On November 20, 2009, the Fifth District Court of Appeal affirmed a summary judgment entered in favor of our client, the appellee.  Charles J. Cacciabeve, Jason A. Perkins, Sylvia H. Walbolt, Kelly Bittick, Jr., Cary Wright, and Christine Davis Graves represented the appellee, a construction joint venture.  The appellate court agreed that (i) the trial-court orders entered in favor of our client were interlocutory and non-appealable, and (ii) the opposing party, a subcontractor, had executed a sworn full-payment acknowledgement concerning the work that it had performed.   See Harper Mech., LLC, v. Hunt Constr. Group, Inc., Case No. 5D08-857 (Fla. 5th DCA Nov. 20, 2009).

On October 28, the Third District Court of Appeal affirmed two orders regarding the interpretation of Florida's Slayer Statute. Sylvia Walbolt, Marsha Madorsky, and Stephanie Zimmerman represented the appellee whose property was the subject of the orders on appeal. The appellate court agreed with our client's position that Florida law does not call for the forfeiture of all of a wrongdoer's property. See LoCascio v. Sharpe, Case Nos. 3D08-1711 & 3D09-118 (October 28, 2009).

Appellate Practice Group member Matthew J. Conigliaro authored an article titled “The Continuing Story of Certiorari” in the December 2009 issue of The Florida Bar Journal. 

Appellate Practice Group member John R. Blue was quoted in the November 7, 2009 New York Times article “Weighing Life in Prison for Youths Who Didn’t Kill.”