LIVE DRAG SHOWS The U.S. Supreme Court has blocked the enforcement of the recently passed prohibition against children attending explicit performances. Florida attempted to enforce the law on an Orlando-based live drag show, which allows children’s attendance with the accompaniment of a parent. A lower court ruled that it likely violated the First Amendment and therefore, blocked its enforcement. The Supreme Court elected to continue the enforcement block, but did not rule on the law’s constitutionality at this time.
ACADEMC DIVERSITY A Florida federal judge ruled that students and professors at New College of Florida lacked standing in their challenge to the state’s new academic diversity and inclusion laws. They opined that regulations targeting individual professors would need to be issued before the court can examine whether the state laws violate the First Amendment.
DUKE ENERGY ASSESSMENT The Florida Supreme Court ruled that Duke Energy Florida LLC can bill customers $7.2 million to repair a damaged power plant. They ruled that the Florida Office of the Public Counsel did not preserve legal issues challenging a state utility commission’s decision to allow the power company to recover costs.
OYSTERBED RECOVERY A Florida jury has awarded a Pensacola oyster farmer $1.7 million over the loss of 800,000 oysters during Hurricane Sally in 2020. The jury found SKANSKA USA liable for damages and lost revenue when two of the company’s barges became unmoored, dragged across the beds, and killed the oysters.
MAYA LAWSUIT A Florida jury awarded the family of Maya Kowalski, the child at the center of the Netflix documentary “Take Care of Maya,” more than $238 million. The jury determined that punitive damages were warranted against Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital for allegedly mistreating Maya to the point that her mother took her own life.
COVID-19 DATA The Florida Department of Health must provide COVID-19 data to the public and pay $152,000 in attorney fees after it reached a settlement with former state representative Carlos Guillermo Smith (D-Orlando) and the Florida Center for Government Accountability.