Rob Klein and Mark Sullivan obtained a final judgment striking a Plaintiffs’ legal malpractice claim as a sham, on behalf of their attorney clients, who had been sued for alleged negligence while representing a Miami Beach hotel in a fire safety dispute with the City of Miami Beach.
The malpractice suit was predicated on the claim that the City would not have attempted to force the Hotel to install fire sprinklers if the defendant attorneys had properly argued that the Hotel was exempt from current code requirements due to its historical status. Over two lengthy evidentiary hearings, Messrs. Klein and Sullivan demonstrated to the Court that this supposedly winning argument never would have succeeded. The argument was based predominantly upon extensive evidence of actions taken by the Plaintiff after he had discharged the Defendants, which were uniformly unsuccessful. Plaintiff’s later efforts actually led to years of expensive litigation while he pursued the historical property argument through successor counsel.
The Firm was also able to demonstrate that the Plaintiff had regularly advocated positions (often under oath) in the later administrative and state court proceedings which were inconsistent with positions taken in the malpractice action Order.