Florida Law Research Articles

Alcohol use among pedestrians and the odds of surviving an injury: Evidence from Florida law enforcement data

Alcohol consumption by pedestrians is widely recognized as a factor influencing the risk of being hit by a motor vehicle, but its effect on the likelihood of dying, given that a collision has occurred, is more uncertain. Studies of drivers find that alcohol increases the risk. Unlike previous studies based on clinical data, the present study is population-based and takes into account indicators of crash severity. Using Florida law enforcement data, logistic regression models yielded a four to fivefold increase in the odds ratios associated with alcohol use, depending on the model. Findings from a model investigating the magnitude of the potential bias due to differential investigative behavior indicated bias may account for some but not all of the increase in the odds of dying. Recommendations include improving law enforcement procedures for identifying alcohol impairment and increasing public awareness of the risk involved in mixing heavy drinking and walking.

Florida's response to serving citizens in the information age

The Florida Legislature created the Joint Committee on Information Technology Resources for the purpose of, in part, analyzing the impact of advances in information technology on the Florida Public Records Law. In responding to the U.S. Information Industry Association's recently promulgated access principles for state and local government, the author found that although Florida does not actively encourage a diversity of information sources, such diversity is an indirect result of the state's long tradition of open access. The public's right of access is now guaranteed in Florida by a new constitutional amendment that guarantees every person the right to inspect or copy the public records of all three branches of Florida government. Florida's law is silent about an agency's obligation to provide a public record in a particular medium. However, the Joint Committee has proposed legislation that would require an agency to provide a copy of a public record in the medium requested. Additionally, the proposed legislation would allow a reasonable fee for costs for the labor and overhead associated with duplicating or copying a computer database; current law allows only the actual cost of duplication. In an effort to insure equal and timely access, this legislation also contains a provision that requires agencies to consider public access and redaction of exempt information in the design and development of all electronic recordkeeping systems. In an attempt to avoid monopoly control over public information, the author sponsored legislation last year that would have repealed Florida's law allowing the copyright of agency-created software. The Joint Committee's proposed legislation has a provision that would assure meaningful access to data controlled by proprietary software and would also preclude an agency from entering into any contract that would impair the right of the public to inspect and copy public records.

Voluntary Hospitalization and Due Process: The Dilemma of Zinermon v. Burch

to provide a hearing (or other proce dure) before an agent of the state deprives a person ofliberty or prop erty but the state has failed to do so, the person has been denied due pro cess and can bring a suit under Sec tion 1983. In the second type of case, inwhich it is not possible forthe state to provide a predeprivation hearing but the state offers a remedy to the aggrieved person after the depriva tion takes place, due process has oc curred and Section 1983 does not apply. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review Burch's case to clarify into which ofthe two categories his situa tion fell. Defendants argued that no hearing was possible before Burch was illegally admitted, because those who admitted him were acting in an unpredictable manner. Since the state cannot anticipate when its agents will violate its laws, post facto remedies, such as tort suits for damages, which Florida law allows, should be sufficient. Burch, however, maintained that the state was or should have been aware that its rules governing admis sion of incompetent patients were routinely violated. Thus the state should have provided some process for assessing patients' competence before allowing them to sign in. Since no such procedure was estab lished, Burch argued that he was denied due process and that the ac tion taken under Section 1983 should stand. In a five-to-four decision, the Supreme Court agreed with Burch. “? It is hardly unforeseeable that a per son requesting treatment for mental illness might be incapable of in formed consent, and that state offi cialswith thepower to admit patients might take theirapparent willingness to be admitted at face value and not initiate involuntary placement pro cedures,―Justice Blackmun wrote for the majority. Thus Florida should have had procedures in place to screen allvoluntary patients for com petence and to exclude incompetent persons from the voluntary admis sion process. The court's holding has clear im plications for the relatively few states Law & Psychiatry

Legal Guardianship for the Elderly:

The Volunteer Guardianship Program of Lutheran Ministries of Florida serves as a guardian of last resort for adults who have been adjudicated incompetent by the court and for whom no other guardian is available. The need for such a ministry is especially great in Florida's Suncoast Area where a great many people are over age 75 and separated from family support systems. While Florida statutes make no provisions for public guardianship, Florida law does allow nonprofit corporations to be appointed guardian of person and/or property. Under this statute, Lutheran Ministries of Florida serves as the court appointed guardian for incompetent persons. It uses a teamwork approach involving professional staff and trained volunteers to assure that the needs of the ward are met.

The effects of statutory change on the civil commitment of the mentally ill.

