Legal – West Palm Beat

Immigration lawyer speaks at ‘Why Courts Matter’ forum

The Palm Beach Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida is launching the second year of its “Why Courts Matter” discussion series with a presentation on the role of courts in immigration by Jacqueline Delgado, an immigration attorney and daughter of Cuban immigrants.

The forum takes place Tuesday, June 13, 6-7 p.m., at the Palm Beach Post Auditorium (2751 S. Dixie Highway. It is free and open to the community.

The series will discuss the role courts have in shaping immigration policy and rights from Delgado, who works to protect immigrants’ rights.

Future programs are: “The Impact Federal Court Decisions have on Daily Lives” (Sept. 20) and “You be the Judge: Reproductive Rights” (Oct. 17). All programs are non-partisan; the goal is to inform and empower.

For more information about the Palm Beach Chapter of the ACLU of Florida and these programs, call Mark Schneider at (561) 752-0946 or go to palmbeach.aclufl.org.

Building owner at fault for brick wall collapsing on office below

Workers build platform to be hoisted on top of William Price P.A. , before a crane will hoisting it onto the top of William Price P.A., law office next to Alexander Lofts on Fern Street downtown West Palm Beach, March 18, 2016. (Greg Lovett / The Palm Beach Post)

West Palm Beach lawyer William Price, whose downtown office was smashed by a cascade of bricks from the neighboring Alexander Lofts in 2016, has won a summary judgment against Lofts owner Sodix Fern, LLC.

Judge Meenu Sasser cleared the case to proceed to trial to determine damages.

The judge denied a finding of summary judgment against Ram Realty, which operates the apartment building next to Price’s office at 320 Fern St. Price says he plans to press on against Ram.

“Fourteen months and they have offered me zero,” Price said Monday. “They’re stringing me along. Delay, deny, do not pay.”

Sodix’s and Ram’s attorney, Jeffrey Paskert, could not be reached for comment.

A section of the brick skin of the six-story Alexander Lofts peeled off the 90-year-old downtown apartment building and crashed four stories onto the one-story law office March 3, 2016, causing minor injuries to four people and leading firefighters to close both buildings, block off a section of Fern Street and halt construction of apartments across the street for days.

City officials attributed the accident to rusted metal tie rods that attached the decades-old brick facade to the structure. An estimated 40,000 pounds of bricks fell on the law office, piercing the roof and smashing three skylights.

Since then, Price’s firm has been operating out of temporary offices around the corner, at 521 S. Olive Ave., while waiting to collect from Sodix and Ram to repair or replace his one-story building next to the Lofts.

Of the four people injured, three also sued Sodix and Ram, and those suits are pending, Price said.

The Lofts has long since been repaired, reopened to renters, and the mural on the collapsed wall was replaced with a new one.

West Palm Beach attorney William T. Price dons a yellow hard hat on Wednesday April 6, 2016, a gift given him after his downtown office building was smashed by tons of bricks falling off the neighboring Alexander Lofts building on Fern Street. (Joe Capozzi/The Palm Beach Post)

West Palm lawyer, David Spector, to head state’s biggest firm

Florida-headquartered Akerman LLP, one of the nation’s biggest law firms, has named David I. Spector, a member of its Executive Committee and co-chair of Akerman’s Fraud & Recovery Practice Group, to be its next chairman and CEO.

Spector was elected by a partnership vote Sept. 9 to serve a 3-year term that begins Feb. 1, 2018, when Andrew M. Smulian concludes a decade-long tenure as chairman and CEO.

Akerman’s Executive Committee issued the following statement: “Andrew is one of the great law firm leaders of our time. He has guided Akerman through transformative growth while strengthening our commitment to be a client-driven, entrepreneurial and forward-thinking enterprise. His bold leadership has placed Akerman at the vanguard of our industry and positioned our firm to address the important challenges impacting our clients and our profession today and in the future.”

akermans-spector_smulian — Spector and Smulian

Spector, who works out of Akerman’s offices at 777 S. Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach and in Miami, is a member of the firm’s board of directors and one of seven members of its Executive Committee. He also is the founding co-chair of one of the largest legal teams in the United States dedicated to the eradication of fraud. He previously served on Akerman’s Strategic Planning Committee and is a leader in many of the firm’s client-driven initiatives.

“The vision and growth strategy articulated nearly a decade ago are being realized,” said Smulian. “This is the right time to plan for succession and David is the right leader for Akerman’s future. He is an exceptional trial lawyer and has practiced at the leading edge of innovation and business transformation. He has changed the legal landscape for his clients and I am confident that he will be just as successful as our next chairman and CEO.”

Under Smulian the firm, Florida’s largest, grew to more than 650 lawyers and expanded from 12 to 24 offices across the United States and Latin America.

Spector joined Akerman in 2009 and has built a national trial practice devoted to the investigation and litigation of complex fraud schemes, and unfair and deceptive practices, on behalf of the largest U.S. insurance companies and self-insured retailers. His work has carved a path in plaintiff-side fraud investigation and litigation, and developed case law that helps corporations recover financial losses caused by fraudulent acts.

Akerman Chairman and CEO Andrew Smulian

The story of the mural

Cropped — The mural should be finished in about two weeks on the side of the 90-year-old former Southern Bell building on Fern Street. (Tony Doris / The Palm Beach Post)

Muralist Tristan Eaton is back at it on Fern Street’s Alexander Lofts apartment building.

Eaton’s previous mural there, The Spirit of Communication, “was damaged” in March, as apartment owner Ram Realty Services put it in a press release Tuesday. That’s a polite way of saying 40,000 pounds of bricks under the mural gave way and crashed onto the roof of the neighboring law office.

