|
|
 |
|
September 2, 2010 |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| January 29, 2010 |
By: Special to the Review |
|
hen Miami law firm leader Milton Ferrell Jr. died in 2008 from complications of mesothelioma, the Episcopal church’s pews for his funeral were filled with mourners including U.S. Sen. John Kerry and former Miami Herald publisher David Lawrence.
Most who followed the ceremony to the end watched as one of Ferrell’s exclusive clients, the lavishly rich Jamie S. Robinson, served as a pallbearer carrying the casket of his closest friend and confidant.
Whatever was left of that friendship has since disappeared.
Robinson filed a probate lawsuit in Harris County, Texas, claiming Ferrell and other attorneys in South Florida and New York breached their fiduciary relationships and siphoned off millions of dollars from his family trust.
His grandfather, famed Texas oilman, inventor and philanthropist James Smither Abercrombie, left Robinson a fortune in 1967, but Robinson claims attorneys with conflicting interests were in it for the money and dug into the trust time and time again.
Among those listed as defendants in the suit are the defunct Ferrell Law, Ferrell’s estate, his former friend’s widow Lori, retired Hollywood attorney Murray Sams Jr., the eight-office law firm Withers Bergman and asset manager Solaris Group. A phone message left for Sams was not returned by deadline.
Robinson accuses Ferrell of charging millions of dollars in fees and modifying the trust to expand the attorney’s influence and control — all through “two remarkable hand-written agreements” signed by both parties July 23, 1993. Ferrell’s law firm was in line for 10 percent of everything received by Robinson, his trust and his companies plus 4 percent of anything sold by Robinson. Ferrell also would collect income on the trust — $1 million or the gross annual return on $10 million in trust funds, whichever was greater.
“Breathtaking in their one-sided scope and coverage, these agreements allowed Ferrell and [his law firm] to charge and receive millions of dollars prior to Ferrell becoming a trustee for the Jim Robinson Trust,” the complaint said. After becoming a trustee, “Ferrell absolutely knew that Robinson was totally dependent upon the loyalty, protection and sound judgment of his trustees.”
The attorney representing Ferrell’s law firm, estate and widow Lori — former partner William Richey, now of counsel at Gunster — argues the agreements show Robinson knew what he was paying for: top-of-the-line legal service found nowhere else.
“The plaintiff demanded, for years and years, that the defendant and his law firm act as personal concierge, solving everything from forgotten passports to personal auto sales. He insisted on attorneys being on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and thought nothing of routinely waking up his personal concierge lawyers at all hours of the night. Now, in some insane way, he claims he doesn’t want to pay for that service,” Richey said.
It was a service catering to high-profile clients with wallets to match. Ferrell won a $617 million settlement and arbitration award in Venezuelan millionaire Oswaldo Cisneros’ battle against BellSouth. He also cared for the estate of infamous Miami Beach financier and convicted tax evader Victor Posner. On behalf of Banco Noroeste, a Brazilian bank, Ferrell got a $209 million judgment.
But it was years before the firm blossomed into a 67-attorney operation with 17 offices worldwide, just around the time Ferrell began to take on international clients in 1993, that he met Robinson.
The Texas native was living in the Cayman Islands but soon moved to Miami, where he became one of Ferrell’s top clients, according to the lawsuit. Among the many services requested of him, Ferrell helped Robinson manage the trust left behind by his grandfather. That trust listed several individual and corporate trustees, including Ferrell, Ferrell’s brother-in-law and New York attorney Howard Sloan, Lehman Brothers Trust and Teton Fiduciary.
The vessel of wealth was worth more than $120 million, but it would soon begin to deteriorate. That decline is the issue of contention, with the lawsuit claiming Ferrell and Sloan authorized an “unconscionable level of distributions” to Robinson from the trust and attorney fees were “excessive, unreasonable, duplicative and unconscionable.”
In a previous petition, Lehman Brothers asked for approval to resign as corporate trustee. The investment bank said Robinson would normally pull $1 million from the trust on a monthly basis and withdraw $5 million or more whenever he would buy a home or a private jet.
Robinson’s lawsuit claims that each time he would do that, Ferrell would charge him trustee fees that amounted to $650,000 to $1.2 million per year. It also alleges the corporate trustees should be held accountable.
“This is a classic case of not taking responsibility for one’s own actions and then trying to blame everyone and everything else,” Richey said.
Coincidentally, opening statements were given Wednesday in a civil suit filed by Ferrell shortly before his death blaming asbestos makers for causing his mesothelioma, a form of cancer attributed almost exclusively to asbestos exposure.
In Robinson’s case, his four attorneys from Houston-based Looper Reed & McGraw declined to comment.
In an e-mail, name partner James Reed Jr. wrote: “This is a complex matter requiring extensive discovery. At this time it is not in our clients’ interests to discuss this matter outside of the courthouse.”
Richey filed a special appearance on behalf of Ferrell’s widow in November, objecting to having her go before a Texas judge. It argues Lori Ferrell has no business in that state, so the court has no jurisdiction over her. Attorneys representing the New York-based law firms, lawyers and asset management company have filed similar motions.
Photo of Milton Ferrell Jr. by A.M.Holt
|
Search the archive for more stories.
|
|
|
 |
|
lawjobs Featured Ad
Associate
Dynamic, multi-practice law firm seeks associate with 1-2 years exp. for litigation in workers' comp. department; excellent salary and benefits.
Please fax resume to
(954) 938-7902 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
