JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG

WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL RICHARD E GERSTEIN JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG. THIS BLOG IS DEDICATED TO JUSTICE BUILDING RUMOR, HUMOR, AND A DISCUSSION ABOUT AND BETWEEN THE JUDGES, LAWYERS AND THE DEDICATED SUPPORT STAFF, CLERKS, COURT REPORTERS, AND CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS WHO LABOR IN THE WORLD OF MIAMI'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE. POST YOUR COMMENTS, OR SEND RUMPOLE A PRIVATE EMAIL AT HOWARDROARK21@GMAIL.COM. Winner of the prestigious Cushing Left Anterior Descending Artery Award.

Friday, November 06, 2015

READING AND WRITING


No. 3D15-1969Lower Tribunal No. 10-20591Markwood Investments Limited, et al.,Appellant,vs.Latam Investments, LLC, et al.,Appellee. 

An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Hon. Eric William Hendon, Judge.

...The order contains an unfortunate and unnecessary element of ambiguity concerning whether it is final. First, it dismisses only the complaint (and not the case) and only “without prejudice,” two indications the order is non-final. The order then changes direction by finding that the Appellants’ claim is barred by collateral estoppel, in which case the ability to amend is futile and all judicial labor is at an end, indicating the order is final. Such ambiguous orders create problem...

Many things in law are difficult. Writing a clear and unambiguous order of dismissal is not one of them. See GMI, LLC v. Asociacion del Futbol Argentino, 40 Fla. L. Weekly D1969 (Fla. 3d DCA Aug. 26, 2015) (“An appropriate order dismissing . . . might read ‘The motion to dismiss is granted. The plaintiff [name]’s complaint and case against defendant [name] are dismissed. The court reserves jurisdiction to consider a timely motion for costs and attorney’s fees.’”)

Rumpole says, ouch!!  Appellate law is cruel. 

See You In Court. 

23 comments:

Real Fake Former Judge said...

Law students write better. For shame judge. For shame.

Anonymous said...

My new kitten Hobart stays home all day and watches cable news with the housekeeper. He's now something of a political pundit.

Anonymous said...

These are the kinds of things that should come up in political judicial campaigns. Just sayin

Anonymous said...

Hello. Does anybody think that shade out to be cast on the lawyers. They probably drafted the order as is common practice on the civil side.

Anonymous said...

I don't know if this was the case in the appeal, and it certainly doesn't excuse the judge, but most of the time in civil the attorneys write the order and submit it to the judge. And usually that judge just signs it while listening to some other matter without even reading it. Even matters with a long order will get written up by the attorneys and submitted through e-courtesy to the judge to sign. Again, who knows if s/he is reading it or even remembers the case and their ruling. It is all a shame. The least the judge could do is write the the order and own up to their mistakes.

Legal Observer said...

Hendon has always been a dimwit who cleverly parlayed diversity into a judgeship. He was a terrible and extremely lazy public defender. The truth hurts but this IS the truth.

The Professor said...

The truth is I like Eric as a person, he is great guy, dedicated to doing good, but a legal giant he is not. He does not understand the Rules of Civil Procedure, believes all cases are in equity if he does not like where the rules will take the case, has no concept of the rules of evidence and makes things up as he goes along. That is why this shows in the dismissal order at issue.

It was bad enough when he was in County Court. Now that he is in the big leagues, well that is a different matter. He is in way over his head. I just don't know where to send him. Probate, but he does not have enough seniority. He has the heart for Juvenile, especially Dependency.

Anonymous said...

As in most cases (criminal and civil), don't the litigants write the orders and the Judges simply sign them? I'm not saying that he should blindly sign orders without making sure they are correct/compart with what an order should be, but outside of a complex motion or issue I'm sure you have had more Judges say "did/can you draft an order," than you have had say "I'll create an order for you"?

the trialmaster said...

I recently tried a case before Judge Hendon for a week. I found him very pleasant to work with and no pressure to move the case along if a witness was late or unavailable. His rulings were well founded and excluded some prejudicial evidence the insurance company tried to get it. I would take him for all of my trials. He was a true pleasure and no case of black robe fever.

Fake Hendon said...

E=MC/3...hmmm

"when in due course of human events...nahh"

"ask not what Dade County can do for you, rather ask what you can do for...nope"

"This cause having come on before the court, the case is dismissed, sort of, it appears to be dismissed but its dismissed with and without prejudice , what ever works best." YUP that works for me.

Anonymous said...

Shumie time for me popping a cold one or six. And shumie time for Hendon.

Anonymous said...

I'm shuming it later with a bottle of chateau pape du nuf 04. But Hendon? He'll be fine. No shumie time for him.

Anonymous said...

Have a great weekend Colley!

Anonymous said...

I remember him as a supervisor at the public defenders office. Yes, that right, he was a supervisor .... It is called diversity people. Affirmative action is another word for it. And I got no problem with it. Unless it is my lawyer or more importantly, my doctor.

Anonymous said...

6:52's comments make it clear this comment section is not a Safe Space for me. The internet is public space and any site online should be pro-active in eliminating Hate Speech. 6:52's hateful, disgusting language should prompt the blogger to reveal his ISP so he can face criminal prosecution. At the very least, he should lose his voting rights. Democracies are no place for hate speech.

At the very least, the blogger should include a Trigger Warning. My suggestion is a bright red flashing text reading TRIGGER WARNING on each of the four corners of the blog.

While there is no undoing hate, the blogger should dedicate this Wednesday (formerly, regrettably known as "Veterans' Day") to promoting LGBT blogging among People of Color, and should announce the installation of a panel of no fewer than four women of color to have final say as to whatever content gets posted in the future.

It's unbelievable I even have to write this. In 2015. Really. Un. Believe. Able.

Anonymous said...

Judge Hendon is an excellent judge, and my bet is that his mistake was in just signing an order prepared by one of us.

Anonymous said...

Racist,bigoted, anti Hispanic jerks .........that's what most of you who post here are

Anonymous said...

http://www.taxabletalk.com/2015/11/04/time-running-out-on-the-miccosukee-tribes-battle-with-the-irs/

Anonymous said...

8:50 - Doesn't matter if you are black, white, hispanic, young, old, gay straight, male, female, human or alien... this is an equal opportunity blog where EVERYONE can get called out. No one is off-limits for criticism. Especially when you have a job subject to re-election and public review.

Rumpole said...

I think Hendon should say "the buck stops with me " even if he signed an order a lawyer submitted. He should say he made a mistake and will work harder to make sure it doesn't happen in the future. And then we should all move on.
Thus I know. The best judges write their own orders on serious matters.

Anonymous said...

You're right Rump, but I see no reason why the Third finds it necessary to blast Hendon in its opinion. I think it's incredibly disrespectful, unnecessary, and unprofessional. It is unfortunate that Judge Logue is following the tradition of nastiness inspired by Judge Schwartz. That is the real story here.

BTDT

PS----as for Hendon, I'm not a huge fan of his rulings, but at least he's pleasant and respectful. It seems as if that's a lot to ask for these days.

Tired of BTDT said...

BTDT - the super majority of judges in the building are pleasant and respectful. List them and you will see that you're letting a few bad apples ruin the barrel.

Forrest Gump's Momma said...

Stupid is as stupid does.