Lawyer Bill Price, forced to move his firm to another building nearby, has been suing Ram. Price said this week that after he filed suit, Ram removed the bricks from his roof and shored up the building, as ordered by a judge, and he was able to retrieve his client files.

But the damage was done, he said. When it rains, it pours inside the building, he said. The carpet and walls are gone.

Meanwhile, though, Ram completed repairs to the apartment building and called back Eaton for a reprise, while preparing to resume leasing to new residents.

The new mural, whose outline Eaton completed this Tuesday, also will be an homage to Alexander Graham Bell and will be called The Spirit of Invention.

Law office — Inside Bill Price’s law office. Not ready for primetime. (Tony Doris / The Palm Beach Post)

West Palm tightens anti-discrimination rules

West Palm Beach’s city commission on Monday passed a law prohibiting city contractors from discriminating based on race color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity and other grounds.

The city already has equal opportunity ordinances and prohibits contractors from unlawfully discriminating. The new provision seeks to clarify that, stating that a city contractor or subcontractor may not violate federal, state or local anti-discrimination laws in dealings with any employee, city employee working with it, or applicants for employment.

“The contractor or subcontractor shall take action to ensure that applicants are not discriminated against and that employees are treated equally during employment, without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, genetic information, national origin, age, disability, familial status, (or) marital status,” according to a city summary of the new ordinance.

The provision comes in the wake of the mass murder in the Orlando gay bar, Pulse.

West Palm’s James named to Criminal Justice Commission

West Palm Beach City Commissioner Keith James has been named to the county’s Criminal Justice Commission.

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James, a Harvard lawyer, will serve as the Palm Beach County League of Cities representative on the commission, for a term ending Dec. 31, 2017.

The commission, created in 1988, is intended as a catalyst to bring together agencies that deal with criminal justice issues. It has 21 public sector members and 12 business leaders.

Lecture coming on limits of citizen comment at city meetings

Citizen comment time at city commission meetings is meant for members of the public to offer the board views on issues on the agenda, or on items of general interest to the city, not their views on each other.

That was the view expressed at the Mayor/Commissioner work session Monday by City Commissioner Cory Neering, with much of the board nodding in accord. As a result the city attorney or mayor likely will make a statement to that effect at next Monday’s commission meeting.

Neering made clear he wasn’t directing his comment at any particular citizen.

But the latest episodes took place at the May 9 meeting. Former West Palm police officer William McCray used his three allotted minutes at the mic to call one or more of the commissioners racist and their actions shameful and disgusting, as he does at almost every meeting, when he’s not accusing the Palm Beach Post of being in bed with the commission.

He was followed by Sandy Matkivich, also a regular commentator on a variety of issues. She has taken to countering McCray, at times reading into the record from his police disciplinary files. This time she recommended that if he thought West Palm Beach’s leadership was racist, he should move to Riviera Beach, more of whose officials are African-American.

Neering said the tenor of the citizen comments in recent months has veered out of bounds. He noted that commission agendas spell out the Civility and Decorum ordinance, which states prominently: “Public comment shall be addressed to the city as a whole and not to any individual on the dais or in the audience.”

Mayor Jeri Muoio agreed to have the audience reminded of that rule at the next meeting.

But she expressed concern that efforts to clamp down, as at times she has by ejecting people, run the risk of making matters worse. “Any extra attention we draw to this bad behavior exacerbates it,” she said, noting that speakers know they’re on TV and that there’s a reporter in attendance. “That’s exactly what they want.”

Protective deck to cap West Palm law building hit by brick avalanche

This morning a crane will lower a protective deck onto the downtown law building hit by an avalanche of bricks from the neighboring apartment building two weeks ago.

The deck will protect the law offices of William A. Price, at 320 Fern St., from further damage as workers pull away more of the Alexander Lofts’ buckling brick facade.

Bill Price, who with his law firm colleagues emerged scraped but alive, said that laborers worked 24/7 to craft the platform, which a crane is scheduled to lower onto his building at 8 a.m.

Four people were injured in the partial collapse of the 90-year-old building’s facade.

Lawyer Dan Britto partially separated his shoulder when he dove under a desk as the roof collapsed. Three paralegals who suffered what were described as minor injuries are out on Worker’s Comp, including one with a knee hurt while climbing out through the debris, Price said Thursday.

The paralegals were “literally in shock,” he said. “One was found walking in circles.”

Price said he’s lucky it has not rained since the hundreds of falling bricks left a hole like “a Grand Canyon” in the offices. He hasn’t been able to make repairs because of the danger of more falling bricks.

He’s not sure if his building can be salvaged but the walls are sound enough to support the protective deck, he was told.

Meanwhile, the firm is set up in temporary quarters but the accident remains very much with the employees, he said. If there’s a loud noise, like someone shutting a door, he said, “people jump up.”

“I have great admiration for our veterans in combat,” he added. “I’m just lucky I’m alive.”

Lounge gets summons under new noise law

West Palm Beach’s new noise ordinance has been taken out for a ride. City enforcers handed out the first summonses last week under the law, which took effect in December.

One of the first recipients: Off the Hookah, the bar that was the worst offender several months ago when the city took its sound meters out for a trial run.

After struggling to create a lively downtown that balances revelers’ music with residents’ peace, the city commission took an initial vote in July to adopt noise limits it hopes are more easily enforced than its old “plainly-audible-100-feet-away” limit.

The law was set to take effect in October but officers had to undergo training, take test measurements of sound levels at 14 locations from CityPlace to Clematis Street and meet with bar and restaurant owners about it.

The law sets the noise maximum at 85 decibels for treble and 90 for bass, with code-enforcement officers using hand-held sound meters. The 85/90 decibel limit applies to Clematis Street and the waterfront as well as to the commercial section of CityPlace. Elsewhere downtown the maximum is 65 decibels. The limits apply 24 hours, seven days a week.