U.S. Supreme Court Denies Property Owners’ Appeal

The Hillsborough County Clerk of Court and the City of Tampa recently celebrated the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to review a Florida appeals court ruling stating that interest earned on eminent domain funds held by the county clerk is not payable to former property owners.

Originally filed in 2011, a group of property owners brought a class action law suit against the Hillsborough County Clerk of Court, Pat Frank, and the City of Tampa, contending that they were owed interest earned on eminent domain funds that were deposited into an interest bearing account. The court determined that the property owners have no ownership of the interest earned on deposit funds.

de la Parte & Gilbert attorney, David Caldevilla, represents Pat Frank. “We have always firmly believed that the clerk’s office properly complied with the applicable law governing court registry deposits and properly disbursed the interest earned on those deposits,” Caldevilla said. “The property owners were improperly attempting to recover double payment, and the courts have now recognized that they had no legitimate claim against the clerk.”

David is a shareholder with de la Parte & Gilbert and is board certified by The Florida Bar in Appellate Practice. He can be reached at dcaldevilla@dgfirm.com.

Florida Supreme Court to Consider Personal Injury Issue

David Caldevilla is one of several attorneys representing a Florida medical provider who, along with numerous other providers, is hopeful that the Florida Supreme Court will uphold a decision regarding payments for treating patients with personal injury claims that fall under the Florida’s no-fault insurance system.

Allstate Insurance Company is appealing a previous appellate court ruling stating that its personal injury protection insurance policy is ambiguous and legally insufficient to provide notice to its insureds of a fee schedule, which significantly reduces payments owed to health care providers.

Mr. Caldevilla has practiced with de la Parte & Gilbert since 1989. In addition to his appellate cases, he also focuses his practice on administrative, complex civil litigation, environmental, eminent domain and government cases. David can be reached at dcaldevilla@dgfirm.com.

de la Parte & Gilbert Elects Managing Partner

Patrick J. McNamara was recently elected to serve as president and managing partner of de la Parte & Gilbert, P.A. The position was previously held by Edward P. de la Parte, Jr., who was instrumental in the selection of Pat as his successor. After the vote, Pat shared, “I am honored to serve as managing partner at the firm where I have practiced my entire legal career.”

Pat has practiced with de la Parte & Gilbert since 1987 and became a partner in 1994. Pat has previously served as the firm’s managing partner and vice managing partner since 1999. He primarily practices in the fields of commercial, civil, and personal injury litigation, health law, construction law and appeals. Pat can be reached at pmcnamara@dgfirm.com.

de la Parte & Gilbert, P.A. Named to U.S. News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms”

de la Parte & Gilbert, P.A. is pleased to announce that we have been named a 2016 Tier 1 Tampa “Best Law Firm” by U.S. News – Best Lawyers® for the practice areas of Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs and Water Law.

The U.S. News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms” rankings are based on a rigorous evaluation process that includes the collection of client and lawyer evaluations, peer review from leading attorneys in their field, and review of additional information provided by law firms as part of the formal submission process.

Don Greiwe Joins Firm

Don Greiwe, a recent graduate of the University of Florida Levin College of Law, has joined de la Parte & Gilbert, P.A. as an associate attorney. Don received his Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from the University of Notre Dame and his Master of Science in Accountancy from the University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business. He plans to practice primarily in the areas of civil and business litigation, medical malpractice, appeals, and commercial transactions. Don can be reached at dgreiwe@dgfirm.com.

Kristin Melton Speaks at Professionalism Seminar

Kristin Melton spoke at The Florida Bar’s Practicing with Professionalism seminar held at the Tampa Airport Marriott in early September. The seminar is designed to provide a broad overview of ethical and professional issues that new lawyers may face. The goal of the course is to fulfill phase one of the Basic Skills Course Requirement for admission to The Florida Bar.

Kristin is a Shareholder with de la Parte & Gilbert, P.A. She focuses her practice mainly in the areas of government, administrative, water, environmental, and sports law.

Ed de la Parte Leads Regional Water Cooperative Meeting

Ed de la Parte led a meeting with Polk County officials to begin the process of creating a regional water cooperative for the fast-growing county. With usage expected to increase from 280 million gallons of water per day to a projected 1.1 billion gallons a day by 2035, the region is establishing the infrastructure to meet the demand.

