The Florida Insurance Law Blog
By Jeffrey T. Donner, Esq.
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For more than a century, Florida’s one-way attorney-fee statute was a foundational enabler of first-party property insurance litigation. Under pre-2023 law, a policyholder who sued an insurer and obtained any recovery was entitled to an award of reasonable attorney’s fees and costs paid by the insurer. That regime, codified in sections of Florida Statutes such…
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In State v. Yanes-Blanco, the Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal addressed a deceptively simple question with significant consequences: does the act of “illegally entering the United States” end the moment a person physically crosses the border, or can it continue as that person is transported deeper into the country? The court’s answer matters for…
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INTRODUCTION Florida divorce cases are decided at the intersection of two realities. First, Florida trial judges have broad authority to craft a fair overall result—balancing support, property distribution, and fee-shifting to reach an equitable outcome in the specific circumstances of a marriage. Second, that discretion is not unlimited. Courts cannot ignore binding agreements between spouses,…
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Bankruptcy is often discussed in slogans—“fresh start,” “debt relief,” or “collection defense”—but in practice it is a highly structured federal process with very different implications depending on whether you are a debtor seeking relief or a creditor protecting a claim. Understanding the distinction between Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcies, and how each affects both…
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Introduction The Fair Labor Standards Act was enacted to ensure that workers were paid minimum wages and overtime compensation in a national economy where states had proven unable or unwilling to prevent substandard labor conditions. Whatever one thinks of the New Deal expansion of federal power, the statute’s original justification was rooted in regulating labor…
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Closely held businesses often rely on informal understandings layered on top of written agreements: profit-sharing instead of salaries, “trigger dates” instead of immediate equity, promises that ownership or payments will “survive termination.” When those relationships fracture, the legal fight is rarely about whether something went wrong. It is about what can actually be proved—and how.…
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Business relationships built around intellectual property often look stable—until they are not. When market conditions change, technology evolves, or management turns over, parties test the outer limits of what their contracts actually require. A recent decision from Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeal, Atlantic Candy Company v. Yowie North America, Inc., is a sharp reminder…
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Florida business litigation often turns on an issue that is deceptively simple but outcome-determinative: can a Florida court exercise personal jurisdiction over out-of-state individuals and entities? The Fourth District’s 2025 decision in Affenita v. Storfer is a sophisticated reminder that personal jurisdiction is not a procedural technicality. It is frequently the battlefield on which cases…
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Florida probate litigation regularly features emotionally charged will contests, particularly when a very elderly testator makes a late-in-life change to an estate plan that disinherits a family member. These cases often sound compelling at first blush. But compelling narratives are not evidence, and Florida courts remain disciplined about what actually defeats a will. The Third…
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Most people think of “discovery” as paperwork: interrogatories, document requests, depositions, motions to compel. In reality, discovery is not about volume. It is about purpose. Handled correctly, pretrial discovery is the phase of litigation where cases are actually won or lost. Handled poorly, it becomes an expensive, time-consuming exercise that generates paper but produces little…
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