St. Thomas Law Professor Jennifer S. Martin and a team of students assisted in the preparation of an amicus brief filed by the Commercial Law Amicus Initiative (CLAI) in 1944 Beach Boulevard, LLC v. Live Oak Banking Co. This case concerned the effect of an error in the debtor’s name on a financing statement filed with the Florida Secured Transactions Registry. At issue was whether Florida’s UCC filing office, which provides the entire index of filed financing statements in response to a search, uses “standard search logic.” In its opinion, the Florida Supreme Court adopted the position urged by CLAI’s amicus brief stating that, “The problem in Florida—as cogently explained by the amicus— is that although the Registry offers an option for searching its records, that option is not a ‘standard search logic.'”
The amicus brief was drafted by CLAI’s President and Executive Director Stephen L. Sepinuck. Professor Martin who serves as the Secretary/Treasurer of the CLAI, assisted with editing the amicus brief. The team of students and alumni comprised of Bridgette Gonzalez (’22), Krystopher Gonzalez (3L), Maegan Korovich (3L), Paola Rivera Lopez (3L), Jesus Santiago (3L), and Ray Valle (’22), provided research support for the amicus brief. This is the second time Professor Martin and a group of students collaborate on a successful amicus brief with CLAI (see State v. Dix. Gonzalez and Larkin).
The Commercial Law Amicus Initiative (CLAI) is a non-profit formed to assist state and federal courts in interpreting and applying the Uniform Commercial Code, other commercial statutes, and related common law.
