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Summary:
The boutique Miami law firm, Mark Migdal & Hayden, secured victory in a protracted 17-year legal dispute against the larger Cole, Scott, and Kissane law firm. The case involved Blue Grouper Ventures LLC, a condo owner, suing the Blue Condominium Association Inc. over the alleged sale of a condo unit without utilities. The recent ruling by Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge William Thomas favored the plaintiff, awarding over $1 million in damages and granting rights of access to the condo property for essential installations. Despite intentions of an appeal by the larger firm, Mark Migdal & Hayden remains optimistic about the case’s closure.
‘How We Won: Small Firm Says it Bested Cole Scott Kissane’
Both sides have claimed victory in the long-running litigation over a condo unit allegedly sold without utilities, but it seems the latest round went to the smaller firm.
One of the biggest law firms in the country hit a setback in a 17-year-long legal battle between a Miami condominium owner and the condo association charged with overseeing the units.
Both sides have claimed victory in the long-running litigation over a condo unit sold without utilities, but it seems the latest round went to the smaller firm.
Hard-Fought
Among the latest developments: Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge William Thomas presented final judgment after a jury in April found for the plaintiff, unit owner Blue Grouper Ventures, and awarded more than $1 million.
In his ruling, Thomas gave the plaintiff more than $475,000 in prejudgment interest.
The judge also provided unit owner Blue Grouper with rights of access to the condominium property for the inspections and installations required for furnishing utilities and other services—a matter at the heart of the legal proceedings.
This opened the path for Thomas to award reasonable attorney fees, estimated at around $500,000.
“It resolved that issue once and for all by finding that our client was the prevailing party on the significant issues in the litigation and, therefore, granted my client entitlement to its fees incurred in the litigation,” said José M. Ferrer of Mark Migdal & Hayden, who represented unit owner Blue Grouper Ventures against the condominium association.
The plaintiff argued it paid for utilities and other services for years on a unit that was not outfitted with those services, despite attempts to remedy that.
Cole Scott and Kissane partner Cody German, along with Gene Kissane, and Nicholas Michael Nash II zealously representing the association and vowing not to give up the fight, Ferrer said his initial strategy was to prepare as if going to trial.
“This means that we are thinking about evidentiary issues from the very beginning of the case, years before starting trial, instead of weeks or days before starting trial,” the litigator said.
Far From Over
“The association respects the decision made by the jury and appreciates that they reduced the plaintiff’s demand by 82% of what the plaintiff wanted,” German said. “In relation to the 18% finding of liability, the association believes the same was influenced by the decision made by the Judge to keep out—over objection—the fact that the plaintiff purchased the unit “as is” as a concrete shell with no infrastructure. This ruling prevented the jury from hearing the entire picture of what occurred [and] will be the subject of an appeal.”
“Whenever somebody loses a case, they find error in what the judge did. So I’m not surprised that they intend to appeal it,” Ferrer said. “But we don’t see that there’s any basis for it, and we look forward to having the appellate court make determinations on those issues and even if the appellate process is long and extended, we will be aggressively seeking to collect every single penny of that judgment.”
“We worked in small teams of two attorneys and a paralegal. This is how we typically staff our cases. All of us on the team were familiar with every filing, every discovery response, every single item of evidence in the case,” Ferrer added.
“We’re always optimistic about settlement but ready to try the case if settlement breaks down, as it did in this case.”Not coming to an earlier agreement was a big challenge, Ferrer said.
“Because Blue Grouper had been attempting to amicably resolve its issues with the association for so long, one of the biggest challenges in the case was tracking down witnesses who may have moved on from their prior employment and whose memories had grown stale, and evidence that had long been tucked away,” Ferrer said.
Meanwhile, Cole, Scott and Kissane said it is ready for phase three.
”While everyone was hoping for closure, it appears that the appellate process will need to play out,” German said. Ferrer said opposing counsel was a formidable opponent.
“Notwithstanding the fact that this was a hard-fought battle, opposing counsel were really professional, really good attorneys,” he said.
And does he feel confident closure is on the horizon for his client after 17 years of litigating?
“I think so,” Ferrer said. “We think this was a clean trial. We don’t believe there are any serious appellate issues, and you’re dealing with a judge, Judge Thomas, who is a very smart, cautious judge. So I don’t anticipate that the appeal will be successful.”
