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15 Fla. B. News 1 (1988)

handle is hein.barjournals/flabn0015 and id is 1 raw text is: President's View Florida Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company schedules briefing sessions ByRay Ferrero, Jr. This is the second time I have used this column to report to you concerning mat- ters of timely impor- tance to the lawyers of Florida. In 1985, our agent advised me that INA was not going to renew my firm's malpractice insurance because o the nature of our firm's practice. Many of you have received similar letters from INA or other insurance companies in the past. At the present time, CIGNA Insurance Com- pany is notifying Florida lawyers that it has discontinued writing professional liability insurance and that their policies will not be renewed. We can no longer allow ourselves to be sub- ject to. such actions on the part of the com- mercial insurance market. Jt is time to take our destiny into our own hands! By the time this is printed, I will have met with Bar leaders in 15 of our 20 circuits, to explain F.MIC (Florida Lawyers Mutual In- surance Company). My plans are to continue these meetings in the remaining circuits dur- ing the month of January. I invite you to one of the following sessions: Ft. Lauderdale January 6, 1988 9:00 a.m. to II a.m. Westin Cypress Creek 400 Corporate Drive Miami January 6, 1988 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m Omni International 1601 Biscayne Blvd Jacksonville January 8, 1988 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Omni Jacksonville 245 Water Street West Palm Beach January7, 1988 10a.m. to 12noon The Royce 1601 Belvedere Road Orlando January 13, 1988 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Omni Hotel 400 W. Livingston St Tampa January 22, 1988 11a.m. to 12 noon Hyatt Regency 211 N. Tampa Street As I travel around the state, the three most frequently asked questions are: eWhen will FLMIC write coverage? The answer is simple! Within 30 days of the date we raise $3 million. *Will everyone be eligible for coverage? That answer is also simple. No! We will not accept lawyers who are bad underwriting risks. Having said that, our experts tell us that 90-95 percent of Florida lawyers should be eligible for insurance with the company. *What must I contribute to the surplus of the company to be eligible for coverage? Before 01131188: Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County lawyers-$ 1,900 per lawyer Remainder of lawyers in state - $1,425 per lawyer. After O113188: Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County lawyers-S2,000 per lawyer Remainder of lawyers in state-$1,500 per lawyer Checks made payable to Sun Bank Na- tional Association, Escrow Agent and com- pleted subscription agreements should be sent to: Michael A. Tartaglia, Esquire The Florida Bar 600 Apalachee Parkway Tallahassee, Florida 32301-8226 (Please see FLMIC page 2) The Florida Bar .News Vol. 15, No. 1 January 1, 1988 Court approves Board reapportionment plan by Judson H. Orrick Associate Editor While finding The Florida Bar need not meet a strict one person, one vote require- ment in Board of Governors elections, the Supreme Court of Florida agreed with a group of Miami lawyers December 10 that Bar members in the state's metropolitan ar- eas deserve greater Board representation, and added nine seats to be filled this year. -The 6-1 per curiam opinion will result in four new Board positions for Miami-area law- yers, as.well. as.one additional, seteach fbr nonresident lawyers and lawyers in the sixth, ninth, 13th, 15th and l7thjudicial circuits. One New York lawyer who had filed a brief supporting strict proportional representation for all Bar members said the third nonresi- dent seat was not satisfactory. John R. Varney of Syracuse said he is considering pe- titioning the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case. Meanwhile, lawyers in the.12th Circuit will lose one of their two seats when new Board members are sworn in June 17, and the presi- dent-elect of the Young Lawyers Division now will have a voice on the Board, but no vote. Because the effective date would have given members only nine days to meet the qualify- ing deadline for this year's Board elections, the court extended the deadline to February 1. Issued after a motion for clarification was filed by the Bar, the extension applies to the new positions and those seats already sched- uled for elections in 1988 (see petition form, page 4). ASKED TO comment on the opinion, Bar President. Ray Ferrero said, I'm extremely satisfied with it, because it accomplishes what is in the best interests of the Bar. It followed almost completely the proposal outlined by the Board of Governors, and will allow us to provide additional representation to the popu- lous areas while retaining some representation in the smaller counties, which I feel is very advisable. Chesterfield Smith, the past Florida Bar president who filed the petition last Decem- ber, said he was not completely satisfied with the result, but called it a reasonable step