In the appeal Berthiaume v. Smith et al, the plaintiff, Raymond Berthiaume, was represented by Akerman LLP and the plaintiff’s trial counsel, Hugh L. Koerner, P.A. At oral arguments, Akerman argued that the lower court’s failure to question potential jurors about anti-LGBT bias was an abuse of discretion because of the high likelihood of prejudice the plaintiff was likely to face in a proceeding where the fact that he is a homosexual was inextricably bound up with the facts of the case and the conduct of the trial.