You Can't Just Leave Them To Bleed

Apparently, some of you really took to heart what I wrote the other day about your lack of duty to assist others. Let me clarify here for those of you who have come to the conclusion that you can just leave a guy to bleed to death. There are some restrictions and limitations you should be aware of.

The one of most immediate concern to you is the duty that arises if someone is injured or falls ill while on your property. We are talking here, of course, about persons who are on your property with your consent (known in the legal world as "invitees" because we lawyers just can't seem to use words that everyone else would). And by property I mean not only your residence but your place of business.

Should something happen - like a visitor, guest, patron - collapses or is injured, you cannot - I repeat - you cannot - just leave the poor guy happy in the knowledge that you have no obligations to him. Unlike passing someone in public, you do have some duties to persons who come on to your property with your consent.

The good news for you, it takes very little to comply with these duties. In Florida, you do not need to be able render CPR, or even the Heimlich Maneuver. Instead, you are required only to take such action that is deemed reasonable under the circumstances. Reasonable under the circumstances typically means "summoning medical assistance within a reasonable time." In other words, call 911 right away.

But what about first aid? Well, the law does not require that you be trained in any kind of first aid or that you even have someone on site who can perform first aid. Ordinarily, a proprietor or property owner "will seldom be required to do more than give such first aid as he reasonable can, and take reasonable steps to turn the sick man over to a physician, or to those who will look after him and see that medical assistance is obtained."

Silly Laws For The Newcomers

Today, I welcome many new people to my blog entries (translation: I scoured my networking sites and added a bunch of people). In honor of their inclusion, I present to you my second installment of silly laws I found. I will return to providing you information you might actually be able to use on Monday. So, here we go:

Frankfort, Kentucky, makes it against the law to shoot off a policeman's tie.
Horses are forbidden to eat fire hydrants in Marshalltown, Iowa.
Idaho state law makes it illegal for a man to give his sweetheart a box of candy weighing less than fifty pounds.
In Denver it is unlawful to lend your vacuum cleaner to your next-door neighbor.
In Devon, Connecticut, it is unlawful to walk backwards after sunset.
In Greene, New York, it is illegal to eat peanuts and walk backwards on the sidewalks when a concert is on.
In Lexington, Kentucky, it's illegal to carry an ice cream cone in your pocket.
In Memphis, Tennessee, it is illegal for a woman to drive a car unless there is a man either running or walking in front of it waving a red flag to warn approaching motorists and pedestrians.
In Ohio, if you ignore an orator on Decoration day to such an extent as to publicly play croquet or pitch horseshoes within one mile of the speaker's stand, you can be fined $25.00.
In Pocatello, Idaho, a law passed in 1912 provided that "The carrying of concealed weapons is forbidden, unless same are exhibited to public view."
In Seattle, Washington, it is illegal to carry a concealed weapon that is over six feet in length.
In Tennessee, it is illegal to shoot any game other than whales from a moving automobile.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, it is against the law to open a soda bottle without the supervision of a licensed engineer.
It is against the law for a monster to enter the corporate limits of Urbana, Illinois.
It is illegal to drive more than two thousand sheep down Hollywood Boulevard at one time.
It is illegal to say "Oh, Boy" in Jonesboro, Georgia.
It is Texas law that when two trains meet each other at a railroad crossing, each shall come to a full stop, and neither shall proceed until the other has gone.
It's illegal in Wilbur, Washington, to ride an ugly horse.
Kansas state law requires pedestrians crossing the highways at night to wear tail lights.
Kirkland, Illinois, law forbids bees to fly over the village or through any of its streets.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Attention Malcontents!

Ok, my surly curmudgeons, this one's for you. In the day to day course of my practice, I come across the occasional client who is hell bent on really sticking it to the other guy. More important than the money, the protection of a business relationship or some other valuable asset is some deep-rooted desire to punish and huniliate the other guy.

Ignoring the obvious that folks like this do not believe in karma, I am frequently approached and requested by clients to undertake a course of action whose primary purpose is to make the litigation as painful as possible and the other guy's life similarly miserable.

