Attorney Robert Fenstersheib, a noted Broward Civil attorney who focused on accidents as a plaintiffs' lawyer, was tragically murdered Wednesday evening when his son, who suffered from drug addiction and mental illness, killed his father and severely wounded Fenstersheib's long time girlfriend, before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide.
This is a bit outside our purview, but many robed readers in the civil division will know Mr. Fenstersheib and his firm.
What a terrible terrible tragedy.
9 comments:
Shocking. So many of us have suffered with a child with a substance abuse problem, but this sure puts it all in perspective. What a tragedy!
THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
The incident actually happened late Tuesday night. Any of us that have a close family member or friend that has had a child with mental illness and/or drug abuse knows that it matters not whether you come from Overtown or Liberty City or live in a multi-million dollar home in Pinecrest. Mental illness and drug abuse is blind to socieconomic lines. Such a horrible tragedy.
OFF-TOPIC
WHO WILL BE THE 7TH JUSTICE ON THE FLA. SUPREME COURT .......
Governor DeSantis filed his response last night at 11:57 PM, three minutes before the Florida Supreme Court's deadline. You can read his 24 page response by going here:
https://efactssc-public.flcourts.org/casedocuments/2020/985/2020-985_response_55184_response.pdf
The Petitioner, Ms. Thompson, has no pity for the Governor. Yesterday in Miramar, DeSantis' response to the constitutional arguments made by Thompson' counsel, was that he did not have a person of color on the court and the citizens of our State deserved to have a Jamaican American black female on the Court.
State Rep Thompson responded by saying that the Governor has had several chances to appoint someone of color to the high court. I'd love to agree with Ms. Thompson, but this argument actually falls flat.
That blame goes back to the Florida Supreme Court JNC. In late 2018, after Justices Pariente, Lewis, and Quince were retiring, DeSantis was going to have three chances to appoint a justice of color. Only one problem, the JNC nominated 11 names for DeSantis' consideration and only one, Raag Singhal, at the time a Circuit Court judge in Broward, made the short list; (he was later nominated by Trump to the federal bench and approved by the Senate in December of 2019). DeSantis chose Justices Luck, Lagoa, and Muniz.
This time around, DeSantis asked for names from the same JNC to replace Justices Luck and Lagoa. They sent up nine names, again, only one, Renantha Francis, was a candidate of color. DeSantis chose John Couriel and Judge Francis.
The JNC, both times, had a number of well qualified candidate of color that they interviewed for all five openings, but only Singhal and Francis made the two short lists. It's hard to blame DeSantis for this one.
So, what should DeSantis do. Maybe he will reject all of the remaining names and demand that the JNC reconvene and send him a new slate of names for the one open seat. Of course, no doubt that if they do that, Francis will be back on that new list, and by then she will be qualified to serve.
Cap Out .......
WE SHOULD JUDGE PEOPLE BY THE CONTENT OF THIER CHARACTER AND NOT THE COLOR OF THEIR SKIN. How quaint. Radical in 1940, liberal in 1960 and . . . radical in 2020.
This is such a tragedy. But I do have to quarrel with "The Captain." As a general matter, the availability of resources for parents in Libery City and Overtown (the places you mentioned) are not the same for those who live in "multi-million dollar homes" in Pinecrest. And of course the GOP has consistently sought to strip mental health and substance abuse coverage from health plans. This false equivalency should stop.
I think he may be stuck with the list he got previously unless some court rules that the list was invalid because of Francis. At the end of the day, it is a political win for the governor but it would sure be nice to have at least one African American or Black justice.
4:35. No disagreement with you at all. I said that these issues do not discriminate among socioeconomic lines. I completely agree with you that the resources to combat and solve these problems are night and day when comparing the rich and the poor. I speak from personal experience.
Captain, please. The JNC gave him Francis and only Francis because that is who he wanted. Thankfully, the FSC has ruled against the governor.
And, by the way, I would be fine with 7 female Justices of color, so long as they are constitutionally qualified.
I agree with Thompson 100%. Since Scott's tenure, his JNC appointees always knew who he wanted to seat on appellate courts, and somehow that person always made it out of committee. The Governor's office communicated directly with the JNC. This Governor follow the same practice, his JNCs always know his preferences, and eliminate anyone perceived as competition.That's the reason Jonathan Gerber's name didn't go up with the group sent out for the seats ultimately filled by Luck and Lagoa, and the reason no other black applicant names went up for the seat
picked for Francis. The Governor wanted Francis and only Francis. No the Governor and his duly appointed JNC both have egg on their faces.
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