Class Certified in FL Medicaid Challenge by Actions challenging uniform practices and seeking injunctive relief by their nature deal with common issues of law and fact. Here, defendants argue that plaintiff's due process challenge to Medicaid prescription drug benefit denial procedures doesn't raise common issues because there are many individual …
Failure to Provide Medical Records Waives Florida's Medical Malpractice Pre-Suit Requirements by Failure to Provide Medical Records Waives Florida's Medical Malpractice Pre-Suit Requirements Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal has held that a Palm Beach Circuit Court improperly dismissed a prisoner's medical malpractice suit for failing to comply with pre-suit …
Florida Parole Commission Cannot Substitute Its Factual Findings for Hearing Examiners by Florida Parole Commission Cannot Substitute Its Factual Findings for Hearing Examiners A Florida federal district court has granted a prisoner a writ of habeas corpus based upon the Florida Parole Commission (FPC) substituting its own facts for the …
Statutory Authority Lacking for Lien in Florida Prisoners' Gain Time Loss Challenge by Statutory Authority Lacking for Lien in Florida Prisoners' Gain Time Loss Challenge Florida's First District Court of Appeals has held that a Florida law does not allow an indigent prisoner to be assessed a lien on his …
Florida DOC Liable for Legal Copy Costs Not Repaid by The Circuit Court for Leon County, Florida, on October 4, 2006, awarded a Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC) prisoner $1,030 in damages and court costs in an action seeking recovery of the cost of legal copies made for the prisoner. …
PLN Uncovers Secret Sweetheart Settlement Between PRIDE and Former Board Members by David Reutter by David M. Reutter In its continual effort to expose corruption within prisons, PLN has uncovered the confidential settlement between Florida?s Prison Rehabilitation Industries and Diversified Industries (PRIDE) and the corporations spawned by its former directors? …
Punishment for Rude Outgoing Letter Struck Down by The court of appeals for the Fifth circuit affirmed a lower court's award of nominal damages, injunctive relief and attorney fees and costs by holding that rude comments made by a Florida prisoner in his outgoing mail to his girlfriend are protected …
FL Jail Pays $500,000 in Medical Neglect Suit by The court of appeals for the Eleventh circuit upheld a jury verdict against the Escambia county Road Prison in Florida for $500,000 in favor of a prisoner denied medical care. The plaintiff fractured his hip ball socket and was repeatedly denied …
Change in FL Good Time System violates Ex Post Facto by The court of appeals for the Eleventh circuit affirmed a district court ruling that granted habeas relief to a Florida prisoner who claimed a change in the state's method of calculating and awarding good time credits violated the ex …
Retaliation Claims Have Three Part Test by The court of appeals for the Eleventh circuit held that jailhouse lawyers do not have a constitutionally protected right to be law clerks or be at a specific prison; prisoners' assistance to others in legal matters and in writing the media complaining about …
Statutory Forfeiture of Prison Cash Upheld by The court of appeals for the Fifth circuit upheld the confiscation of $2,197.40 in cash from a Florida prisoner. Court held that a state statute allowing forfeiture of cash found in prisoners' possession was unconstitutional. As a general rule, forfeiture of prisoner funds …
Transferred Prisoners Entitled to Sending States Good Time Credits and Benefits by The court of appeals for the Eighth circuit held that an Arkansas prisoner transferred to Florida under the Interstate Corrections Compact was entitled to all good time credits and other benefits he would have received had he remained …
12 Years in Segregation May Violate 8th Amendment by The court of appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that a Florida prisoner had stated a valid Eighth amendment claim that he had spent the past twelve years in total isolation without a hearing. Case was brought as a habeas corpus …
Prisoners Have Right to Marry by The court of appeals for the Eleventh circuit held that factual issues precluding summary judgment existed in a Florida prisoners lawsuit to marry a woman. Florida administrative rules barred prisoners sentenced to death, life in prison and other factors from marrying. Court found the …
Punishment for Prisoner with Medical Reason not to Shave States Claim by The court of appeals for the Fifth circuit held that the district court erred when it dismissed as frivolous a Florida prisoner's suit that he was punished by prison officials for having a beard. Prisoner claimed he had …
State Liable for Attorney Fees in Beating Suit by The court of appeals for the Eleventh circuit affirmed $1,500 in compensatory and $25,000 in punitive damages awarded to a Florida prisoner who was beaten and kicked by prison guard interrogators. District court refused to award attorney fees under 42 U.S.C. …
Denial of Continuance on Summary Judgment Proper, Summary Judgment Improper by The U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that a Florida federal district court's denial of a Florida Department of Corrections (DOC) prisoner's motion to stay consideration of DOC defendants' motion for summary judgment was not abuse of discretion. …
Dismissed Medical Claims Reversed by Federal Tenth Circuit by The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a Kansas Federal District Court's dismissal of a state prisoner's 42 U.S.C. §1983 complaint. Donald Halpin is a Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) prisoner transferred from the Florida Department of Corrections under the …
$3500 Punitive Damage Award Upheld for Dropping Shackled Prisoner by The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that record evidence supported a jury verdict that two Florida state prison guards violated a prisoner's Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights by using excessive force, that the guards were not …
Sworn Beating Complaint Defeats Summary Judgment by The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that a Florida state prisoner's sworn complaint was sufficient to defeat a motion for summary judgment filed by the defendant prison guards because the complaint "alleged detailed facts" that conflicted with the guards' …
