Notable Results

November 2009 - Strategica v. Sacher Zelman- Rob Klein has been favored with a judgment in the trial of a legal malpractice action, arising out of the failure to properly perfect UCC-1 financing liens in a large loan transaction between their former client, the Strategica Capital Corporation, and the Appletree Group. Strategica claimed that the failure to perfect the liens had caused Strategica several million dollars in attorneys fees and interest when the Appletree Group filed for Chapter 11 reorganization. The Trial Court ultimately determined that the defendant in that matter, the Sacher Zelman firm in Miami, had handled the transaction appropriately, and was not responsible for the filing and the recording of the failed UCC1's. The Court also determined that the firm had no obligation to insure the viability or priority of those liens, post-closing.
Strategica v. Sacher Zelman

September 2009 - Esposito v. Bluestein and Wayne, P.A .- Rob Klein and Yelena Shneyderman were successful in affirming a Trial Court judgment striking a legal malpractice claim as a sham pleading. Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal agreed with the Trial Court’s assessment that the attorney defendants had no ability to file Hague Convention proceedings in Argentina, seeking custody of their client’s two year old child and, further, that the law firm’s former client had effectively waived any legitimate arguments that could have been raised by the Florida law firm where the client specifically appeared in Argentine proceedings, thus submitting himself to the jurisdiction of the Argentine Courts. The firm used certified translations of Argentine Court documents to support its position.
Esposito v. Bluestein and Wayne, P.A.

July 2009 - American Int'l v. Formoso- In another opinion from Florida's Third District Court of Appeal, Yelena Shneyderman and Rob Klein were again successful in affirming a Trial Court Order dismissing a legal malpractice claim with prejudice, based upon application of Florida’s judicial immunity. The law firm defendant had been sued when it failed to discharge a number of garnishment writs, which had sought to garnish accounts in various offshore banks, belonging to a judgment debtor, whom the defendant lawyer had sued successfully in a Federal Securities proceeding. The Defendant attorney had successfully pursued the various writs of garnishment, but had failed to discharge the writs, even after the underlying judgment was satisfied. The Stephens Lynn firm argued that the lawyers' conduct was not subject to a civil suit, even assuming that the writs should have been discharged once the underlying judgment was satisfied, since the writs were an ancillary proceeding, related to the underlying securities litigation. Thus, the Stephens Lynn firm argued that all of the actions undertaken by the defendant attorney were privileged, as a matter of law.
American International Division Assurance SPC

March 2009 - Diez v. Davidoff, D.D.S.- Keith J. Puya and Michael D. Burt obtained a defense verdict on behalf of their client, a board certified prosthodontist, in a dental malpractice action. The case involved allegations that the defendant was negligent in the placement of multiple dental implants and in the performance of restorative work resulting in open margins on multiple crowns. The plaintiff subsequently had the defendant’s restorative work revised by another dentist. The plaintiff also alleged that the defendant negligently opened his occlusion, or bite, too much causing him to suffer myofascial pain syndrome which produced facial pain and headaches. The defense of this case was made more difficult since several subsequent treating dentists were critical of the defendant’s placement of the implants and restorative work. In fact, one of the subsequent treating dentists acted as the plaintiff’s expert witness at trial. The jury deliberated less than one hour before reaching a verdict in favor of the defendant.

March 2009 - Gianos v. Baum, M.D Keith J. Puya and Michael D. Burt obtained a defense verdict on behalf of their client, a board-certified pulmonary and critical care physician in a medical malpractice action. Mr. Puya initially tried this case in 2005, and obtained a defense verdict. However, due to the Court’s ruling on a trial objection, the case was reversed on appeal. The case involved the alleged failure of the defendant to evaluate the decedent’s suspected upper airway obstruction or have another physician perform such an evaluation, which resulted in the patient’s death. The defendant maintained that her orders were appropriate and within the standard of care and that the hospital nurses and respiratory therapists did not keep her advised that the patient was continuing to have airway problems. The defendant further argued that the decedent suffered a tension pneumothorax during resuscitation efforts which caused his death. The jury deliberated for a little less than two hours before reaching a verdict in favor of the defendant.

