Florida Supreme Court Oral Argument Press Summaries

Oral Argument Press Summaries
November 4-8, 2002

The following summaries are drawn from briefs and lower court judgments.They are meant to provide a general idea of facts and issues presentedin cases, and should not be considered official court documents. Factsand issues presented in these summaries should be checked for accuracyagainst records and briefs, available from the Court, which provide morespecific information.

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Names &phone numbers of attorneys in these cases are available in Acrobatformat.

RobertCraig Waters, Director of Public Information
(850) 414-7641

Florida Supreme Court OralArguments
Monday, November 4, 2002
Arrive early. Times &order of appearance are tentative and subject to change with no notice.Cases may be postponed due to exigent circumstances.

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Case

Time

Facts & Issues

Place of Origin

Corporate Express OfficeProducts, Inc. v. Doug Phillips

SC01-2741

View briefs in Acrobatformat by clicking the case number(s) here

9:00

Phillips and others workedfor companies acquired by Corporate Express. Each had signed agreementswith their original employers saying they would not leave to work for competitors.After acquisitions of these companies and internal restructuring of CorporateExpress's business operations, Phillips and the others left to work fora competitor. Corporate Express sued to enforce the noncompetition agreements,but the former employees argued that the acquisition of companies and internalrestructuring effectively had terminated their agreements. The trial courtdisagreed, but the Fifth District reversed.

Orange County

State of Florida v. AntoineL. McBride

SC02-627

View briefs in Acrobatformat by clicking the case number(s) here 

Approx. 9:40

McBride was sentenced asa habitual offender to 30 years imprisonment for attempted first degreemurder and associated offenses. Later, he argued to a trial court thatthe statute in force at the time of the offense did not permit him to besentenced as a habitual offender, an argument which the trial court rejected.McBride did not appeal this ruling. McBride raised the issue again in alater proceeding, and it was again rejected. On appeal, the Fifth DistrictCourt of Appeal reversed. The State now appeals the holding of the DistrictCourt, arguing that the original trial court's denial of McBride's motiondecided the matter with finality, and bars all subsequent litigation ofthe issue.

Marion County

Travis Tanguay v. Stateof Florida

SC01-613

View briefs in Acrobatformat by clicking the case number(s) here 

Approx. 10:30

Tanguay was sentenced asa juvenile to a period of detention not to exceed his 19th birthday.He was held beyond that date to be evaluated under the Jimmy Ryce Act,and the State later filed a civil commitment petition against him. He movedto dismiss on grounds that the State lost jurisdiction because he was heldfor evaluation after his lawful sentence had expired. The trial court dismissedthe motion, but the Second District Court reversed in part and certifiedthe question to the Supreme Court.

Polk County

Florida Supreme Court OralArguments
Tuesday, November 5,2002
Arrive early. Times &order of appearance are tentative and subject to change with no notice.Cases may be postponed due to exigent circumstances.

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Case

Time

Facts & Issues

Place of Origin

Jeffrey G. Hutchinsonv. State of Florida

SC01-500

View briefs in Acrobatformat by clicking the case number(s) here 

9:00

Hutchinson was charged withthe September 1998 murders of his girlfriend Renee Flaherty and her threechildren Geoffrey, 9, Amanda, 7, and Logan, 4. More than a year earlier,he had been diagnosed with Gulf War Syndrome apparently caused by exposureto neurotoxins. At trial he was found guilty. The judge sentenced him tolife for the death of his girlfriend and to death for the slayings of thethree children. This is his direct appeal.

Okaloosa County

The Florida Bar v. JorgeLuis Cueto

SC00-890

View briefs in Acrobatformat by clicking the case number(s) here 

Approx. 10:00

Cueto pled guilty to a felonycharge of providing unlawful compensation by giving numerous illegal kickbacksto claims adjusters over a six-year period. This Court disbarred him onMarch 21, 2002. Cueto filed a motion for rehearing asking this Court toreconsider its decision. The Court has requested supplemental informationregarding the facts of Cueto's codefendants' cases.

Dade County

Michael Allen Griffinv. State of Florida

SC01-457

View briefs in Acrobatformat by clicking the case number(s) here 

Approx. 10:30

Griffin was tried, convicted,and sentenced to death for the murder of Metro-Dade police officer JosephMartin. His sentence was affirmed on appeal. He now challenges its validity.

Dade County

Harold Gene Lucas v.State of Florida

SC01-1633|SC02-314

View briefs in Acrobatformat by clicking the case number(s) here 

Approx. 11:10

Lucas was tried, convicted,and sentenced to death for the August 1976 murder of Jill Piper in BonitaSprings. His sentence later was affirmed on appeal. He now challenges itsvalidity. 

Lee County

Florida Supreme Court OralArguments
Wednesday, November 6,2002
Arrive early. Times &order of appearance are tentative and subject to change with no notice.Cases may be postponed due to exigent circumstances.

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Case

Time

Facts & Issues

Place of Origin

Richard M. Cooper v.State of Florida

SC01-2285|SC02-623

View briefs in Acrobatformat by clicking the case number(s) here 

9:00

Cooper was tried, convicted,and sentenced to death for the June 1982 murders of Steven Fridella, BobbyMartindale, and Gary Petersen. His sentences were affirmed on appeal. Henow challenges their validity. 

Pinellas County

Lloyd Chase Allen v.State of Florida

SC02-371| SC02-1079

View briefs in Acrobatformat by clicking the case number(s) here 

Approx. 9:40

Allen was tried, convicted,and sentenced to death for the November 1991 murder of Dortha Cribbs inSummerland Key. His sentence was affirmed on appeal. He now challengesits validity.

