Significant Cases

Some of the more significate legal cases Mr. Reder has worked on are:

Miller v. State,      This case was popularly referred to as the "Stop Sign Case." Mr. Miller and two of his friends were convicted by a jury for involuntary manslaughter of three other teenagers who were killed when hit broadside by a semii tractor-trailer. The state argued that Mr. Miller and his friends had pulled out a stop sign at a four way stop intersection resulting in the accident. Mr. Reder was successful in getting the convictions overturned and received national recognition on the Larry King Live show.

Doyle v. State, Mr. Reder was successful in overturning an administrative decision which branded his client as a convicted felon because of a misdemeanor committed in New York twenty years previously.

Harris v. Hillsborough County, The opinion in this case is one of the few interpreting the Bert Harris Act.

Sneed v. Pall Aeropower Corp.,   This is one of the earliest cases brought under the Federal Qui Tam statute. Pall Aeropower Corp. settled this case by entering into a $2 million dollar settlement.

Garcia v HillsboroghCounty Sheriff, Mr. Reder represented Miguel Garcia who was priest in the Santiarra religion. In this case the Sheriff's office and an apartment complex committed wrongful eviction by removing and destroying Mr. Garcia's personal property a day before the deadline mentioned in the 24 hour notice posted on the apartment door. Although Mr. Garcia's claim for special damages because of the religious significance of much of his property that disappered or was destroyed, Mr. Reder obtained a favorable settlement because of the threat of appeal.

Aguilar v. Aguilar, Mr. Reder was successful in having a probate judge's dismissal of his complaint to set aside a will as a product of undue influence reversed.   The District Court of Appeal agreed with Mr. Reder's argument that the law required such complaint to be filed within thirty days of formal notice that a probate proceeding had been initiated and did not require that formal notice be served within the same time period.

News

The main focus of my practice is now in foreclosure defense. I spend hours a day keeping up with developments throughout the state. The Florida Supreme Court has recently amended the Rules of Civil Procedure which now require that foreclosure complaints be verified. It has also recently ordered the chief judges of the judicial circuits to implement a mandatory mediation program. Hillsborough County has not implemented one yet.

In the Hartshorn case, I filed the initial brief arguing there is not time limit for seeking to set aside a summary judgment of foreclosure where the matter had been pursued by the wtrong entity. If we win, then all the mortgage foreclosure actions completed by Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS) in the last several years are subject to being set aside.

Recently I was successful in defeating two attempts to obtain summary judgments of foreclosure. In one Judge Williams found there were disputed factual issues as to whether the plaintiff received delivery of a promissory note endorsed in blank before the filing of the lawsuit and whether MERS had the authority to assign its interest in the mortgage. She scheduled the matter for final hearing the week of June 14.

In the second case, Judge Cobb sitting in for Judge Bray also found there disputed issues of fact as to whether the promissory note was delivered and the mortgage assigned to the plaintiff before the suit was filed.