Harold Goldberg, Petitioners v. Merrill Lynch Credit Corporation, Respondents

Summary

The court held that only the Florida Supreme Court may determine whether conduct constitutes the unauthorized practice of law, but that victims may bring private civil actions for restitution and damages. Those actions must allege as an essential element that the Florida Supreme Court has already ruled that the specified conduct constitutes the unauthorized practice of law; because petitioners did not make that allegation, dismissal without prejudice was proper. Justice Canady, dissenting, would have allowed the plaintiffs’ unauthorized-practice claims to proceed on the merits without requiring a prior supreme court determination.