Today the Daily Business Review presents its inaugural edition of Most Effective Lawyers in South Florida, a compendium of a selected body of work by members of the legal community in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
The Review recognized more than 40 attorneys Tuesday in Miami for their accomplishments on behalf of clients in both the private and public sectors.
Members of the Review editorial staff made the selections, culling through civil and criminal case results and business and real estate deals as reported in the newspaper’s editorial pages during 2005. More than 100 nominations from readers were also considered.
Event photos
The staff chose to highlight 30 outcomes in 10 categories: appellate, bankruptcy/receivership, civil litigation, class action, corporate, criminal defense, environment, international, lobbying and real estate/construction.
In deciding the selections, Review staff members considered the public policy significance, business impact and the end result for the client.
The selections published in today’s editions are by no means intended to be a comprehensive roundup, but a snapshot of outcomes achieved by lawyers who overcame significant legal and nonlegal obstacles both inside and outside the courtroom.
Acquisition of insurer gone bad
Dr. Steven Scott, a controversial Boca Raton health care entrepreneur, bought HIP of Florida, now Vista Health Plans of Florida, five years ago from HIP of New York.
Scott filed suit against HIP of New York in 2001, shortly after making the $40 million purchase. He alleged that HIP fraudulently hid financial information from him and that the company’s unpaid claims at the time of purchase were $16 million more than the company represented. He also accused the seller of misrepresenting that 5,000 New York City retirees in Florida were members of the city’s employee pension fund.
HIP countersued, seeking $16.5 million for breach of contract after Scott failed to pay a $5.5 million installment. William R. Scherer Jr. of Conrad & Scherer in Fort Lauderdale and Ken McNeil, a partner at Susman Godfrey in Houston, represented Scott.
Last July, following a 14-week trial, a jury awarded Scott $38 million, one of the largest individual verdicts in Broward Circuit Court history. That included an award of $22 million and erasure of a $16 million promissory note to the defendant. Jurors had found liability for punitive and compensatory damages, but before they could make an award on punitive damages, the case was settled for an undisclosed sum.
Scherer, 57, attributes the verdict to his and his co-counsel’s success in simplifying a highly complex business fraud case, involving actuarial projections, and making it understandable to jurors.
“Fraud cases and punitive damages are difficult to prove to jurors,” Scherer said. “There’s a bias that punitive damages on top of compensatory damages are inherently unfair in civil cases. And fraud is always difficult to prove. Very rarely do you have the smoking gun that jurors want to see.”
Scherer gave credit to the jurors. “They paid attention,” he said. “They were good note-takers.”
The Broward Circuit Court case was Florida Health Plan Holdings v. Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York, et al.
— Julie Kay
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