Kendall Coffey Discusses Consolidation of Marriage Equality Suits in Florida

Motions filed to consolidate gay marriage suits

Motions filed to consolidate gay marriage suits

By Dan Sweeney, Sun Sentinel2:27 p.m. EDT, July 31, 2014

Two same-sex marriage lawsuits currently winding their way through the Third District Court of Appeals may soon be combined into one

Circuit court judges in both Miami-Dade and Monroe counties have struck down Florida's same-sex marriage ban, but both decisions were stayed pending appeals.

"Consoldiating the two cases makes all the sense in the world, not only because of the importance but because of the commonality," said Kendall Coffey, an adjunct professor at the University of Miami's School of Law.

Kendall Coffey is an attorney in Miami and former U.S. Attorney for the Southern Region

• Lawyers for both sets of plaintiffs have filed motions seeking the consolidation and the defendant county clerks have not objected.

Both sets of plaintiffs are also asking the court of appeals to let the case move straight to the Florida Supreme Court because the issues addressed "are of great public importance.''

Such action is "occurs in truly extraordinary cases," Coffey said. He also said the appellate court could also accelerate the speed at which it heard the case.

dsweeney@sun-sentinel.com, 954-356-4605 or Twitter @Daniel_Sweeney

See the story here:  Motions filed to consolidate gay marriage suits

Kendall Coffey on Spike Lee Tweet Lawsuit

Former U.S. Attorney Kendall Coffey appeared on the Steve Malzberg Show last week to discuss current legal cases.  One of the cases involved a family that is suing film maker Spike Lee.  Lee posted an address on Twitter that he claimed was the address of George Zimmerman, the man who shot Florida teen Trayvon Martin.  The address was incorrect, however, and the couple actually at the posted address recieved threatening letters and harassment.

Spike Lee tweeted an address he thought was George Zimmerman's

The George Zimmerman case gained a lot of attention from racial equality advocates and Lee was likely trying to incite the harassment directed at Zimmerman.  The couple is suing Spike Lee for either defamation or intentional infliction of emotional distress.  Kendall Coffey explained that while the case is sympathetic there may not be enough legal grounds for the lawsuit.

"People who value the law as you and I do like to say that for every wrong there must be a remedy.  This certainly seems like a wrong, at least the way it’s presented by the plaintiffs.  And one might think there must be some kind of remedy if indeed they suffered what we understand could well have been a firestorm of threats and abuse. 
"But a few years back the Supreme Court of Florida decided that the kind of claim for what they call violation of privacy, putting somebody or casting somebody in a false light through publicity that’s damaging, that by itself is no longer, in the state of Florida, a valid basis to bring a claim for damages. 
"What these individuals would have to claim is either something called intentional infliction of emotional distress, and it’s hard to think that they can show enough intentionality.  Maybe they can on the part of Spike Lee.  Or, they can present it as a claim of defamation, maybe they can get somewhere.  But, despite what makes us all sympathetic, if indeed what happened here is as they describe it, I’m not convinced they’re going to get to first base, and certainly not to second base, in terms of a lawsuit.  Given that the decision the Supreme Court of Florida made, which actually gives less protection for individuals whose privacy rights are invaded and are wrongly subjected to negative publicity.”