Bio

Good morning. Yesterday I said I would give you a little biographical history. So, here goes.

I have been a business and commercial litigator since I graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center (no kidding, they do not call it the law school) in 1993. In that time, I have represented every type of client - individual, small business, big business, school, religious institution, not for profit - on matters relating to their business. Typically, business disputes focus on contract issues, money owed, employee or officer disputes, discrimination issues and theft of trade secrets or employees.

In 2000, I expanded the scope of my practice to include insurance coverage issues. This is different than insurance defense, which is a practice in which you are hired by the insurance company to represent one of its insureds against someone else because the insured's policy provides a defense as part of the coverage purchased. In coverage disputes, you either represent or sue the insurance company concerning whether there is coverage under the policy or not.

In the last two years, a good portion of my practice has turned to acting as counselor instead of advocate. Many of you have been looking to use my skills as a litigator to devise ways to avoid litigation long before it starts. Aside from being a huge cost savings to you, it's been a lot of fun for me. In litigation, you learn where the bodies are buried. Later, you learn that just about everyone buries them in the same place. So, I now help clients try to reduce the risks and exposure that can lead to litigation or minimize the impact of litigation should it arise.

I am licensed to practice law both in the state and the federal courts in Florida at both the trial and the appellate levels. I also have a lot of experience in arbitration, which has been a favorite method of dispute resolution by the NASD for a long time and is an increasingly popular method for courts to get cases of their dockets.

I am fortunate to have a perfect record of reported decisions going in my favor on appeal - meaning, all of the written opinions that appear in the law books with my name next to them are cases I won.

As you all probably already know, I have worked out of Miami for the duration of my career but have handled matters throughout the state and even in some instances other states (New York, California, New Jersey, Texas). With all the upgrades and improvements in computer technology, this has become so much easier and cheaper than it was just ten years ago.

I hope this gives you all a slightly better flavor for what I do all day when I'm not writing to you. Have a great day. Tomorrow, back to business.

Change Is Coming

Happy post-Memorial Day, everyone. It would seem that one of the few things in life we can always count on is change. Today, for instance, we saw the first nomination of a Hispanic woman to the U.S. Supreme Court. Like the rest of the world and everyone in it, I am not immune from the forces of change. In fact, in most instances I am a fan of it. I think reinventing yourself every few years is important and necessary to stay competitive (you can call that Madonna-nomics).

So, with great fanfare and enthusiasm I announce that, effective Monday, June 1, 2009, I will no longer be with Shutts & Bowen LLP. After nine years of learning the ins and outs of large firm practice and the representation of small and large clients on both the small and the grand scale, I am giving up my corner office, support staff and all the free coffee I could drink in favor of going it alone. Kai Jacobs PA will be my new home and I will offer the very same business litigation and counseling services I have for the last 16 years. The only differences - I can do it for a lower rate and now you'll be dealing with me directly in most instances instead of associates, paralegals or staff attorneys. Like everything else in this recession-ridden economy, I am going back to the roots of the practice to try and bring clients more service. After all, lawyers are overhead and people want something more for their money these days.

To all my clients, thank you for your continued support. To all my friends, thank you for your continued support.

Tomorrow, I will put together a brief bio so you can all be reminded about what sorts of things I can do to help you and to keep a roof over my head.

It's A Matter Of Judgment

In the course of my travels through the land of legal practice, I've come to learn that lawyers are supposed to be effective communicators but traditionally do a pretty bad job when it comes time to explain the mechanics of legal procedure or the substantive law to clients. I don't really know why this is, but it certainly is a practice that has evolved over time. This leads to misunderstandings on the part of clients who need to know what is going on, misgauged expectations about the litigation itself and downright confusion about what is or is not going on in a lawsuit.

A particular area of misunderstanding is the end result itself - the judgment. It has been my experience - and maybe this is your assumption, as well - that clients do not know what happens once the judgment is entered. Most think of it as the end itself- you obtain the judgment, it means you win, there are mechanisms in place that force the other guy to pay. If only it were so.

When litigating with big corporate defendants, the judgment usually is the end of the road. The defendant will pay and that will be the end of the matter. But what about others? What happens then?

Sadly, you will find that most people don't just pony up and pay the judgment (which really ought not surprise you since you had to sue them to get the judgment in the first place). Typically, collection of the judgment is done through more legal process. You heard me right- more legal work.

Ordinarily, you have to locate the defendant's assets. You get to do this the same way you got to learn about their defenses to your lawsuit- through discovery. You get send requests for production of documents, interrogatories and you get to take their deposition. Hopefully, you find assets that are worth seizing and selling to pay off your judgment.

You also get to seize the defendant's bank accounts, but that's also done by legal process.

The biggest advantage you have in obtaining a judgment, though, is the fact that a judgment recorded in the public record acts as a lien against real estate owned by the defendant located in the same county where your judgment is recorded. So, assuming your defendant owns any property that is not homestead protected, you can sue to foreclose that property and pay your judgment.

Short version of everything I just told you - getting the judgment is not at all the end of the road for our relationship as attorney and client.

Don't Buy That Foreclosure Just Yet

Everyone is looking for a deal these days. The economy is bad, people are out of work and the real estate boom is spiralling downward. Many, many, many, many, many people I know are looking into the possibility of purchasing a foreclosed property because the price is very low. It must be a good deal, right?

Well, keep this in mind. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. This applies to foreclosed property, too. Yes, you may be able to secure a lower than market purchase price, but there are downsides you should be aware of. First, the lender that took the property back by foreclosure is not warranting title to the house. What does that mean? It means, that you may not have a guarantee that you are receiving title to the house free and clear of anyone else's claims to it (like the IRS or the county for unpaid taxes).