My other favorite situation along this vein is when clients tell me that they've got someone backing them financially to make sure I do this (largely because the backer hates the other guy more than the actual client).

Hopefully, you are reading this in disbelief and are thinking to yourself, "I could not and would not ever do such a thing." Good for you. For those of you who think this sounds like one of your meetings with me or your own lawyer, you should know that stirring up litigation is illegal. Read on, friends.

As a matter of law, paying someone to pursue a lawsuit and acting as the person bringing that lawsuit for the principal purpose of stirring up litigation and being a general pain to someone else is illegal and a crime. By the way, this law applies to lawyers, too, who may be trying to suggest frivolous or questionable litigation for the principal purpose of annoying someone else.

The statute you need to know is 877.01. It says in pertinent part:


The 2008 Florida Statutes
Title XLVICRIMES
Chapter 877MISCELLANEOUS CRIMES
View Entire Chapter
877.01 Instigation of litigation; penalty.--
(1) Whoever gives, promises, offers or conspires to give, promise, or offer, to anyone any bribe, money, goods, presents, reward, or any valuable thing whatsoever with the intent and purpose of stirring up strife and litigation; or with intent and purpose of assisting, seeking out, influencing, or advising the accused, sick, injured, uninformed, or others to bring suit or seek professional legal services or advice, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
(2) Whoever, in any way, solicits, receives or accepts or agrees to receive or accept, or who conspires to receive or accept, any bribe, money, goods, presents, reward, or any valuable thing whatsoever, or any promise, contract, or agreement whatsoever, with the intent and purpose of stirring up strife and litigation; or with the intent or purpose of seeking out, influencing, assisting, or advising the accused, sick, injured, uninformed, or others to bring suit, or seek professional legal services, counsel, or advice, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

Play nice, everyone.

44

Democrat, Republican or independent - today is a historic occasion. We are and should be rightly awed that we have for once lived up to our lofty promise contained in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal and that we put aside racial barriers and elect a man to the Presidency of the United States that the Constitution counted as only three-fifths of a person and less than fifty years ago, would not have been able walk, drink, eat or sit in the same place as white citizens of the same country.

Not to minimize or take away from the meaning of this gigantic leap forward we make not only as Americans but as the humans, but we have something else to be thankful for. Today, as we have done forty-three times before for the world to see, we watch the chief executive officer of a country and commander of its military willingly, peacefully, without coercion, force or rebellion, sit down with a successor he had absolutely no hand in picking, turn over the keys to his office and disappear from governance. We take for granted that this is the case and yet the world is full of instances of rebellion, violent overthrow and challenges to duly elected officials by political rivals and challengers (check out Africa and Asia for examples).

For all of its shortcomings and faults (which, thankfully, our Constitution allows us to acknowledge in public and express), the United States has managed this unbelievable task of peacefully handing power over to successors without fail. We are a plural society and, where more than one opinion or set of beliefs resides, geopolitics frequently proves that one group seizes and then desperately clings to power and often at the expense of the minority voices. Not so here.

In discussing this historic day with friends and coi-workers, I was surprised to learn that many people (including me) do not fully understand or appreciate what the scope of duties are for the President. So, without further ado, I present to you the Constitution of the United States (well, the relevant part, anyway):

Section 2. The President shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.

He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law: but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.
The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session.

Section 3. He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States.

Congratulations to the Forty-Fourth President of the United States of America, Barack Obama - and congratulations to all of you for helping to fulfill the promises of the Constitution and the ideals that might still be able serve as an example to the rest of the world.

Little Johnny's a Criminal?

Good morning parents and students. This is directed specifically towards you. While the idea that cheating is bad is not news to you, the idea that it is criminal might be. For those of you who may have missed that - cheating in school is illegal.

