Jul 16
In Silva v. BAC Home Loans Servicing, L.P. (5D10-3511), the Fifth District reversed an order denying a motion to set aside a default judgment. In this case, the plaintiff served the defendant under section 48.031, Florida Statutes, by serving Luz Rodriguez, who was purportedly living at the property. After judgment was entered, the appellant/defendant sought to vacate the judgment and filed affidavits establishing they did not know Luz Rodriguez, that the property had been vacant for “some time” before the purported substituted service, and that they had lived in Miami for at least 18 months. The Fifth District stated:
The party seeking to invoke the courts jurisdiction has the burden to prove the validity of service of process. Se
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Jul 16
Harbottle & Lewis has issued a letter in response to allegations in the press that the firm made a mistake in its part in an internal investigation into phone-hacking at News International.
In an open letter sent earlier today (18 July), Harbottle said that its ability to respond to the allegations made last week by News Corporation head Rupert Murdoch were constrained by factors including client confidentiality.
Harbottle’s letter states: “Despite the constraints upon us, we can make it clear that many recent press reports have not accurately described the extent of our retainer from News International in 2007.
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Jul 16
A jury acquitted San Francisco resident Eric Meoli of possessing magic mushrooms after finding that he could not have knowingly possessed them because he forgot they were in his backpack. Meoli, a cannabis club worker, was stopped on May 25 for riding his bicycle on a BART station platform when police searched his backpack and found the mushrooms. He had accepted the mushrooms six months earlier in exchange for $10 of cannabis that he gave to a “hippy in Golden Park” who suffered from insomnia. According to Kimberly Lutes-Koths, Meoli’s public defender, Meoli put the mushrooms in his backpack six months ago and then forgot all about them.
Prosecutors couldn’t prove Meoli had knowledge of the mushrooms when he was arrested, which is a requirement for conviction of possession. Federal
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Jul 16
WASHINGTON – The owner of an investment planning company in Miami was sentenced today to 63 months in prison for his role in a scheme to defraud the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) of $5.2 million, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and Osvaldo L. Gratacos, Inspector General of the Ex-Im Bank.
Carlos L. Morano, 51, was sentenced by Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga in U.S. District Court in Miami. In addition to his prison term, Morano was sentenced to three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $5.2 million in restitution and $6.8 million in forfeiture. Morano pleaded guilty on May 6, 2011, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of wire fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud the Ex-Im Bank of approximately $5.2 million. M
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Jul 15
What is the Joint Africa-EU Strategy?
At its narrowest point, only 15 kilometers separate Europe and Africa in the Strait of Gibraltar. Partially due to their close proximity, relations between the two continents have always been intertwined. Throughout history the prosperity, stability, and security of one region has directly affected the other. Recent events in in North Africa, and the influx of Tunisian and Libyan migrants to European shores, have only underscored this connection, and at times, tension.
Migration, however, is but one issue of importance between Europe and Africa. Trade, energy, climate change, democratic governance, and human rights, are among the joint concerns for these regions bound together by history, culture, and geography.
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