So, you may be required to file a quiet title action. That's right, you get to sue everyone in the chain of title (everyone disclosed by the public records as having an interest in the house) to make your claim the primary one and wipe theirs out. That costs money.

So, beware before you decide to put down your money on a great deal.

Shame And Hope At The Same Time

Florida is sort of like Neverland. The old come here to feel young, the young come to feel invincible and the crooked come here to go straight or hide. Whoever you are, Florida is a haven and it always has been. We've housed pirates, smugglers, hucksters and runaways since long before Florida was actually designated a state. We have a constitutional ban on income tax, we have the most debtor friendly laws in the entire country and some very favorable banking laws for those coming to our shores with foreign funds.

But, last night I heard something that cuts directly against the grain of Florida's tolerant attitude - this is the only state in the entire country that outlaws adoption by gay men or women. I was at a great event put on by the Family Resource Center at which a gay couple, Wayne Larue Smith and Dan Skahen, spoke about raising 33 foster children because they could not adopt. I thought that the statistic had to be wrong. Surely, some very red states also outlawed gay adoption.

Guess what? These guys were right. Florida is the only state that has a law that, on its face, stating that gay people shall not be allowed to adopt. Check out Section 63.042 Fla. Stat:

(3) No person eligible to adopt under this statute may adopt if that person is a homosexual.

Right there. Black and white. Discrimination against an entire group of people, legislated for everyone else to see. Hate made law. Unbelievable. Shameful.

As surreal as this seems, I have to applaud the efforts of the Family Resource Center. I know that I do not take stances in this blog and do not like to share personal views because the whole purpose of these updates is to provide information. But, this is different, I think. The Family Resource Center, in the midst of our State's blatantly legislated homophobia, has created a foster care program specifically aimed at working with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning kids. If you know someone who might need or want to participate in this program, you should give the Family Resource Center a call, (305) 374-6006.

Environmental Equality?

I'm sure all of you are aware of the idea that this country's founding documents, the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, are based in the concepts of equality and freedom. How many times have you heard people declare that they can say what they want to because they have freedom of speech. I'm sure we've all heard and are well familiar with the ideas of freedom of religion, the right to be free from unreasonable searches, to confront witnesses, etc.

I'm also sure everyone knows about our fundamental idea that "all men are created equal." Sure, it took the legislators another 200 years or so to enacts laws that actually put this into practice (I'm talking about the several civil rights statutes of the 1960s), but we now have laws that enforce the ideas of equality among the races (as a matter of law; I understand that you don't have to go very far from your own home to see that everyone is not necessarily treated the same), religions, ages and sexual orientations.

How about environmental equality? Believe it or not, the State of Florida has formed the Center for Environmental Equality and Justice. Its formation was even enacted into law and appears in the same part of the statute books as the other civil rights statutes. The center's purpose is to "conduct and facilitate research, develop policies, and engage in education, training, and community outreach with respect to environmental equity and justice issues."

I suppose I'm showing my ignorance by having never given this real thought on my own, but I had never considered applying civil rights to the ideas of environmental equality. Knowing it's out there, though, I can see that those without a sufficient voice in government could have a toxic waste site installed near their home, be forced to live in government housing built over substandard grade soil, be exposed to chemicals and pollutants most other people never have to endure. Relegating others to less than desirable or downright dangerous environmental factors could, in fact, be a violation of one's civil rights.

Now, for what it is worth, Florida has not enacted any laws identifying any specific form of environmental discrimination or otherwise making it illegal. It appears that's why the center was formed - to study the parameters of what could be considered environmental inequality.

Interesting.

In Case You Can't Enough Of Pirates

My friend Christine Alden, Esq., renowned immigration attorney, passed this article along to me about human smuggling and Florida's most recent effort to combat it. I think the Sun Sentinel does a fine job of spelling it all out, so it is reproduced below. The article is written by Tonya Alanez and was contributed to by Luis Perez. It's an important story and an important development, as it not only impacts citizens involved in human smuggling, but the human cargo they transport.

TALLAHASSEE - In an effort to crack down on human-smuggling operations in Florida, lawmakers on Tuesday created a state statute that would outlaw such activities and give local law enforcement arrest powers.Senators on Tuesday unanimously passed a law that would make human smuggling a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail for each person smuggled.The new state law is aimed to serving as a deterrent preventing tragedies at shore and sea where numerous Haitians, Bahamians and Cubans, bound for the United States drown each year."Florida's shores have long been used by smugglers," said Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland. Her bill, SB 502, is an attempt, she said, to help "unfortunate refugees who are thrown into Florida's waters by criminal smugglers."
House Bill 123, sponsored by Rep. William Snyder, R-Stuart, passed unanimously in the House Friday."We have so much coastline and we're a destination point for smugglers," Snyder said. "So this bill makes perfect sense."But immigration advocates have expressed concern that the new state law is so broad that anyone driving in a car with undocumented immigrants could be arrested."First of all, legally, the state doesn't have a right to do this. It's a federal issue," said Randy McGrorty, chief executive officer of Catholic Charities Legal Service in Miami. "I really think in many ways it's a cover for anti-immigrant people to make political points and that they're not serious about the issue."Up to now, human-smuggling cases had been handled on the federal level with local law enforcement only able to detain suspects until federal authorities arrived.State law had prohibited only human trafficking -- defined as recruitment and/or transportation of migrants into the country through coercion or fraud for exploitation -- but not human smuggling, which is considered a consensual transaction.The new state law would take effect Oct. 1 and would give local law enforcement on-scene arrest powers, allow them to obtain witness statements and preserve crime-scene evidence.