Rosangel Portales vs. Another Beautiful Corp-Florida 3rd District Court of Appeals
A procedural error in court could be detrimental to your compensation, so it’s imperative that you seek legal counsel with the experience and record to defend your rights effectively.
Rosangel Portales filed a discrimination claim against her employer, Another Beautiful Corporation (ABC). ABC motioned for summary judgement, but the trial court denied the motion without prejudice after holding a hearing to allow sufficient time for both parties to further develop their cases. When the parties reconvened in court two weeks later, a “no cause” determination had been delivered by the Miami-Dade County Human Rights Division which ABC argued limited Ms Portales to purely administrative remedies thereby precluding the lawsuit. ABC renewed its motion for summary judgement, and the court-ordered ABC to submit a legal memorandum within ten days, giving Portales seven days thereafter to respond. Neither party expressed any objections to the court’s procedure. With no objections and the requested memorandum submitted by ABC, the trial court granted summary judgement to ABC.
Ms Portales appealed the trial court’s ruling in the Florida 3rd District Court of Appeals, arguing that the trial court’s failure to hold a second trial when the defendant renewed its motion for summary judgement was a procedural error. However, the appeals court ruled that because no objection was made to the court’s request for additional documents after the initial motion for summary judgement, reconvening was simply a continuation of the original trial-this negated a second trial.
An experienced, aggressive attorney can make sure that a failure to object, file a motion or any other procedural error does not sink your claim to compensation. Trust the attorney’s at Canan Law to tirelessly defend your rights.
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