Several states have revised their civil commitment statutes in recent years. A majority of the recent revisions reflect judicial directives to provide more explicit commitment criteria, but in some instances, criteria have been broadened in reaction to the difficulty of getting some individuals hospitalized under strict criteria. Such statutory changes have impacted considerably on both process and outcome of the civil commitment system. Adoption of explicit commitment criteria has resulted most visibly in substantial reduction of hospital admissions and census. The present study examines the impact of explicit changes in commitment criteria in Florida following the 1982 enactment of amendments to the Baker Act. A total of 80 commitment hearings are reviewed before and after the law took effect to determine procedural effects of the law on degree of defense counsel advocacy, client dispositions, and on the court's adherence to more explicit criteria. State hospital admissions, discharge, and census information is examined in order to identify the larger impact of 1982 statutory changes on the commitment system. Evidence from hearings and state data suggests that changes in the Florida law impacted significantly on both process and outcome of the civil commitment system. Clients referred to commitment hearings are more dangerous, and may represent a new “hard-core” group remaining after more explicit eligibility criteria are applied by local intake, and emergency detention facilities. State hospital admissions and census in Florida declined significantly following enactment of the 1982 law, consistent with findings from other states enacting similar statutory reforms. Implications for deinstitutionalization policy and administration are discussed.

An Assessment of Continuing Education Needs for Clinical Laboratory Personnel

Changes in Florida's law regulating clinical laboratory personnel mandate participation in continuing education as one of the conditions for maintaining a license to practice. A questionnaire was directed to the supervisors of 851 licensed laboratories and health care institutions to determine the numbers of personnel who would need continuing education programs, as well as the numbers and kinds of programs that would be needed. The response identified more than 5,000 persons in 287 facilities who would need programs in seven technical categories (chemistry, hematology, microbiology, blood banking, radioimmunoassay, blood gases, immunology) plus management and supervision. This paper reports conclusions about format, scheduling, and site selection necessary to deliver continuing education to Florida's laboratory personnel within the budgetary constraints imposed by DRGs.

Utility's Expansion Found to Be Uneconomic Duplication of Facilities

The Gulf Power Company, an investor owned utility, and Gulf Coast Electric Cooperative, a rural electric cooperative, each sought to provide service to a new subdivision. After the cooperative had filed a petition with the Public Service Commission (PSC) seeking resolution of the dispute, Gulf Power spent $200,480 extending power lines to reach the subdivision and building a substation. The PSC found that the cooperative's costs to provide similar service would be about $27,000 because its existing facilities were closer to the subdivision. The PSC concluded that Gulf Power's expenditures were an uneconomical duplication of electric facilities prohibited by Florida law and awarded the right to serve the subdivision to the cooperative. In an appeal, the Supreme Court of Florida concluded that state law gave jurisdiction over the development of Florida's utility services to the PSC and that costs incurred by Gulf Power constituted a statutorily proscribed uneconomic duplication of facilities.

Implications of Drug Product Appearance on Generic Drug Acceptance

AbstractOne claim which has been consistently made in the look-alike drug debate is that product copying increases patient acceptance of generic drugs. This experimental study involved 240 patients, 40 from each of 6 different community pharmacies, who were obtaining a refill of a brand name drug product. Equal numbers of patients in each pharmacy were randomly assigned to a treatment group and a control group. The 120 patients in the treatment group were shown mock samples of nonlook-alike drugs which differed in appearance only as to color. All of the patients received a brief explanation about generic substitution as required under Florida law, and were asked if they would switch to the less expensive generic equivalent. Our results showed no significant differences between the two groups in patient acceptance of generic substitutes. Follow-up interviews with these patients disclosed that the product's color appearance was not a major concern to them. However, one-third of the respondents indicated tha...

Florida law establishes third class of drugs

Florida law establishes third class of drugs

In Support of a Bad-Faith Exception to the Interim Damages Rule in Land Use Cases

Abstract The thoughtful and provocative essay by Christopher Duerksen and Michael Mantell on Interim Damages: A Remedy in Land Use Cases? 1 touched a responsive chord in this land use litigator. Having devoted the past year to the trial of a massive lawsuit brought by a frustrated developer against a recalcitrant local government,2 I have frequently bemoaned the lack of any precedent in Florida law—and the law of most other jurisdictions—for interim damages. In the absence of such relief, a judgment invalidating unlawful land use regulations can be a hollow victory indeed. Obtaining a final judgment, following lengthy trial proceedings and interminable appeals, can take years. In the meantime, the owner is deprived of the use of his property, incurs substantial costs such as interest, taxes, and legal expenses, and suffers loss of anticipated profits. More vexing still, the “victorious” owner may find that his original project is no longer economically feasible or that the local government immediately ena...

Marijuana and Florida Law

Marijuana and Florida Law

The New York Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court, 1960–76

Recent years have seen a growth of interest on the part of political scientists and lawyers in the functioning of the state judiciaries, especially of their high courts. Between 1954 and 1970 the few writers who paid attention to state courts focused largely upon their braking the liberal race-integration and criminal procedure decisions of the Warren Court. For example, Walter Murphy and Herman Pritchett in 1%1 described the successful efforts of the Florida Supreme Court to nullify a U.S. Supreme Court order that Mr. Virgil Hawkins, a Black, be admitted to the University of Florida Law School.' In 1970 Stephen Wasby accurately said that . . very clearly state court judges do not follow the U.S. Supreme Court's rulings automatically, regardless of the existence of the supremacy clause.' His example involved the aftermath of a Supreme Court case invalidating as racially biased Georgia's system for electing jurors for the defendant's trial. The defendant, one Williams, was condemned to death and then appealed to the Supreme Court. Wasby indicated what happened then.