September 2007 - Bob Cousins and Jim Pelstring obtained a medical malpractice defense verdict in a jury trial in Charlotte County, Florida. The case involved a 72 year old man who presented to the emergency room with urosepsis due to staph aureus. The patient had received a steroid injection into his right torn rotator cuff joint 10 days before admission. During the hospitalization a shoulder infection manifested which was surgically treated. Ultimately the patient died from candida sepsis and multi organ failure. Plaintiff contended that the admitting physician and the infectious disease consult missed the shoulder infection on admission therefore critically delaying treatment. Defendants successfully argued that the shoulder infection was seeded from the urosepsis during the admission and that the staph aureus was ultimately cured. However, the patient succumbed from the candida, a hospital acquired infection.

July 2007 - Rob Klein, Greg Glasser and Cayla Tenenbaum in the Firm's Miami office were successful in urging the Florida Supreme Court to limit application of the Court's prior decision Cowan Liebowitz, 902 So.2d 755 (Fla. 2005), which allowed the prosecution of a legal malpractice claim by the assignee of a former firm client. The Firm had been retained by a Ft. Lauderdale Law Firm, after the Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed a summary judgment in favor of the Law Firm, ruling that the Firm could be sued by a downstream purchaser on a defaulted loan, where it was alleged that the Law Firm had been negligent in pursuing a mortgage foreclosure action on behalf of a predecessor mortgagee. The intermediate appellate court had determined that it did not matter that there was an attorney/client relationship as between the Defendant Law Firm and the corporate Plaintiff at the time of the alleged malpractice, since the right to bring a malpractice action had followed the assignment of the note and mortgage.

In the Supreme Court's latest decision in this matter, Stern v. Securities National, the Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Fourth District Court of Appeal, and ruled that Security National could not sue the Defendant attorneys for malpractice, since it did not own the note and mortgage at the time of the alleged malfeasance. The Supreme Court of Florida confirmed that the assignment of a legal malpractice claim is rarely permissible, and that claims for legal malpractice generally require the existence of an attorney/client relationship as between the Plaintiff and the Defendant Law Firm at the time that the alleged malpractice was actually committed. Download Stern Opinion (PDF)

May 2007- Rob Klein in the Miami office was successful in securing a Partial Summary Judgment in a legal malpractice action, negating an attempt to hold the Defendant attorneys liable for a $33 million punitive damage award which had been awarded by a jury in the underlying commercial fraud matter through the efforts of the Defendant attorneys, after the award was vacated by the trial court judge, allegedly because the Defendant attorneys had failed to properly present the issue to the jury. The order was based predominantly upon public policy considerations, but also noted that the punitive damage award in the underlying claim was not designed to compensate the attorneys’ former client, but rather to punish the Defendant in the original action. Thus, the trial court agreed that the punitive damage award could not be assessed as part of the compensatory claim in the later legal malpractice action. Apex Order (PDF)

May 2007- Rob Klein in the Miami office was successful in the defense of a fraud claim which was tried before a Federal Bankruptcy Court Judge, arising out of a pending legal malpractice action. In the legal malpractice claim, the principals of a closely held corporation sued litigation counsel for the corporation, claiming that the attorneys had negligently failed to prosecute certain personal claims that belonged to the shareholders when the attorneys pursued an adversarial accounting malpractice action on behalf of the corporation. The former owners argued that a settlement in the bankruptcy court adversarial proceeding was achieved in part because of the fraudulent conduct of the attorney Defendants, who allegedly failed to disclose certain conflicts of interest to the bankruptcy court, to cover up their negligence. After a trial on those issues, the Federal Bankruptcy Court ruled that there had been no fraud committed by the Defendant attorneys. Baron's Opinion (PDF)

