Court dismisses suit challenging Rivian project, finding it duplicative under Public Lawsuits Act

Handdown List released on:October 15, 2024

Court granted reargument to clarify that Florida punitive damages law sufficiently defined "express malice" and required both actual and express malice for a jury to award punitive damages.

Court affirms jury verdict in favor of drug distributors in an opioid-related negligence lawsuit, and dismisses as moot the distributors' challenge to the constitutionality of a statute

Court reverses ex parte order and vacates nuisance findings in a County's public-nuisance case against apartments, and affirms that Civil Practice Act applies to nuisance abatement actions

Plaintiff was not entitled to summary judgment of actual malice where jury could either find that information provided to news organization was conclusive of the truth or self-serving, creating a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the outlet recklessly disregarded the truth; however, there was insufficient evidence of a primary purpose to harm plaintiff, precluding a showing of express malice.

Court declined parties' cross-motions for summary judgment where distinctive look of functional website was entitled to copyright protection and the question of substantial similarity was sufficiently close to go to the jury.

Court affirms spoliation sanctions against City of Atlanta in a negligence action, and affirms trial court's decision to overturns attorney fees award due to a procedural deficiency

Handdown List released on:September 6 & 11, 2024

Court reverses summary judgment order and remands in a breach of contract action because trial court misapplied the new business rule to exclude evidence of lost profits