Notes on Divorce Filing as Role Behavior

The major variables known to affect divorce patterns in society are war, economic fluctuations, and legislative changes. This study suggests that at least one of theselegislative changes-also affects divorce filing patterns. Data taken from the daily newspaper in a southern metropolitan county show a complete reversal in male and female divorce filing patterns for the two years following the passage of a dissolution law in Florida. It is suggested that this change might represent major alterations in male-female roles in regard to all aspects of divorce behavior.

An analysis of a state hospital population subject to release under Florida law.

Section XI of the Florida Mental Health Act, or Baker Act, mandates the review of prior hospitalization orders for each resident patient. Those retained become voluntary patients, unless placed on involuntary status under procedures outlined in the act. As a result, many patients will probably be released. Staff from the Florida State University School of Social Work analyzed patients at Florida State Hospital from one catchment area and detailed their demographic characteristics, treatment needs, and interpersonal and financial resources. The researchers found that the area's one mental health center and four nursing homes would not be adequate community resources for meeting the patients' needs. They conclude that the release of many patients would create hardships both for the patient and for the service personnel in the community, and might be considered a violation of the intent of the act.

Florida Law Mandates Continuing Education

Florida Law Mandates Continuing Education

Florida Law Mandates Continuing Education

Florida Law Mandates Continuing Education

Inequality in the Imposition of a Criminal Label

Florida law allows a judge the option of withholding adjudication of guilt from defendants who are being placed on probation. For persons accused of a felony, this step affords an opportunity to avoid the stigma associated with the status of “convicted felon.” Social and legal characteristics of 2,419 consecutive felony probation cases are examined to determine what kinds of persons are more likely to receive the privileged disposition of “adjudication withheld.” Inconsistencies in the imposition of the “convict” label were found, suggesting that defendants who are older, black, poorly educated, have a prior record, and are defended by a court-appointed attorney, are among the most likely to be so labelled. Lemert has argued that inconsistent application of penalties or stigma increases the likelihood of commitment to a deviant identity or career on the part of the accused. While these data cannot confirm Lemert's hypothesis, they do suggest that criminal labels are dispensed in such a manner that persons who are expected to be the most criminal (i.e., poorly educated, indigents, blacks) are given the greatest opportunity to develop a criminal identity or career.

The Florida Constitution of 1885: A Critique. (Reprinted from University of Florida Law Review, Vol. VIII, No. 1, Spring 1955.) By Manning J. Dauer and William C. Havard. (Florida: University of Florida Press. 1955. Pp. 92.)

The Florida Constitution of 1885: A Critique. (Reprinted from University of Florida Law Review, Vol. VIII, No. 1, Spring 1955.) By Manning J. Dauer and William C. Havard. (Florida: University of Florida Press. 1955. Pp. 92.)

Adhesion Contracts in the Conflict of Laws

Americana Olvera, a circus artist, was seriously injured in a fall from the trapeze. She recovered judgment against her employers, who had claimed unsuccessfully that she had signed a contract releasing them from any liabilities growing out of any injury or accident to the person, that the contract by its terms was a Florida contract, and that Florida law gave effect to such agreements regarding injuries caused by ordinary negligence. The appellate court, stating that it was competent for the parties, even if the law of the forum was different, to agree upon and fix the law controlling all the liabilities, found Florida law applicable and reversed the judgment.' Her chosen law would thus have left Miss Olvera without redress-had this been the end of the case. On retrial, however, the jury were instructed that to help plaintiff under the law of Florida they would have to find defendant guilty of gross negligence, and so the jury found. The appellate court now saw nothing wrong with the judgment.2 Delmar Duskin, a pilot of Pennsylvania-Central Airlines, was killed in a crash in Alabama. Claiming that this crash had been caused by the company's negligence his widow brought suit in the federal courts of Tennessee, the state of his domicile. The district court3 granted defendant's motion to dismiss on the ground that the employment contract provided for application of the law of Pennsylvania, whose workmen's compensation act excluded common law actions. The circuit court4 fully approved this recognition of party autonomy. Had this been the end of the court's reasoning Mrs. Duskin would have been left to the mercy of a form contract which her husband may not even have read.5 But the court found that under the conflicts law of Pennsylvania this case was governed by the law of Alabama, which permitted plaintiff's common law action. Francisco Chinchilla, who had suffered an injury while employed as a

The Supreme Court and Due Process of Law in Florida

Previous articleNext article No AccessNotes and Comment by the EditorThe Supreme Court and Due Process of Law in FloridaS. P. B.S. P. B. Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Social Service Review Volume 14, Number 1Mar., 1940 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/632816 Views: 2Total views on this site Copyright 1940 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.