Daily Record Financial News &
Monday, October 12, 2015
Vol. 102, No. 236 • Two Sections
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El Faro ad sparks debate, probe Florida Bar says law firm did not get item approved
By David Chapman Staff Writer When Leigh Scales walks into her Professional Responsibility classes this week, she’ll have new material she’s sure will inspire a debate among her students. The Florida Coastal School of Law professor uses attorney advertising as part of her curriculum. It’s a course that prepares lawyers of tomorrow for the ethics portion of The Florida Bar exam.
What she found late last week in The Florida Times-Union is now part of her collection. And it’s part of a Florida Bar investigation. The first ad on Thursday, just inside the paper’s Metro section, began “El Faro Family Members” with a picture of the sunken ship just underneath. Below that was a message that the accident attorneys at Johns & Von Roenn “are accepting cases on behalf of the El Faro crew.” The TOTE Maritime cargo ship
Another quarterly earnings season kicks off this week with CSX Corp., and analysts will be paying close attention to the Jacksonville-based railroad company for a couple of reasons. One is that CSX will be the first major railroad to report its numbers. The industry in general has been reporting disappointing numbers recently, sending rail stocks down 30 percent since a November peak, according to a Goldman Sachs report. The other reason is CSX will also be one of the first Standard & Poor’s 500 companies to report earnings and analysts have been warning the nation’s big companies are in an “earnings recession,” even as the economy grows. Earnings for S&P 500 companies declined in the second quarter and are expected to show an overall decline again in the third quarter. CSX has been projecting earnings to be flat in the quarter, although a slight decline wouldn’t be a surprise. Despite all the doom and gloom, the Goldman Sachs analysts painted an optimistic picture for the railroad industry. They upgraded the overall industry from “neutral” to “attractive” after the drop in stock prices over the past year. “In our view, near-term earnings risks are now well-known and discounted. However, current valuations do not seem to fairly reflect the long-term earnings power of the Rails, in our view,” they said. The Goldman Sachs analysts are expecting a rebound in the number of carloads of freight transported on the railroads in 2016, which will help the stocks. Basch
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Photo by Bobby King
Analysts to watch earnings for CSX
headed for Puerto Rico sank this month after being caught in the ferocity of Hurricane Joaquin. The ship had 33 crew members, many with local ties. The search for them was suspended Thursday. On Friday, another ad from the firm ran in the newspaper — this time with softer language. It began with condolences for the families and friends of the ship’s crew. This ad had the message of “We are here to serve the families of this tragedy.”
It’s an interesting case for Scales, who called the Florida Bar’s ethics hotline to see if the ad violated any policy. Florida Bar rules state that attorneys can’t directly contact victims or their families within 30 days of an accident. The newspaper advertisements were general and targeted a group of individuals, but it wasn’t a direct solicitation, she said. Florida Bar rules also state written communication can’t be sent “directly or indirectly” to
prospective clients within that time. On its face, it doesn’t seem to violate any Florida Bar rules, Scales said. It’s not misleading, one of the bigger violations when it comes to attorney advertising. However, she can see how some might think the ad as distasteful. That makes it a perfect discussion for her two classes. Some students, she said, likely will see it as OK because it appears to fall within the rules. Legal continued on Page A-11
Circuit Judge Lawrence Page Haddock Jr. holds the name plate his father used on his hearing room. The younger Haddock used the name plate during his seven years as a county judge.
Saying goodbye after 41 years Mandatory retirement pushing Haddock off bench
By Marilyn Young Editor As Circuit Judge Lawrence Page Haddock Jr. walked into an elevator at the old courthouse a few years back, he was greeted by a face from the past. He didn’t recognize the young woman, who was about 25, but immediately remembered her after she introduced herself. Many years before, he ordered the woman and her brother be pulled from their parents’ home. The children were malnourished and not always properly sheltered by their young parents who struggled with substance abuse, the judge recalled. That day in the elevator, Haddock saw the woman had made it out of that terrible situation. She appeared to be a loving, caring mother to two healthy children.
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Handling those types of cases was a rewarding assignment, Haddock said, maybe the most rewarding in his nearly 41 years as a judge. “You literally go home every day feeling you may have saved one or Haddock during the two lives,” he said. Haddock will early years of being soon leave his a judge. career as a judge. Not because he wants to retire, but because the Florida Constitution says a judge can’t work after his or her 70th birthday. The only exception is if that birthday comes after the middle of the term. Haddock missed that threshold by less than
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two months. Being a judge is a career he shared with his father. It’s how he met his wife, with whom his first date, of sorts, was shopping for combat boots. And it’s the only job his two children have ever known him to have.
Climbing the Ivy League
Haddock comes from a family of lawyers. In addition to his father, three of Haddock’s cousins and a nephew became attorneys. So, it was no surprise the law held a fascination for Haddock. What surprised the Murray Hill kid is the path to becoming a lawyer included attending an Ivy League school. He figured his college career would include playing football at either Vanderbilt or Tulane universities. Haddock continued on Page A-6
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