Last Wednesday, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan announced the arrest of Deputy Mike Priest for sexual battery. Deputy Priest had been placed on desk duty following allegations that he threatened a woman with public intoxication charges unless she performed sexual acts in his patrol car. Deputy Priest is set to be arraigned on the two pending counts of sexual battery on May 20, 2010.
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Escambia County Deputy Mike Priest Arrested
Friday, May 7th, 2010Fishermen Given One Month’s Salary
Friday, May 7th, 2010Gulf Coast fishermen are angry at BP’s offer to compensate them one month’s salary based on earnings during the slowest commercial months of the year. Commercial fisherman have been instrumental in assisting BP’s oil spill efforts despite the uncertainty of their livelihood.
White House Supports Lifting Cap On Oil Damage Claims
Wednesday, May 5th, 2010Today, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs announced that the Obama Administration supports increasing the $75 million dollar cap that companies responsible for oil spills would have to pay in damage claims under the current law.
For more: http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/05/white-house-backs-lifting-liability-limit-for-oil-spills/
Pensacola Beach Deputy Accused of Sexual Assault
Friday, April 16th, 2010Deputy Mike Priest has been placed on desk duty while the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office investigates a woman’s allegations that he forced her to engage in sexual acts. The unidentified woman reported that she was drinking heavily at the beach last month, when Deputy Priest offered to give her a ride home. The woman alleges that Priest drove her to her father’s home, pulled into the driveway and turned off the patrol car’s lights. At this point, she accuses Priest of forcing her into sexual acts by threatening to take her to jail for public intoxication. Deputy Priest sent apologetic text messages to his supervisor a few days after the incident according to the search warrant affidavit. The Sheriff’s Office has seized Priest’s cell phone and patrol car. Priest has not been arrested and the investigation is ongoing.
To watch the local news story: http://tinyurl.com/y2f3auz
New Florida Law on Slip and Fall Cases to Take Effect
Thursday, April 15th, 2010Governor Charlie Crist signed House Bill 689 into law yesterday which changes the burden of proof for injured parties in slip and fall cases. As of July 1, 2010 it will now be more difficult for injured persons to recover damages for slip and fall injuries.
The current slip and fall law in Florida is derived from the 2001 Supreme Court of Florida decision Owens v. Publix Supermarkets, Inc., 802 So.2d 315 (Fla. 2001). This ruling held that the presence of a liquid or dangerous substance on a floor was sufficient to show that the business establishment did not keep the premises in a safe condition for customers. In effect, an injured party only had to prove that the substance existed and resulted in an unsafe condition which caused injury.
The new slip and fall law mandates that if a person slips and falls on a substance in a business establishment, the injured person must prove that the business establishment actually knew of the dangerous condition and should have done something to fix it. In other words, the injured person must now prove that the substance on the floor was there long enough that the business establishment should have known about it, or that the condition occurred regularly enough that the business establishment should have expected the unsafe condition.
If you have any questions about this new law or how it will impact your slip and fall claim, please contact our office and speak with one of our attorneys. You deserve to know your rights.
Insurance vs. Government Health Care- You Be the Judge
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010Bad News for People Who Seem to Prefer Health Care Doled Out by Insurance Companies’ Accountants Rather Than the Government (1) Mr. Houston Tracy, who is insured, has a major medical disorder, but BlueCross BlueShield of Texas said it will not cover it because it was a “pre-existing condition.” This is interesting because Houston is now about two weeks old, and it’s “pre-existing” only in the sense that it was spotted pre-natally, in the womb. Might the government be more sympathetic to Houston than an insurance company would? Paula Ortel wouldn’t think so. (2) Ortel, on Medicare, has a brain tumor that was miraculously wiped out (9 years’ remission!) by an experimental kind of interferon that’s authorized for multiple sclerosis. Medicare had been paying $100,000 a year for her drug. But then Ortel moved from one county in Wisconsin to another, which triggered an automatic review of her records–and Medicare’s realization that her drug was not authorized for brain cancer. The interferon was cut off; the tumor immediately returned; and she now knows she’s doomed. KHOU-TV (Houston) /// Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via ABC News http://abcnews.go.com/Health/HeartFailureNews/newborns-family-learns-pre-existing-conditions-apply-birth/story?id=10218514