April 2007- Jonathon Lynn and Marci Strauss of the Fort Lauderdale office, recently obtained a defense verdict in a medical malpractice case tried in Palm Beach County. The plaintiff filed suit against two cardiologists and a cardiac surgeon for their negligent failure to diagnose a cardiac tampanade resulting in the death of a 75 year old male. The surgeon was voluntarily dismissed from the lawsuit. The claim was pursued by the surviving spouse against the cardiologists. At trial, the defense prevailed by proving that the cardiac tampanade occurred suddenly and unexpectedly during the time the patient was being seen by the cardiac surgeon.

April 2007 - Jonathon Lynn and Marci Strauss of the Fort Lauderdale office recently obtained a defense verdict in a medical malpractice case tried in Broward County. The plaintiff filed suit against a hospital, hospitals and surgeon for their negligent failure to diagnose a gastric dilatation which caused aspiration and non occlusive mesenteric ischemia resulting in the death of a 68 year old female patient. The claim was pursued by the surviving spouse who met his second wife within a month of his wife's death. At trial, the defense prevailed by proving that the patient had occlusive mesenteric ischemia resulting from a blood clot that blocked the patient's only blood supply to her mesentery.

December 2006 - Rob Klein was successful in securing a partial summary judgment in a legal malpractice action, precluding the defendant law firm's former client from seeking punitive damages which had been awarded in the underlying claim as an element of damage in the malpractice action. The attorneys had been successful in securing a $33 million dollar punitive damage award for their former client in a fraud in the inducement claim that had been brought against Texaco. The trial court set aside the punitive damage award. The former client claimed that the attorneys had not properly presented the claim to the jury, that the attorneys had failed to respond appropriately to several questions that had been posed by the jury during deliberations, and that the issue had not been properly preserved by the defendant attorneys for appellate review.

The trial court in the legal malpractice action determined as a matter of public policy that the punitive damage award in the underlying action could not be sought as a part of the compensatory damage claim which was being pursued in the legal malpractice action, and that the underlying reasons for an award of punitive damages simply did not exist in a simple negligence claim that was being pursued against the attorneys.

October, 2006 - Keith Puya and Michael Burt obtained a defense verdict in a two week jury trial in Palm Beach County, Florida. Plaintiff alleged that failure to timely diagnose and treat gallbladder disease in an 18 year old female caused permanent damage when the young college freshman suffered a blockage of her biliary tree that caused pancreatitis and a pseudocyst that, when ruptured during gallbladder surgery, nearly cost her life. The defense argued that the doctor's assessment and treatment plan were reasonable in light of the patient's presentation on the single visit she made to the doctor's office. The jury deliberated less than an hour before returning a verdict on behalf of the family practice physician.

July 2006 - Michael Burt and Lisa Sousa obtained a defense verdict in a jury trial in Palm Beach County, Florida. Plaintiff claimed that negligent prescription of the medication, Minocyclin used to treat rosacea, caused permanent discoloration of Plaintiff's lower legs. After 27 minutes of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict on behalf of the Defendant.

June 2006 - Rob Klein and Amy Mosel received a defense verdict after a four and a half day trial in Miami, Florida. The Plaintiff alleged that the Defendant negligently repaired the nozzle of a gasoline hose at an Avis Rent-A-Car service station, causing the service agent back injuries, which rendered her totally disabled. The Plaintiff initially asked for $600,000 in damages. The jury returned a defense verdict in 19 minutes.

March 2006 - Jim Pelstring and Mike Burt obtained a defense verdict in a jury trial in Charlotte County. The case involved a 51 year old woman who was referred, to a gastroenterologist with liver disease secondary to alcohol abuse. The patient denied any current use of alcohol despite her continual decline and jaundice. After exhausting all testing efforts, the patient consented to a liver biopsy. Twenty-four hours later she was admitted through the emergency department with internal bleeding and later expired. Plaintiff claimed the biopsy was unnecessary and that post biopsy instructions were inadequate. It was successfully argued by the defense that the bleeding was a known complication of the biopsy and that the care and treatment rendered by the insured was well within the standard of care. After four days of trial, the jury deliberated twenty-five minutes before returning with a defense verdict.

