Greetings!As the recipient of our inaugural newsletter, we have no doubt you are conflicted. Delete now? Read the first few sentences and then delete? Or just leave it in your ever-growing inbox, perhaps even unread, with a mental note to “get to it later…” knowing full well of course, well, you know how this ends. Still, we know that statistically at least 7.2% of you will read this newsletter. And to you, we are grateful.
We are Growing...
(and we are always looking to add top talent)
In the past year, we have grown from five attorneys to eight. That’s a 60% increase to the juris doctors out there. Our litigation team now boasts yet another federal law clerk (but unfortunately he’s a Duke Law grad), a real estate/distressed company strategist extraordinaire (fluent in Hebrew, Spanish and good business sense), and a franchise law litigator that wins so much that she is, in the words of POTUS 45, “tired of winning” (she isn’t really tired of winning). You can learn more about these rock stars here... .
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Mark Migdal & Hayden (MM&H) is the youngest Florida litigation firm recognized in Chambers USA 2019 edition. Read more.
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Interesting Cases...
Our cases remain as interesting as ever. Multi-billion dollar Venezuelan oil bribery scheme? Yes! Construction defect case in high-end Miami Beach condo building? Si! Class-action against alleged NY-based small business predator already fined by the NY AG? Of course. Make no mistake, there are some cases that – on paper – seem a bit more…pedestrian. As in, when I explain them to my kids, they “literally” (as my 10 year-old daughter would say) walk away when I’m in mid-sentence. “Wait, you don’t want to hear about anticipatory repudia-?!” Click. Slam. Sigh. Well, we think it’s cool.
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Launching #28LegalMinds
#28LegalMinds is the campaign that we launched together with Florida Lawyers Assistance and the Hagan Kilby Foundation at the Florida Bar 2019 Annual Convention. It aims to raise awareness about critical mental health issues facing the legal profession. A recent study of attorneys, funded by the American Bar Association found that 28% suffer from depression. This number has increased from 19% in 1990 and is more than four times that of the general population, 6.7%. You can help by purchasing a button for a minimum donation of $5. You can raise awareness by wearing the button, sharing an image on social media and conversing about the issue. Learn more here...
We match your donation when you tag us and the campaign on social media. #28LegalMinds All proceeds go to the Hagan Kilby Foundation.
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Where Are The Promised Helms-Burton Lawsuits?
In April of this year, the Trump Administration allowed Americans who owned property confiscated by the Cuban government after the 1959 Revolution for the first time to sue companies who are “trafficking” in the confiscated properties. Title III of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, which gave Americans the right to bring these claims, was held in abeyance for the last twenty-five years by all prior administrations. Many experts expected that there would be a flood of lawsuits resulting from this change in policy, but there are a number of hurdles that have slowed the spigot of claims anticipated against both US and foreign multinationals who have invested in Cuba. The claims to date have been strategic and primarily against cruise lines, foreign hotel chains and travel booking companies who have been working with Cuban companies and have significant assets available to attach in the United States. More claims are in the queue, and if US courts broadly apply the relevant provisions of Helms-Burton Act, we can expect this to be a new and viable avenue for substantial recovery by the plaintiffs’ bar. MM&H is keeping its eye out for viable claims in this sweet spot. Read full article By Donald J. Hayden, Miami Herald
SIGNING A DOCUMENT? PROCEED WITH CAUTION – EVEN IF IT SAYS IT’S NOT A CONTRACT
(For all our "liti"gator friends in the other 49 states)
The Florida Supreme Court recently reinvigorated a powerful tool available to Florida litigants. Section 768.79, Florida Statutes, and Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.442 create a mechanism for litigants to create an entitlement to attorneys’ fees by serving a proposal for settlement in accordance with the statute and rule. If the plaintiff fails to accept a defendant’s offer within thirty days and the judgment is at least 25 percent less than the amount of the offer, or if a defendant fails to accept a plaintiff’s offer and the judgment is at least 25 percent more than the amount of the offer, the offering party may be entitled to its attorneys’ fees. Historically, Florida’s intermediary appellate courts have been hostile to offers of judgment, striking down good faith offers based on immaterial technicalities and hypothetical ambiguities. Recently, however, Florida’s appellate courts have been trending towards enforcing offers of judgment. This trend culminated in October 2018 with the Florida Supreme Court’s decision in Allen v. Nunez, Case No. SC16-1164, where Justice Lewis, writing for a majority, ordered lower courts to stop “nitpicking” offers of judgment. Foreign attorneys faced with litigation in Florida should be aware of this unique mechanism available in Florida courts.
Mark Migdal & Hayden 80 SW 8th Street, Suite 1999 Miami Florida 33130 United States
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