Monroe County

Oba Chandler v. Stateof Florida

SC01-1468

View briefs in Acrobatformat by clicking the case number(s) here 

Approx. 10:30

Chandler was tried, convicted,and sentenced to death for the June 1989 murders of Joan Rogers and herdaughters Michelle and Christe, whose bound bodies were found floatingin Tampa Bay. His sentence was affirmed on appeal. He now challenges itsvalidity.

Pinellas County

Florida Supreme Court OralArguments
Thursday, November 7,2002
Arrive early. Times &order of appearance are tentative and subject to change with no notice.Cases may be postponed due to exigent circumstances.

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Case

Time

Facts & Issues

Place of Origin

Inquiry Concerning aJudge: Rosa I. Rodriguez

SC01-358

View briefs in Acrobatformat by clicking the case number(s) here 

9:00

Judge Rodriguez has beenordered to appear before the Court to be publicly reprimanded for unethicalconduct.

Dade County

Amendments to Code ofJudicial Conduct

SC02-147|SC02-1034

View briefs in Acrobatformat by clicking the case number(s) here 

Approx. 9:10

The Court will considera report and petition on ways that judges and judicial staff in Floridamight ethically provide pro bono services to the public.

Statewide impact

Amendments to Rules RegulatingThe Florida Bar

SC02-1050

View briefs in Acrobatformat by clicking the case number(s) here 

Approx. 9:50

The Court will receive areport from its standing committee on pro bono services provided by attorneysto the public.

Statewide impact

Amendments to Rules RegulatingThe Florida Bar

SC02-1689

View briefs in Acrobatformat by clicking the case number(s) here 

Approx. 10:30

The Court will considera proposal to adopt new ethics rules on the ways that attorneys who workfor insurance companies should conduct their business.

Statewide impact

Leonard David Randallv. Florida Dep't of Law Enforcement

SC01-2135

View briefs in Acrobatformat by clicking the case number(s) here 

REMOVED FROM CALENDAR
Randall was convicted in1985 of fraudulently making a certificate as a notary public. He receiveda full pardon in 1998. In 1999 he applied with FDLE for a certificate ofeligibility to have his criminal record expunged, which was denied. Hesued FDLE, but the trial court ruled against him. The First District Courtaffirmed but noted a conflicting decision of the Fifth District Court.

Leon County

Florida Supreme Court OralArguments
Friday, November 8, 2002
Arrive early. Times &order of appearance are tentative and subject to change with no notice.Cases may be postponed due to exigent circumstances.

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Case

Time

Facts & Issues

Place of Origin

In re Retirement of JusticeLeander J. Shaw, Jr.

3:00 p.m.

In this ceremonial session,the Court will honor Justice Shaw for more than 20 years of service asa Judge of the First District Court of Appeal from 1979 to 1983, and asa Justice from 1983 until his retirement in January 2003.

Justice Shaw was a residentof Tallahassee at the time of his appointment to the Court in 1983, althoughhe practiced law for many years in Jacksonville beforehand.

Biography

Justice Leander J. Shaw, Jr., was bornin Salem, Virginia, on September 6, 1930. His parents were Leander J. Shaw,retired dean of the Florida A&M University Graduate School in Tallahassee,and Margaret Shaw, retired teacher, Lylburn Downing High School in Lexington,Virginia. He attended public schools in Virginia and received his bachelor'sdegree in 1952 from West Virginia State College in Institute, West Virginia.After serving in the Korean conflict as an artillery officer, he enteredlaw school and earned his juris doctor degree in 1957 from Howard Universityin Washington, D.C. He holds honorary doctor of laws degrees from WestVirginia State College (1986), Nova University (1991), and Washington andLee University (1991). In 1990 he was awarded an honorary doctor of publicaffairs degree from Florida International University.

Justice Shaw came to Tallahassee in 1957as an assistant professor of law at Florida A&M University. In 1960he was admitted to The Florida Bar and went into private practice in Jacksonville,where he also served as assistant public defender. In 1969 he joined theState Attorney's staff, where he served as head of the Capital Crimes Divisionand adviser to the grand jury. In 1972 he returned to private practicewith the law firm of Harrison, Finegold and Shaw.

In 1974 Governor Reubin Askew appointedhim to the Florida Industrial Relations Commission, where he served untilOctober 1979 when Governor Bob Graham appointed him to the First DistrictCourt of Appeal. He served there until January 1983 when Governor Grahamappointed him to the Supreme Court. Justice Shaw served as Chief Justicefrom 1990 to 1992.

He is a member of the American Bar, theNational Bar, The Florida Bar, the Florida Government Bar, and the TallahasseeBar associations. He is admitted to practice in all Florida courts, theUnited States Southern District Court of Florida, the United States CircuitCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the United States SupremeCourt.

Justice Shaw served as second vice presidentof the Conference of Chief Justices, as a member of the Board of Directorsof the National Center for State Courts and the American Judicature Society,as Chair of Governor Lawton Chiles' Criminal Justice Task Force, as Vice-Chairof the Florida Supreme Court Racial and Ethnic Bias Study Commission, advisorto Florida's Sentencing Commission, Florida's Standard Jury Instructions-Civil,and as a member of the Judicial Fellows Program, having been appointedby the Chief Justice of the United States.

He serves as advisor to the Supreme CourtCommittees on Fairness, Standard Jury Instructions-Criminal, Rules of JudicialAdministration, and Rules of Criminal Procedure, and as a member of FloridaState University College of Law Board of Visitors.

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