By that, I mean, of course, certain forms of cheating. Lying to the gym teacher about whether you were really hit with the dodgeball will not land you a stint in the pokey. However:

877.17 Works to be submitted by students without substantial alteration.--
(1) It shall be unlawful for any person or business entity to sell, offer to sell, or advertise for sale any term paper, thesis, dissertation, essay, or report or any written, recorded, pictorial, artistic, or other assignment which the seller or advertiser knew or reasonably should have known was intended for submission by a student, unaltered to any substantial degree, in fulfillment of the requirements for a degree, diploma, certificate, or course of study at a university, college, academy, school, or other educational institution in the state.



If you violate this statute, you can be charged with a second degree misdemeanor. Sounds pretty simple - don't sell papers or other school projects to students, but the number of instances I found of this leads me to believe that this is booming business on campuses around America. So much so, in fact, that legislatures (other states have adopted similar laws) have had to make it a crime in order to try to stop it. That's disconcerting.

So, all of you budding entrepreneurs out there, stay away from selling that "A" you received for your work on "Napoleon: Proof That Invading Russia In Winter Is The Hallmark Of Stupidity" to that freshman down the hall. If you want to make money, you can still offer typing, tutoring, research and editing as services, be paid for it and stay out of jail - all at the same time.

Have a great holiday weekend.

Wait....It Is Your Job, After All

Like life, the English language and just about everything else, every rule seems to have an exception. For instance, in my last entry I told you about your lack of duty to assist, help or get involved. I told you that you could essentially walk the face of the State of Florida with blinders on, ignorant to the needs or wants of those around you and do so without the fear of inviting litigation or criminal penalty.

Guess what? There is an exception to this rule and it has to do with, of all things, fire. So, that you can reference this the next time you start a bonfire in your yard:

877.15 Failure to control or report dangerous fire.--Any person who knows, or has reasonable grounds to believe, that a fire is endangering the life or property of another, and who fails to take reasonable measures to put out or control the fire when the person can do so without substantial risk to himself or herself, or who fails to give a prompt fire alarm, is guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083, if:

(1) The person knows that he or she is under an official, contractual, or other legal duty to control or combat the fire; or

(2) The fire was started lawfully by the person or with his or her assent and was started on property in his or her custody or control.

Now, I have to admit, the statute is not a model of clarity. Plainly, a fireman is under an official, contractual or other duty to combat a fire. But what about you? Mr. or Ms. Smith, just driving by the scene? Typically, you have no obligation - unless, of course, you are a member of some fire department OR the fire is on your property or was otherwise started by you or with your permission. That means, weekend warriors, if you go to the Everglades and your campfire spreads to the surrounding dry brush, you can't just run for the car and get out of town. You are, in fact, responsible for reporting the fire.

It's Not My Job

I always hear that we live in a "community" of sorts and the public and private outlets are always imploring me to acknowledge or practice the ideal that we should all help one another. This sentiment has been around for a long time. You may remember that Hillary Clinton, back in her days as First Lady, frequently employed the slogan "It Takes a Village." There are about a million more of these slogans out there ("One World One Peace," "Together We Can Build A Better Tomorrow"). From all of the attention and hype this sentiment receives, you would think that we've got some real impetus to come together to form a more perfect union (See? It goes all the way back to the Declaration of Independence).

The law does not share in this sentiment of a collective whole coming together. In fact, the law seems to be very Thomas Jefferson-like in that it protects the sanctity of the individual and rewards the lack of entanglement in the affairs of others. You see, in Florida we have no obligation to help one another. Seriously. If you are walking down the street, somebody falls in front of you, breaks a leg and hits his head on the pavement, you need do nothing. You are not liable to this person for damages (unless, of course, you pushed him) and have no obligation to call the police, provide first aid or what have you. You get to go on about your business.

Sound morally wrong? It gets worse. If you decide to act on your moral compunction to assist, you better be right and good ad rendering first aid. Once you get involved, you can be liable for making any condition worse.

You are not reading this wrong. There is no legal duty to assist another person in distress, but if you choose to, count yourself in for any additional damages caused.

Maybe that's why we need all the slogans.