the Florida Supreme Court on behalf of a number of business and employer organizations in defense of Florida's Workers' Compensation law. In Stahl v. Hialeah Hospital et al.,...

As tort liability has combined with the digital age, a party's cell phone, and its Electronically Stored Information (ESI), may operate as a goldmine of information in discovery.  A person's smart phone can create a map to the owner's thoughts and actions.  A cell phone may reveal relevant...

Businesses such as hotels, motels, restaurants, and bars have long owed heightened duties to their customers. The basic rule is that the owner or operator of a hotel or restaurant has a duty to exercise reasonable care for the protection of its patrons. Courts have noted, however, that the business...

Litigants have long recognized the need for "expert witnesses" in the presentation of their claims at trial. The term "expert witness" has been defined as a person duly and regularly engaged in the practice of a profession who holds a professional degree from a university or college and has had...

Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) has concluded that Uber drivers are contractors and not employees when addressing the issue of entitlement to unemployment benefits. The decision was a result of two Uber drivers who sought unemployment compensation from the company. At the...

Sometimes it is easy to neglect cases involving claimants who have been receiving permanent total disability benefits for long periods of time. The claims are placed on automatic pay status and forgotten. However, they should be evaluated at least on an annual basis. The worst-case scenario would be...