$100 Million Class-Action Lawsuit Moves Forward

Hicks, Brams & Motto filed the largest class-action case in Monroe County history. The $100,000,000 class-action suit was filed on behalf of 4,000 Florida Keys vacation-rental managers against Monroe County is nearing the resolution stage.

The ordinance that Hicks, Brams & Motto is challenging prohibits rentals of fewer than 28 days in mobile-homes districts, native and sparsely settled areas and sub-divisions zoned for single-family homes. The Monroe County Commission enacted the "short-term vacation rental ban" in 1997.

The plaintiffs, a group of individual property owners and rental organizations, claim they have suffered financial losses because of the ordinance. As a result of the ban, Elizabeth Neumont, a Pittsburgh resident who is the main plaintiff in the case, has been forced to sell her property in the Keys because she could not afford to maintain it without the anticipated rental income.

According to an article in the Palm Beach Daily Business Review, other property owners had sued the county in state court and lost. But that suit challenged the constitutionality of the law. The federal case is different, writes reporter Julie Kay. It doesn't seek to rescind the law outright. Instead, it accuses the county of "unjust taking" of property and seeks to force Monroe County to pay the property owners for their lost rental income - about $20 million a year. If victorious, the suit would result in the county taking the law off the books, senior partner James H. Hicks predicts.

At issue is whether the county's enforcement of the law was premature and enacted without due notice to the property owners. The lawsuit alleges that the county started enforcing the ordinance before it became final; therefore the lawsuit is seeking about $100 million in lost income between December 1998 - when the county began enforcement - and the present. Hicks said that the county could be liable for damages through that date.

The suit is the largest class-action case in the history of Monroe County, which comprises 822 islands of which about 30 are inhabited stretching from the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula to the Dry Tortugas.

$1 Million Settlement in Wrongful-Death Suit
It was a difficult and complicated case, but James Hicks prevailed on behalf of the estate of Rinaldo Perl, a 29-year-old Italian businessman killed on the Florida turnpike, near Boca Raton.

Mr. Perl was returning from the airport, after picking up his bride of three months, when a garbage truck lost control and blocked the road. Mr. Perl was killed when he drove his car into steel rails projecting from the back of the truck. The truck's marker lights and clearance lights were not working, making the protruding rails hard to see. Both his 26-year-old wife and his mother survived the accident.

The settlement in the case is notable because Mr. Perl had not been working long enough in the United States to establish a significant wage record. Mr. Perl was in the country to oversee operations of his family's tile business which originated in Italy and had been operating for 30 years. Although Perl had a law degree from Italy, tax records showed that he had only been earning about $20,000 a year working for the family business.

In achieving the $1 million settlement, James Hicks had to establish Mr. Perl's potential earnings. Despite his wage record in the U.S., Perl was an up-and-coming businessman who was highly regarded in his hometown of Pasco, in Treviso province, where his death made the front page of the local newspaper.

The firm's threat to set the case for trial persuaded the insurance firm for the defendant, Acme Services, Unlimited, to pay the $1 million policy in full.