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September 2, 2010 |
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| July 13, 2009 |
By: Billy Shields |
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ank Adorno, head of the nation’s largest minority-owned law firm, violated nine Florida Bar rules when he engineered a $7 million class action settlement that distributed money to only seven people instead of all Miami taxpayers, the state regulatory agency for attorneys claims.
The Bar charged the founding partner of Adorno & Yoss breached his fiduciary duty to Miami property owners by making false statements in court, charging excessive fees and representing one client to the detriment of others in a flawed attempt to end a constitutional challenge to a city fire fee.
Adorno and the city negotiated the settlement calling for payouts that left out thousands of city taxpayers but guaranteed his firm a $2 million contingency fee. The settlement was discarded when the details came out, and the 3rd District Court of Appeal railed about fraud when the case came before it.
“Plainly and simply, this was a scheme to defraud. It was a case of unchecked avarice coupled with a total absence of shame on the part of the original lawyers,” the appellate court said in its order setting aside the settlement.
The Bar also filed a complaint against former Assistant City Attorney Charles Mays alleging five violations and withdrew a minor misconduct determination against Adorno & Yoss partner Robin Campbell, Bar counsel Arlene Sankel said. She had no comment on the Bar actions.
Adorno “breached his fiduciary duty to the putative class members for pecuniary gain to himself and the individually named plaintiffs,” the Bar wrote in its complaint June 5. “But for the setting aside of the settlement agreement, [Adorno’s] law firm and the individually named plaintiffs would have received a financial windfall resulting in an illegal, prohibited or clearly excessive fee.”
George Yoss, Adorno & Yoss’ managing partner, issued an e-mailed response, saying Adorno “acted ethically, lawfully and in the best interests of our clients.” He said the Bar “ignored the opinions of numerous local and nationally recognized class action experts whose testimony was submitted to them proving the charges to be without merit.”
Adorno is represented in the Bar action by Fort Lauderdale attorney Bruce Rogow, who said he would vigorously defend Adorno.
Born in Havana in 1947, Adorno was a top prosecutor under former State Attorney Janet Reno and is CEO of the 300-lawyer Coral Gables-based firm founded in 1986. Geographical expansion and acquisitions stretched its reach to more than a dozen cities, branching out from South Florida in 2004. The firm now has firms in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas under its umbrella.
The firm inherited the fire fee case when it took over the struggling Fort Lauderdale firm Atlas Pearlman in 2002.
In the wake of the resulting scandal, Adorno moved to Atlanta, kept his post with the law firm and became vice chairman of online publishing client HSW International. A 2007 Forbes magazine profile listed his total compensation that year at $1.3 million. Recent regulatory filings by HSW list a phone number for Adorno, but it does not accept messages. He did not respond by deadline to an e-mail seeking comment.
Material distributed to city commissioners on the settlement package listed distributions to seven people by name, and the pact was approved. Elected officials later said they didn’t realize the settlement payments were so limited.
The Florida Bar ended its year-and-a-half-long investigation of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz and former City Attorney Jorge Fernandez after a grievance committee in September 2007 found no probable cause to bring disciplinary action against them for their role in the handling of the jettisoned settlement.
Mays advised city officials to settle and said other taxpayers would be time-barred from bringing a similar court action, the Bar wrote in its complaint. The Bar alleged Mays made false statements in court and engaged in dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation and conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice.
Mays’ lawyer, George Knox Jr., a partner with KnoxSeaton in Miami, said, “He’s just waiting for an opportunity for the referee to hear the case.”
The Bar made a determination of probable cause against Adorno and Mays in October. The selection of a referee to hear the case has been delayed by a conflict issue. The Florida Supreme Court asked then-Miami-Dade Chief Circuit Judge Joseph Farina to choose a referee, but Farina recused all the judges in the circuit in a June 29 letter. He also recommended the recusal of all judges in Monroe County, the only other county under 3rd DCA jurisdiction, and suggested the state’s high court choose a referee from Broward County.
Sankel declined to comment on why the Bar took so long to produce the complaint against Adorno. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Peter Lopez approved the settlement in 2004 but threw it out in 2006, and the 3rd DCA issued its harshly worded ruling on the canceled settlement in 2007.
City taxpayers were charged the fire fee starting in 1997 when the city was running a deficit, which is not allowed by state law. A constitutional challenge to the fee was filed in 1998, and the case spiraled into a full-blown scandal after a parallel class action outlined the limitations of the settlement.
On appeal, 3rd DCA Judge Angel A. Cortinas wrote: “More unethical and reprehensible behavior by attorneys against their own clients is difficult to imagine.”
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jose Rodriguez approved a revised $15.5 million settlement in 2008 to pay refunds to as many as 53,000 Miami property owners plus $1.86 million in fees for the second group of attorneys.
Adorno & Yoss paid $1.6 million into the settlement fund in exchange for the class dropping claims against the firm.
Adorno and Mays will have the option of pursuing a trial or settling through a consent decree. The referee will make recommendations to the Florida Supreme Court, which will determine whether the lawyers will be disciplined.
Billy Shields can be reached at (305) 347-6649.
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Reader's comments
jpb said: What took so long? July 13 at 9:08 a.m. |
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