Polk Law Blog

No touching! High-profile prostitution stings in recent years by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office have resulted in charges of battery, in addition to prostitution, when the defendant touches the undercover deputy. A review of the results of these cases has led me to believe that these charges are probably improper. Read the rest of this entry »

Remember Abraham Shakespeare? The lottery-winner turned murder victim?  The Estate of Abraham Shakespeare has sued Bank of America for $1,095,108.98. The complaint alleges that BOA negligently enabled his murderer to steal that sum from Shakespeare, from an account held by a company called Abraham Shakespeare, LLC. The funds originally deposited into the account are alleged to have come from a check payable to Abraham Shakespeare, personally.

According to corporate records filed with the Department of State, however, the company was formed by Dee Dee Moore, the convicted murderer, not Abraham Shakespeare. That’s not dispositive, of course, but it does place Bank of America’s actions at the time in a different light. While I am sure that banks have some duty to members of the public, they also have duties to obey and maintain the confidentiality of their account holders. As the latest chapter in this seemingly never-ending saga, this one could be interesting.

Documents:

• Complaint

A crucial court order is expected in the lawsuit against the Polk County Sheriff’s Office alleging mistreatment of juveniles detained in the Polk County Jail. The suit alleges that juveniles are detained in a manner that amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.  On Monday, November 19, closing arguments were heard on whether a temporary injunction should be issued.  Testimony was taken several weeks ago.

A temporary injunction is a court order that compels the parties to behave in a certain way while a lawsuit is pending. To get one, plaintiffs have to show that they are substantially likely to succeed in proving their case at trial and that there is no other way to protect them from harm in the meantime. If one is issued, it will not be the end of the case, but  whichever side wins will probably consider it a major victory.

As we await a decision on the injunction, now would be a good time to look back at the some of the background and propaganda for this case. Read the rest of this entry »

This is not Polk County centric. A friend of mine (he’s a local), who I know to be of a conservative political persuasion, posted the following quote from Teddy Roosevelt on Facebook:

“It is the people, and not the judges, who are entitled to say what their constitution means, for the constitution is theirs, it belongs to them and not to their servants in office—any other theory is incompatible with the foundation principles of our government.” (President Theodore Roosevelt, 1912.)

If a modern social conservative had said this, I wouldn’t give it any pause. But it seemed like quite a stretch to me for a modern conservative to by a big Teddy Roosevelt fan. My response: Read the rest of this entry »

Today, The Ledger reported the disbarment of Cedric Lewis, a lawyer in Winter Haven. But the report, which implies that the disbarment is effective immediately, doesn’t tell the whole story. He has been suspended since 2009, and he consented to the disbarment, which effectively made the suspension permanent. The Ledger’s report is based on a Florida Bar press release, which describes his conduct thus:

“Cedric Eugene Lewis, … Winter Haven, disbarred effective retroactive to June 18, 2009, following a June 21 court order. (Admitted to practice: 2000) Lewis was the subject of a Bar disciplinary proceeding stemming in part from an employee’s theft of funds from Lewis’ real estate trust account. Lewis failed to produce trust and financial documents pursuant to two Grievance Committee subpoenas. After a 2009 suspension, Lewis was required to provide the Bar with an affidavit verifying that he’d notified his clients, opposing counsel and certain courts of his suspension. Again, he failed to comply. Lewis was also ineligible to practice law due to CLER and other delinquencies.”

The entire story is described much more fully in the Consent to the disbarment signed by Mr. Lewis. Mr Lewis had been suspended from practicing before. In 2008, he entered into a consent judgment suspending him for 10 days after a complaint was filed by the Bar. The complaint alleged that he failed to communicate with a client about the status of a case and so lacked diligence in pursuing it that the court dismissed it. The complaint also alleged that he failed to properly supervise an employee who was alleged to have stolen $25,000 from his trust account.

After that, according to the most recent Consent and as described in a Notice of Noncompliance filed by the Bar, he refused to produce records related to his his trust account in response to subpoenas and inquiries by the 10th Judicial Circuit Grievance Committee. The committee had concerns about possible trust account problems. Mr. Lewis was suspended by Court order in June, 2009 after failing to produce the documents even after the Notice of Noncompliance was filed. That was the suspension referenced in the recent disbarment. As detailed in these various documents, it appears that Mr. Lewis denies that there have been any problems with his trust account after the employee theft was straightened out, but acknowledges that he refused to produce the documents subpoenaed in violation of Bar rules.

I had a transaction or two involving Mr. Lewis a number of years ago but do not otherwise know him. My only recollection from the experience is that he was pleasant.