February 2006 - Michael Burt and Robert Rubin obtained a defense verdict in a jury trial in Palm Beach County, Florida. Plaintiff alleged that negligence in performance of a hysterectomy and repair of pelvic prolapse caused injury to the patient's ureter and re-prolapse, necessitating multiple subsequent surgeries and causing permanent injury. The jury deliberated for ninety minutes before returning a verdict on behalf of the gynecologic surgeon.

February 2006 - Michael Burt and Lisa Sousa obtained a defense verdict in a jury trial in Martin County, Florida. Plaintiff alleged that negligent failure to treat a non-obstructive colonic ileus caused perforation of the cecum, leading to the patientís death. After a two week trial, the jury returned a defense verdict on behalf of the admitting internist.

January 2006 - Jim Pelstring obtained a defense verdict in a jury trial in Collier County. The case involved an 81 year old man who presented for quadruple bypass surgery. Prior to surgery the Plaintiff had been on Coumadin therapy. On post-op day four the Plaintiff suffered a stroke. Plaintiffs claimed that anticoagulation therapy should have been resumed earlier than post-op day four. It was successfully argued by the defense that four days with no anticoagulation therapy was well within the standard of care; stroke was a known complication of bypass surgery; and the infarct was a result of the Plaintiff's preexisting condition. After four days of trial, the jury deliberated thirty minutes before returning with a defense verdict.

January 2006 - Michael Burt and James Pelstring obtained a defense verdict in a jury trial in Lee County, Florida. Plaintiff alleged that negligence during surgery to remove a basal cell carcinoma caused a facial burn when a flash fire occurred during use of electrocautery. The jury deliberated for less than an hour before returning a defense verdict on behalf of the surgeon.

October 2005 - Robert M. Klein and Amy Mosel obtained a dismissal in favor of a Bahamian limited liability company from Judge Marcia G. Cooke in the Southern District of Florida. The Plaintiff alleged that the resort was negligent for failing to prominently post warnings to guests of the hazards involved in diving from the seawall into the ocean and that the Plaintiff attempted to dive from said seawall while an invitee at the resort, resulting in the Plaintiffís injuries. The defense moved to dismiss on the grounds of personal jurisdiction, venue, and/or forum non conveniens.

August 2005 - Keith Puya and Michael Burt obtained a defense verdict in a medical malpractice case in Broward County, Florida. The Plaintiff alleged that the Defendant was negligent in failing to perform a biopsy in light of an elevated PSA (prostate serum antigen) level, in failing to advise the Plaintiff that he might have prostate cancer and in failing to make a specific appointment for the Plaintiff to have a repeat PSA. The Defendant asserted that the Plaintiff himself was comparatively at fault for not following his advice to have his PSA repeated in two months, and that his initial diagnosis of prostatitis was appropriate given his finding of a soft prostate. In addition, the Defendant asserted that even had the Plaintiff's prostate cancer been diagnosed shortly after the office visit, it was likely that he was suffering from micro-metastatic disease and his outcome today would still be the same.

March 2005 - Jim Pelstring and Jon Lynn obtained a defense verdict in a jury trial in Charlotte County. The case involved a 59 year old woman who was referred to our insured physician after suffering a crushed heel and wide "roofers" break. It was determined that screws and plates were needed to repair the heel. Our insured physician performed the surgery which was unremarkable, as was her initial recovery. Approximately 2 months post-operative, she developed an infection wherein she was hospitalized and the hardware was removed. The Plaintiffs argued that our insured physician was negligent thereby causing the infection. It was successfully argued by the defense that the infection, although unfortunate, was a risk that comes from this type of surgery and that the surgery and care and treatment of the infection was proper. After six days of trial, the jury deliberated for 47 minutes before returning a defense verdict on behalf of our insured.

