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, October 05, 2018

EIGHT NEW JUDGES COMING TO A COURTROOM NEAR YOU .....

BREAKING SATURDAY AFTERNOON: JUDGE KAVANAUGH CONFIRMED TO US SUPREME COURT IN 5-48 VOTE. Rumpole not to be nominated to fill Kavanaugh's seat on DC Court of Appeals. 

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:

BREAKING NEWS:

AND YOUR THREE NEWEST COUNTY COURT JUDGES ARE ......

Today, Governor Rick Scott announced the appointment of three new County Court judges to replace Judges Dawn V. Denaro, Andrea Ricker Wolfson, and Renatha S. Francis; all three were previously promoted to the Circuit Court.

JUDGE CHRISTINE BANDIN, age 39, currently a partner with Shutts and Bowen. She has been a member of The Florida Bar for 11 years. She currently handles the defense of class action and mass litigation cases for them. She replaces Judge Andrea Ricker Wolfson

JUDGE RAUL CUERVO, age 63, currently a shareholder at Carlton, Fields, Jorden, Burt. He has been a member of The Florida Bar for 33 years. He currently handled the defense of insurance claims, class action suits, and commercial litigation cases. He replaces Judge Renatha Francis.

JUDGE LUIS PEREZ-MEDINA, age 58, currently an ASA at Miami-Dade’s State Attorney’s Office. He has been a member of The Florida Bar for 12 years and has worked at the SAO for his entire career. He ran for an open Circuit Court seat in 2016 in a four way race coming in second place in the primary. In the general election run-off he lost a close contest to Judge Mark Blumstein, 51%-49%. He fills the vacancy created by Judge Dawn Denaro.


SO, YOU WANT TO BE A JUDGE .....

3RD DCA & CIRCUIT COURT & COUNTY COURT .....

THIRD DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL:

Chief Judge Leslie Rothenberg and Judge Richard Suarez are resigning from the 3rd DCA. As a result, the 3rd DCA JNC is accepting applications for their replacements.

If you carefully watched the shenanigans that took place in 2016 with President Obama’s nomination of Merritt Garland to the then open Scalia seat, a nomination that was never even considered by the Senate’s Judiciary Committee for nearly a year, then you need to also think about these two open seats on the 3rd DCA.

Over the next three months, despite the fact that Rick Scott is a lame duck Governor, he will likely appoint, or attempt to appoint a number of judges on the County Court, Circuit Court, DCAs, and yes, three open seats that will be on the Florida Supreme Court.

The 3rd DCA JNC has provided only 19 days for applications to be submitted for the two open seats. The deadline is October 15th. The Interviews are scheduled to take place the following week, on October 22-23. That means that Governor Scott should be receiving the finalists names on his desk on the evening of October 23, 2018. The Governor then has 60 days to choose the two replacements, with a deadline of December 22nd.  Compare this to past history of DCA appointments by Scott and you notice that this particular appointment process has been expedited by approximately fourteen days; exactly the amount of days Scott will have remaining as Governor.   

So, in his final two weeks in office, Scott would likely be choosing the two new 3rd DCA judges, despite the fact that, by then the Governor-Elect will have been known for a full 46 days.

CIRCUIT COURT:

With the resignation of Judge Ariana Fajardo Orshan, (she is now the US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida), Governor Scott also gets to name her replacement. Surprisingly, only ten applied for her seat. Those ten names were considered by the JNC and they have elected to interview two, consider four others who have already been recently interviewed, and not consider four others.

WILL BE INTERVIEWED ON 10/9/18:

DiRaimondo, Christina Marie
Guzman, Carlos

WILL BE CONSIDERED WITHOUT THE NEED FOR AN INTERVIEW:

Altfield, William I.
Bokor, Alexander S.
Brinkley, Tanya J.
Perez-Medina, Luis

WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED:

Barton King, Michelle
Guitian Barker, Maria A.
Cabarga, Carmen R.
Perkins, Joseph


The finalists’ names will likely reach Governor Scott’s desk on the evening of October 9, 2018 with a deadline to name Judge Fajardo Orshan’s replacement of December 8, 2018; again, a full month after the Gubernatorial Election of 2018.

