Polk Law Blog

Two new articles are out on the effect of budget cuts on the criminal justice system, an opinion piece from the Palm Beach Post and an article in the Daily Business Review stating that the Broward County state attorney’s office is forcing its employees to take unpaid leave. From the Palm Beach Post editorial: “If [...]

The ruling I reported on earlier that allows the public defender in Miami not to accect cases due to budget cuts was stayed pending resolution by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. The 3rd Distrct Court of Appeals has now asked the Florida Supreme Court to rule on the matter. Under Florida’s Constitution, a matter can [...]

The Willson American Inn of Court presented professionalism awards to Judge Ellen Masters and Polk County Clerk of Court Richard M. Weiss at its annual awards dinner tonight in Lakeland. Congratulations! Judge Chris Altenbernd of the Second District Court of Appeals gave a speech on professionalism that included a moving (true) story involving a young [...]

The Ledger is reporting that the Polk County School Board has approved a $475,000 settlement in a long-running case involving whether an autistic child received an adequate education. Like most legal cases reported in the press, this one is more complex than meets the eye. The goal of this post is to explain the history of the [...]

My take: Good law, but I’m not sure the problem being addressed really exists any more.  I have a story for you… John and Sally Smith face foreclosure on their $150,000 mortgage. One day, while dropping their kid off at school and heading to work, they see a sign: “In Foreclosure? We can help! Call [...]