State v. Mark Marks, PA

698 So. 2d 533, 22 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 439, 1997 Fla. LEXIS 1056, 1997 WL 417282
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJuly 17, 1997
Docket85920
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 698 So. 2d 533 (State v. Mark Marks, PA) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Mark Marks, PA, 698 So. 2d 533, 22 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 439, 1997 Fla. LEXIS 1056, 1997 WL 417282 (Fla. 1997).

Opinion

698 So.2d 533 (1997)

STATE of Florida, Petitioner,
v.
MARK MARKS, P.A., et al., Respondents.

No. 85920.

Supreme Court of Florida.

July 17, 1997.

*534 Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General and Richard L. Polin, Assistant Attorney General, Miami, for Petitioner.

Mark Hicks, of Hicks, Anderson & Blum, P.A., Miami, and H. Dohn Williams, Jr. of H. Dohn Williams, Jr., P.A., Fort Lauderdale, on behalf of Mark Marks; Archibald J. Thomas, III of Archibald J. Thomas, III, P.A., Jacksonville, on behalf of Gary Marks; J. David Bogenschutz of Bogenschutz & Dutko, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, on behalf of Ronald J. Centrone; and Ronald S. Guralnick of Ronald S. Guralnick, P.A., Miami, on behalf of Noreen Roberts and Denise Beloff, for Respondents.

Bill Nelson, Insurance Commissioner and Charles Faircloth, Jr., Senior Attorney, Tallahassee, for Amicus Curiae Department of Insurance.

Robert S. Glazier, Miami, for Amicus Curiae The Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers.

KOGAN, Justice.

We have for review State v. Mark Marks, P.A., 654 So.2d 1184 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995), in which the district court certified the following question to be of great public importance:

WHETHER SECTION 817.234(1), FLORIDA STATUTES (1987), IS UNCONSTITUTIONALLY VAGUE AS APPLIED TO ATTORNEYS IN THE REPRESENTATION OF THEIR CLIENTS SINCE IT DOES NOT PROVIDE ADEQUATE NOTICE OF WHEN AN OMISSION WILL RESULT IN AN "INCOMPLETE" CLAIM UNDER THE STATUTE?

Id. at 1194. We have jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(4), of the Florida Constitution. We find that by using the term "incomplete," section 817.234(1), Florida Statutes (1987), does not provide sufficient notice of the conduct by attorneys that it proscribes and that it is subject to arbitrary enforcement when applied to attorneys in the representation of their clients. We therefore answer the certified question in the affirmative.[1]

The State initiated this case by filing an information against a total of twelve defendants. *535 The information was amended several times. The final amended information, dated August 21, 1992, charged only eight defendants.[2] The defendants included the firm Mark Marks, P.A., three attorneys in the firm,[3] three employees of the firm,[4] and a doctor who conducted medical examinations of several of the firm's third party insurance claim clients.[5] The counts in the information were as follows:

COUNT 1: Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO)[6]
COUNT 2: Conspiracy RICO
COUNT 3: Scheme to Defraud
COUNTS 4-13: Perjury
COUNT 14: Grand Theft
COUNT 15: Insurance Fraud
COUNT 18: Grand Theft
COUNT 19: Insurance Fraud
COUNT 20: Grand Theft
COUNT 21: Insurance Fraud[7]
COUNTS 22-23: Insurance Fraud
COUNTS 29-30: Grand Theft
COUNTS 31-33: Insurance Fraud
COUNT 34: Grand Theft
COUNT 35: Insurance Fraud

In summary, the information charged the eight defendants with engaging in various illegal activities including but not limited to:

-Preparation and submission of false and fraudulent medical tests and procedures for the purpose of enhancing the settlement value of insurance claims;
-Soliciting clients to undergo unnecessary and dangerous medical tests and procedures for the purpose of enhancing the settlement value of insurance claims;
-Altering, forging and concealing medical reports, medical test results and medical bills to enhance the settlement value of insurance claims;
-Subornation of false, fraudulent and perjured testimony by clients and other witnesses regarding material matters in order to enhance the settlement value of insurance claims; and
-Theft of monies from various insurance companies by means of the foregoing acts.

In January of 1993, the State filed a second information against four of the same defendants.[8] The illegal activities alleged in the information were similar to those alleged in the first information. The counts alleged in that complaint were as follows:

COUNT 1-2: Insurance Fraud
COUNT 3: Grand Theft
COUNT 4: Insurance Fraud
COUNT 5: Insurance Fraud
COUNT 6: Grand Theft
COUNT 7: Grand Theft
COUNT 8: Insurance Fraud
COUNT 9: Grand Theft
COUNT 10: Insurance Fraud
COUNT 11: Grand Theft

A large number of the counts in both informations were based on the attorneys' actions in representing various clients in insurance claims during pre-suit settlement negotiations. The State alleged that the attorneys' actions violated the false and fraudulent insurance claim statute, section 817.234(1)[9]*536 and (3),[10] Florida Statutes (1987). We are concerned here with the counts charging violations of section 817.234, along with the grand theft counts based upon the alleged violations of section 817.234.

Early in the proceedings, the defendants filed a number of motions challenging section 817.234 and the counts in the first information that were based upon that statute. The trial court denied the motions. Following the disqualification of the judge who ruled on these motions, the defendants filed several motions to reconsider the prior judge's rulings. In two orders dated October 14, 1993, the trial court reconsidered the defendants' claims regarding section 817.234. The first order addressed the counts raised in the first information. The trial court determined that the structure of section 817.234 as well as the insurance code, particularly section 627.4136, Florida Statutes (1993),[11] indicated that section 817.234 did not apply to third-party insureds or their attorneys. Accordingly, the trial court dismissed counts 15, 18, 19, 22, 23, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 and 35, as well as the predicate acts of count 1 which coincided with these counts, because they all pertained to third-party claims.[12]

In the second order, which addressed the counts raised in the second information, the court adopted the findings and conclusions of its initial order and dismissed all counts based on third-party claims. The counts dismissed from the second information were counts 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11.

Prior to the trial court's orders dismissing these counts, the defendants filed several motions to dismiss various counts in the first information in which the defendants were charged with violating section 817.234(1) by submitting incomplete demand letters to insurers. According to the State, the defendants' demand letters omitted medical records or statements that were unfavorable to the claim. The trial court, in a third order dated January 27, 1994, addressed the defendants' motions to dismiss, but its findings only applied to count 21[13] and count 20[14] of the first information, as well as the corresponding predicate acts associated with those counts.[15]

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Bluebook (online)
698 So. 2d 533, 22 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 439, 1997 Fla. LEXIS 1056, 1997 WL 417282, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mark-marks-pa-fla-1997.