A Broward County judge will be removed from the bench for misconduct committed eight years before she was elected to the post.
The Florida Supreme Court ruled June 18 that Judge Laura Watson isn’t fit to serve as a judge because of the way she handled a $14.5 million settlement with Progressive Insurance over personal injury lawsuits.
The court accepted the Judicial Qualifications Commission’s recommended punishment.
Watson’s firm reached the settlement in 2004 without including other lawyers representing the same clients in the negotiations. Her firm also failed to tell her clients the amount of the settlement.
Her firm received more than $3 million from the settlement, of which $361,470.30 was paid to clients. Watson was elected to her position in 2012.
Topics Legislation Florida
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