With the resignation of Judge Stephen Millan, the JNC interviewed seven applicants for the open Circuit Court seat including: William Altfield, Alexander Bokor, Tanya Brinkley, Ayana Harris, Gordon Murray, Jorge Perez, and Luis Perez-Medina.

The following names have been sent to Governor Scott:

Judge William Altfield
Judge Alexander Bokor
Judge Tanya Brinkley
Ayana Harris
Luis Perez-Medina

COUNTY COURT:

With the retirement of Judge Wendell Graham, the JNC interviewed one applicant for the open County Court seat: Ariel Rodriguez. They also considered all those applicants that were interviewed for the Denaro, Wolfson, and Francis vacancies.

The following names have been sent to Governor Scott:

Julie Harris Nelson
Jonathan Meltz
Gavin N.L. White

CAPTAIN OUT .......
Captain4Justice@gmail.com


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Please please please JUDGE MICHAEL HANZMAN apply for the Third DCA. You would be a valuable addition to the court.

We need you to serve our legal community with your academic opinions. We need your wisdom as a former successful trial lawyer. You have done so much to serve our community as a juvenile judge and criminal court judge.

We are tired of Per Curiam Affirmed with no written opinions. We know that you will make a lifetime of difference by serving in an Appellate capacity.

We are begging you to apply.

Anonymous said...

I agree. So do the Judges of the 3rd DCA. So do the federal court Judges. Yes - Mike Hanzman would be the first choice for the Governor to select. He should not even have to go through a JNC process. Just look at his 100 plus Orders. They are all like law review articles. None of them strike of Judicial Activism. They all are logical, follow precedent and make legal sense. I knew him in law school. Highest grade on the Florida Bar Exam. People thought he was somewhat aloof when he was younger, but they misunderstood that as he was shy and coming into his own. He has proven his kind judicial temperament by spending years and years in juvenile quietly saving lives of dependency children. What a heartfelt way to serve our community. I selfishly want a “kind scholar” on the appellate court. If not now - then when? If not Judge Hanzman - than who.

Anonymous said...

Could our judges be any more full of themselves at these investitures?
Color themed dresses? Cmon. This isn’t your quinceƱera.

the trialmaster said...

Sorry to lose Rick. He was fair to Plaintiffs. Rothenberg was the worst, glad to see her go into the sunset. Although Hanzman has the intellect, intelligence, good common sense to be the best ever on the 3d,for selfish reasons I want him to stay in the civil trial division. He is the best judge we have ever had in this circuit.

Anonymous said...

i agree that Judge Hanzman would be an asset to the 3rd. He is brilliant and his opinions/orders are always academic, thoughtful and spot on. There is no better writer and his intellect is off the chart. De la O and Walsch also would be great additions to that court. So would Milt. Selfishly, i hope they all stay trial judges. We have a lot of strong intellects on 3rd ( Emas, Luck, Scales, Logue,). We need the few we have in circuit to stay and have an impact in more cases day to day.In my opinion we do not need a brain drain at the trial level. It is weak enough already. Just one trial lawyers opinion.

Anonymous said...

Please Judge Hanzman, the bar and our community are begging you to apply. You will be treated like a rockstar by the judicial nominating commission and by the governor. You are exactly what we need at this time to bring sanity to our judicial system. You have always followed stare decisis and you are the furthest thing from a judicial activist. Your opinions written while you were sitting on the fourth district court of appeal are nothing short of scholarly end of law review quality. The prosecutors and public defenders and clerks and staff of the courthouse consider it to be an honor and to be in your trial level court. You are a legal legend and our court system has never seen anything like you. Even Judge Moreno and all of the federal court judges are in awe of you. If anyone doesn’t believe that, call Judge Scola or Judge Moreno or Judge Ungaro and just ask them. Isn’t your best and closest friend and adviser Manny Kadre? He could help you big time.

Anonymous said...

Tilingo, tilingo, tomorrow is Sunday. The cat gets married to John Pirindingo. Whoever posts first shall swallow a turd the size of St. Simon's tower.

Anonymous said...

Does Hanzman's mom read this blog? Perhaps a spinster aunt who thought he was an adorable child? What is up with you people? Get a hold of yourselves.