Trial Victory in Complex Association Dispute: Bleakley Bavol Denman & Grace Secures Justice for Retired Condo Owner
At Bleakley Bavol Denman & Grace, we pride ourselves on our commitment to achieving justice for our clients, even when faced with substantial challenges. Our recent success in a complex condominium association dispute is a testament to the expertise, dedication, and relentless pursuit of justice by our legal team.
Case Background
In September of 2020, our client purchased a seaside condo as a retirement home for himself and his wife, only to discover that the unit was plagued by water intrusions. Despite numerous requests to the Condo Association to remediate the issue, his pleas fell on deaf ears. He asked for the Association for records regarding their maintenance of his unit and any history of water intrusions, but to no avail. The situation worsened, and his unit became waterlogged, mold-infested, and completely uninhabitable.
This forced our client to file a lawsuit in May 2021, alleging violations of Florida’s Condominium Act due to the Association’s failure to maintain, repair, and replace the common elements of his unit and for their failure to make official records available, seeking damages and injunctive relief. While our client had prior representation from the beginning of the lawsuit until the fall of 2023, our firm was retained in January of 2024.
Building Our Case
When our firm entered the case, we were met with a barren case file, no discovery produced by the Defendant, no depositions taken by the prior counsel, no expert witness, and staunch opposition by the Defendant – all with a Jury Trial to occur in early June.
Over the next five months, our Community Associations Litigation Team of J. Ronald Denman, Brian P. Battaglia, D. Matthew DePasquale, and Matthew E. Linsky built this case from the ground up, retaining and working closely with experts in forensic engineering while fighting every step in obtaining orders compelling discovery, imposing sanctions against the Defendant, excluding the Defendant’s planned theory of the case from consideration at trial, and striking their affirmative defenses.
Trial and Verdict
The jury trial held from June 10-13, 2024, saw our lead trial counsel, Ron Denman, face off against a Florida Bar board-certified civil litigator from a much larger firm. In addition to making our case to the jury through oral advocacy and the examination of witnesses, our team secured advantageous jury instructions – a crucial but often overlooked step in winning complex cases.
After compelling closing arguments, the jury took only an hour and a half to deliberate, finding the defendant liable on all counts and awarding our client his full damages. In a subsequent hearing, the Court entered an order requiring the Defendant to permanently remediate and fix the water intrusions into our client’s unit.
Post-Trial Success
Though the Defendant argued that the verdict should be reduced, thrown out, and that they deserved a new trial, the Court was steadfast in defending the jury’s verdict, and entered Final Judgments in our client’s favor. Crucially, these Final Judgments determined that our client was entitled to reimbursement of the reasonable Attorney’s Fees and Costs incurred by pursuing his claims and prevailing on them.
Conclusion
The complexity of civil litigation depends on many factors, including the timeframe provided by the Court, the demeanor of the parties, and the depth of nuance of the issues. While Condominium Association disputes are often straightforward, this case is a prime example of how expedited deadlines, a refusal to produce evidence, and specialized expert testimony makes what seems like a simple disagreement about fixing leaks into complex commercial litigation.
But at the end of the day, the story of this case is a simple one: our client gets the seaside retirement home he bargained for leak-free with just compensation for his troubles.
If you or someone you know is facing a similar dispute, contact us today. Our experienced team is ready to fight for your rights and deliver the results you deserve.
