Miscellaneous Recent Court Wins

Recent Court Wins

Miscellaneous

FALSE STATEMENT ON GOVERNMENT APPLICATION: Charge Dismissed After Showing it was Clerical Error

State v. H; Judge Lefler

FACTS: Our client was charged with making a false statement to the Department of Agriculture. Upon applying for a license to conduct business as a travel agency with the Department of Agriculture, pursuant to the Florida Sellers of Trade Act, our client stated that they did not sell vacation certificates at their agency. The problem with that statement, however, was that the travel agency in fact did sell vacation certificates. By filling out the application in this way, the client was accused of attempting to avoid a $50,000 assurance charge, instead incurring a lesser charge of $10,000 by filling it out the way they did. The higher charge is intended to protect the consuming public from things such as fraud, misrepresentation, and breach of contract, by providing a source of refunds. Once this discrepancy in the application was brought to the attention of the Commissioner of Agriculture of the State of Florida, charges were brought against our client for making a false statement on the license application.

DEFENSE: The application was in fact put together and filled out by an attorney our client previously retained in order to help throughout the licensing process. It was merely a clerical error that was in the process of being fixed, and the correct assurance charge would be paid.

RESULT: After bringing this and other facts to light amidst negotiations with the State, the problem was fixed and the charge was dropped.

NUISANCE INJURIOUS TO HUMAN HEALTH: Charge Against Property Manager Gets Dropped

State v. T; Judge Rice

FACTS: Our client was charged with causing a nuisance injurious to human health. Our client was a property manager of a Mobile Home Park. The client was essentially given the duty of maintaining the Park on a day-to-day basis. Despite the client's best efforts, maintenance issues seemed to continuously arise, causing the client to lose a lot of money trying to fix them. One such continuous issue involved problems with the sewage system/septic tanks. The incident that gave rise to the charge here involved such sewage problems. Amidst a few other things wrong with the sewage system, there was a leak that caused an accumulation of waste water on the ground. A Code Enforcement officer and a police officer were sent to the Park to look at the effected area. In doing so, the police officer demanded that the situation be taken care of within 24 hours, or criminal charges would be filed. The issue for our client here was that while small problems with the sewage system can be taken care of rather quickly, this was not a small problem. The specific problem this time was something that would require a permit from the city to fix. It was something that would certainly take more than 24 hours. Despite this, the police officer returned the next day and issued the charge for nuisance injurious to human health.

DEFENSE: The problem was being taken care of as fast as the client could address it. The client had already begun the process to receive the necessary permit to have the work done, and would simply need the proper amount of time to have the problem fixed. A renowned expert would be able to testify to not only the unreasonableness of the 24 hour demand, but its impossibility. Because it would have been impossible for our client to comply with that demand, the charge against the client should be dropped.

RESULT: Through negotiation with the state, the charge was dropped.

TRESPASS OF A CONSTRUCTION SITE (3rd degree felony)

CASE #05-CF-008947; Judge Robert Foster; Date: April 18, 2006

FACTS:  The defendant was charged with trespass on a construction site, resisting without violence, and other misdemeanors.   The defendant became intoxicated at a casino and entered a construction site.  While he was on the construction site he stole some materials.

DEFENSE: The defendant had no intent to enter upon the construction site and did not intend to steal the property.

RESULT:  The State Attorney amended the felony charge to a misdemeanor, and the defendant pled to three misdemeanors and received time served.

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