“The cooperative’s role is to proactively identify alternative water resources and projects that will ensure the future sustainability of the region’s water supplies,” said de la Parte. “Specifically, it will identify groundwater sources, develop strategies that will meet the anticipated demands, identify the necessary infrastructure and establish consistent rules.”

The initial project may include water supply projects, interconnection and water sharing systems, reclaimed water projects, water conservation projects and regional water resource development planning. To see more about Polk County’s water co-op in the Polk County Democrat: View Article

Ed is a Board Certified State and Federal Government and Administrative Practice Lawyer. He has been with the firm of de la Parte & Gilbert, P.A. for over thirty five years and concentrates his practice in the areas of government, administrative, environmental land use, and water law. Ed can be reached at edelaparte@dgfirm.com.

Best Lawyers® Selects de la Parte & Gilbert Attorneys for 2016 Publication of The Best Lawyers in America©

The Best Lawyers in America has selected de la Parte & Gilbert attorneys Richard A. GilbertEdward P. de la ParteDavid M. Caldevilla and Vivian Arenas-Battles for inclusion in their 2016 edition.

Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Best Lawyers lists are compiled based on an exhaustive peer-review evaluation.

Mr. Gilbert is listed in three areas of specialty – Commercial Litigation, Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs, and Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs. Very few Best Lawyers attorneys are listed in 3 specialties and only a handful of attorneys share these same specialties. Rich is Board Certified as both a Business Litigation Lawyer and Civil Trial Lawyer and has been a Best Lawyers selectee since 2003. He can be reached at rgilbert@dgfirm.com.

Ed de la Parte is again listed in the areas of Utilities Law and Water Law. Ed has been a Best Lawyers selectee since 2008 and is Board Certified in State & Federal Government & Administrative Practice. He can be reached at edelaparte@dgfirm.com.

For the fourth consecutive year, David Caldevilla is included in the area of Appellate Practice. David is Board Certified in Appellate Practice and he can be reached at dcaldevilla@dgfirm.com.

A selectee since 2013, Vivian Arenas-Battles is a Certified Circuit Court Mediator and is listed in the area of Eminent Domain and Condemnation law.

de la Parte & Gilbert Attorneys Selected to 2015 Super Lawyers and Rising Stars

Five de la Parte & Gilbert, P.A. attorneys have again been selected as “Super Lawyers” in the 2015 issue of Florida Super Lawyers magazine. Edward de la ParteRichard GilbertPatrick McNamaraDavid Caldevilla and Vivian Arenas-Battles were awarded the designation based on peer nominations and evaluations.

Daniel McBreen and Kristin Melton were selected by their peers as Rising Stars. This is an honor claimed only by 2.5% of Florida lawyers under the age of 40 who have practiced for less than 10 years.

de la Parte & Gilbert, P.A. Sponsors Florida Chamber’s Environmental Permitting Summer School

The law firm of de la Parte & Gilbert is pleased to sponsor the Florida Chamber’s 29th Annual Environmental Permitting Summer School. The conference is produced by the Florida Environmental Network, Inc. (FENI) and is attended by more than 850 consultants, engineers, developers, landowners, government officials and others with an interest in Florida’s environmental issues.

The conference is July 7 – 10, 2015 at the Marriott World Center Resort in Orlando, Florida. Registration is currently open at www.floridaenet.com.

The conference curriculum offers continuing education credits for attorneys, engineers, architects and environmental professionals. Edward de la Parte and Nicolas Porter have also been selected to serve as faculty at the annual event where they will present a water management district planning, regulatory and policy update and participate in a panel discussion about emerging challenges in meeting future water demands, innovative water supply projects, legal and policy issues regarding reclaimed water and more.

Ed de la Parte will participate in a panel discussion about Emerging Water Supply Issues in which topics will cover emerging challenges in meeting future water demands; innovative water supply projects; meeting the conceptual costs of distribution and storage of reclaimed water; legal and policy issues regarding the control of reclaimed water for future public and private use; and regulatory challenges. The panel will answer questions including how the implementation of the Florida Land and Water Conservation Amendment will impact future water supply; and how do we engage the public to improve awareness of future water supply needs?

Nicolas Porter’s presentation will provide insight into the regulatory, planning, and water supply development programs of Florida’s five water management districts; discussion of water resource development and water supply planning, adoption and implementation of MFLs; integration with Florida Forever work plans with WMD land acquisition and management programs; ERPs, watershed planning, secondary and cumulative impacts; and other emerging programs and issues.

The conference curriculum offers continuing education credits for attorneys, engineers, architects and environmental professionals.