February 2005 - Keith Puya and Michael Burt obtained a defense verdict in a jury trial in Palm Beach County. The case involved a 37 year old woman who contended that her physician failed to obtain adequate informed consent prior to surgically removing her ovaries and fallopian tubes during the performance of a hysterectomy. The Plaintiff sought damages relating to the resultant surgical menopause, including fibromyalgia, osteoporosis and debilitating intolerance to hormone replacement therapy. After a two week trial, the jury deliberated 45 minutes before returning a defense verdict on behalf of the Defendant.

January 2005 - Gregory Glasser and Andrew Tharp were hired the day before calendar call to take a premises liability case to trial. The case mistried then later went the distance. The plaintiff alleged that he was seated in a booth at the defendantís restaurant (the defendant is a well-known national restaurant chain) when the booth seat on which he was sitting came apart causing him to fall forward, twist and strike his knee, and wrench his back. The plaintiff underwent two arthroscopic procedures to repair multiple tears in the his knee and was told that a laminectomy would be required for his herniated disc. The plaintiff (who was in his late 20ís at the time) had been unable to work in the four years between the incident and the trial. The plaintiff asked the jury for up to $800,000. SLK argued that the defendantís maintenance procedure was reasonable and that the booth was not defective. The jury returned a verdict for the defendant. (This was the second case tried by Greg and Andrew for this client, both resulted in defense verdicts.)

October 2004 - Jim Pelstring and Ilisa Hoffman obtained a defense verdict in a jury trial in Lee County. The case involved a 22 year old man who presented to the emergency room where he was diagnosed with pneumonia, was given antibiotics by the Physicians Assistant, and subsequently discharged. A week later he expired. The Physicians Assistant and Hospital settled prior to trial. The Plaintiffs argued that our insured physician was negligent in not seeing the patient. It was successfully argued by the defense that our insured physician made the proper diagnosis based on the information provided and as such, discharge with antibiotics was appropriate. After four days of trial, the jury deliberated for 1 hour before returning a defense verdict on behalf of our insured.

August 2004 - Michael D. Burt and Gila Garber obtained a defense verdict in a jury trial in Palm Beach County. The Plaintiffs alleged that excessive traction associated with a shoulder dystocia during delivery caused brachial plexus injury. The Defendantís work shift had ended, and in fact, the child was delivered by a certified nurse midwife. The jury deliberated for 45 minutes before finding in favor of the Defendant.

May 2004 - Amy Mosel, an associate in the Miami office, was successful in securing a summary judgment in a discrimination case of first impression before the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The District Court decision, which is recited below in its entirety, establishes that a condominium association and the condominium management company cannot be sued for tolerating a discriminatory housing environment in what was essentially a dispute between neighbors. Amy was assisted in the case by partners Robert Klein and Gary Khutorsky.
Download complete transcript as Adobe Acrobat PDF document

May 2004 - Jonathon P. Lynn obtained a defense verdict in a medical malpractice jury trial held in Viera, Florida. Scott Lieberman of Krupnick, Campbell tried the case for the Plaintiffs. Plaintiffs alleged that the defendant doctor, during the patientís labor and delivery of twins, failed to perform a thorough examination of the patientís extremities after a delivery nurse noted left leg edema. Patient developed deep vein thrombosis and subsequently died from a pulmonary embolism.

March 2004 - Jonathon P. Lynn obtained a defense verdict in a medical malpractice case tried to a jury in West Palm Beach, Florida. Jack Scarola and Darryl Lewis of Searcy, Denney, Scarola et. al. represented the Plaintiff. Plaintiff alleged that the defendant physician failed to perform an appropriate pre-operative evaluation in preparation for elective abdominal wall hernia surgery. Sixteen minutes into surgery, the patient arrested and died.