for- ward. I believe the opinion and the action of the court and the Board of Governors go a long way toward correcting the deficiencies on the Board in the underrepresentation of lawyers, Smith said. But they did not correct the prob- lem we have with the overrepresentation of lawyers in some circuits. Smith said he thought the Board would func- tion best with about 20 members. A group of 51 representatives presents special prob- lems, he said. It's going to be.hard to get volunteers to participate in a collegial way on resolving prob- lems, Smith said. They're going to have to go to full parliamentary procedure. They're Service tax repealed Lawmakers respond to outcry going to-have to wait their turn to speak. They're going to have to put limitations on presentations...and even then people won't have an opportunity to be fully heard. He said he did not think any of the peti- tioners he represented would take the case into federal court. Further adjustments in the size of the Board should originate within the Board, Smith said. I hope that the new Board of Governors will consider whether the Bar would be bet- ter served by a smaller Board, and come back with a petition some time in the future not dissimilar to the one we filed, Smith said. BEFORE THE reapportionment, the Board had 42 members: the president and presi- dent-elect; the president and president-elect of the YLD; two Bar members who reside out- side Florida; two nonlawyers; one Bar mem- ber from each of the state's 20judicial circuits; and 14 additional Bar members apportioned among the circuits based on the number of bar members residing in each circuit. The petitioners' proposal would have kept the president and president-elect, the nonresi- dent members and the nonlawyers, and would have had between 30 and 40 resident Bar mem- bers elected from single-member districts created by the Board of Governors. Their plan would have eliminated the YLD representatives and required that the appor- tioned seats be elected according to the one person, one vote principle. Two Florida Bar members from New York argued there should be more nonresidents on the Board, but otherwise supported the peti- tioners' proposal. Sandy D'Alemberte, dean of Florida State University College of Law, endorsed the pe- (Please see Opinion, page 4) House SpeakerJon Mills, D-Gainesville, talks with reporters December 9 outside Bob Marti- nez' office after meeting with the Governor to discuss action on the servicetax. Several hours later, lawmakers repealed the tax and hiked the sales tax on goods from five percent to six per- cent. By Joe Bizzaro Associate Editor Florida's tax on legal counsel and scores of other services died today, the victim of a political backlash unforeseen last April when lawmakers enacted the levy. Repeal of the service tax was authorized under legislation approved in special session December 10. Replacement of the hundreds of millions of dollars in potential revenues lost through repeal will begin February I when the sales tax on goods increases from five per- cent to six percent. The tax on legal services is dead, but its ghost could haunt the business ledgers of Flor- ida lawyers for some time to come. That's because a provision in the repeal- ing legislation requires that all services per- formed or used prior to January I remain taxable even if paid for after January 1. For the attorney being paid an hourly fee, that means all the time he or she spends on a case prior to January 1 is subject to the five The legal service tax's demise comes as a relief to Florida Bar President Ray Ferrero, Jr., who credits lobbying efforts by the Bar and individual attorneys with helping bring about repeal. I'm gratified that all the efforts of The Flor- ida Bar, its legislative staff and our members came to fruition on behalf of our clients, he said. But while the Bar vigorously opposed the legal fee levy by lobbying lawmakers and chal- lenging its constitutionality in court, it was (Please see Repeal, page 5) percent levy but time spent on the same case after January I is not. The only exception would be in the rare instance of a prepayment, says Jeff Kielbasa, deputy general counsel for the Florida De- partment of Revenue. In those cases, any prepayment made prior to January I would be entirely taxable even if the work performed for that fee spilled over into the new year. (Please see Advice, page 5) BEST COPY AVAILABLE The Supreme:Courtadopted a reapportionmentplanwhich . ,createstfouradditional Board ofiGovernors seats for the l1th Circuitoenwsat.or sets tr he61t cuitne:n -for the 6th, 9th, 13th 1ithand 17th cir- illcut ,and one neW.seat fornOnresident Barlmembers, effec- i iJanuaryiLawyers in the 12th Circuit will lose oneseat; and ithe presidfnt-elec t ofthe-,Young' Lawyers Division will become a nor v ime' ber of the oad. Th; ao' orune4d uii ., 0(b 4Sidad ihefor a'- .s Ut' ,ieasweIa n titofr ipslti ns ,.p.-oroledtion thifs. 'e A&~uI~r ptto o t';ose . wul ikeerve.o6 thtBar aperson page 4 DOR gives advice to lawyers 00, 0 I- C .3 7 U- I<,I :4.'

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