Swamped in Discovery Documents, Lawyer Spends 3 Days in Storage Unit
The venture paid off after the attorney found a key document clearing a law firm of malpractice.
October 20, 2017 at 04:51 PM
11 minute read
When attorney Chris J. Bristow walked into a bankruptcy trustee's storage unit in April, he expected to be done and on his way in a few hours.
Three days later, he was still there, riffling through about 35 floor-to-ceiling filing cabinets and about 100 banker's boxes during formal discovery in a high-stakes corporate spat that threatened his client, Fort Lauderdale-based Becker & Poliakoff, with a $160 million malpractice lawsuit.
By the time the malpractice portion of the case was over, Bristow and his colleagues at West Palm Beach-based Critton Luttier Coleman had scoured more than 3 million documents—uncovering key evidence vindicating Becker & Poliakoff in the high-profile scandal. They brought in one scanning company and then another with a 5-foot multiple-function autofeed machine to capture 7,000 pages in two days, took more than 400 photographs of documents using Bristow's cellphone, and relied on paralegal Marisol Alers to meticulously sort and replace everything so as not to alter the trustee's filing system.
“I was in awe of how much there was,” said Bristow, a defense attorney whose firm practices in complex commercial litigation. “It was truly like finding a needle in the haystack.”
But it was quite the needle.
Buried in the mounds of paperwork were key pieces of evidence Critton Luttier used to dismantle the case against Becker & Poliakoff. One of the biggest gems: a folder containing a promissory note on a $50 million loan that had been the linchpin in the malpractice suit.
The plaintiff, Chinese conglomerate Tangshan Ganglu Iron & Steel Co. Ltd., accused Becker & Poliakoff of contributing to nine-figure losses during the failed redevelopment of the former Fashion Mall site in Plantation. It accused the Fort Lauderdale-based firm and a former Becker employee, attorney Pamela Anselmo, of “inexplicably” drafting “corporate documents which completely destroyed” the investor's majority ownership in companies working on the redevelopment project.
Tangshan Ganglu claimed Becker & Poliakoff fraudulently transferred the lion's share to a minority partner in 2010. It claimed that until Becker & Poliakoff executed that document, it held a 99 percent stake in three companies leading a $300 million renovation that would transform the 33-acre mall property into a sprawling town center with retail, housing, dining and entertainment.
The investor cited a $50 million deal as one of multiple bungled transactions. It alleged Tangshan Ganglu made the eight-figure disbursement to companies developing the mall site —but only after instructing Becker & Poliakoff to produce loan documents. It claimed the firm never did the work, causing Tangshan Ganglu to lose tens of millions when the investors started a bitter dispute for control of the mall site.
Becker & Poliakoff, on the other hand, “flatly denies it ever represented Tangshan Ganglu,” and claimed it worked for the companies leading the real estate project. It also insisted it did produce the promissory note.
Bristow said what he found during the paper chase made his jaw drop. Inside one of the folders was the loan document, which Anselmo had taken the extra step of translating to Chinese for the foreign investors' convenience.
“This completely gutted their whole argument,” said Critton Luttier Coleman partner Robert Critton. “When Chris found that file … it was like finding the proverbial diamond in the rough.”
On Oct. 6, the parties filed a joint stipulation dismissing the case with prejudice and agreeing that each side would cover its own legal fees and costs.
“I would be very remiss if I didn't tell you Bob [Critton] and his firm has done a spectacular job,” said Becker & Poliakoff managing shareholder Gary Rosen, who celebrated a “rare result” in which a firm resolved a malpractice suit without even a nuisance payment. “I could not thank him, Chris and his firm enough for their unflagging efforts.”
When attorney Chris J. Bristow walked into a bankruptcy trustee's storage unit in April, he expected to be done and on his way in a few hours.
Three days later, he was still there, riffling through about 35 floor-to-ceiling filing cabinets and about 100 banker's boxes during formal discovery in a high-stakes corporate spat that threatened his client, Fort Lauderdale-based
By the time the malpractice portion of the case was over, Bristow and his colleagues at West Palm Beach-based Critton Luttier Coleman had scoured more than 3 million documents—uncovering key evidence vindicating
“I was in awe of how much there was,” said Bristow, a defense attorney whose firm practices in complex commercial litigation. “It was truly like finding a needle in the haystack.”
But it was quite the needle.
Buried in the mounds of paperwork were key pieces of evidence Critton Luttier used to dismantle the case against
The plaintiff, Chinese conglomerate Tangshan Ganglu Iron & Steel Co. Ltd., accused
Tangshan Ganglu claimed
The investor cited a $50 million deal as one of multiple bungled transactions. It alleged Tangshan Ganglu made the eight-figure disbursement to companies developing the mall site —but only after instructing
Bristow said what he found during the paper chase made his jaw drop. Inside one of the folders was the loan document, which Anselmo had taken the extra step of translating to Chinese for the foreign investors' convenience.
“This completely gutted their whole argument,” said Critton Luttier Coleman partner Robert Critton. “When Chris found that file … it was like finding the proverbial diamond in the rough.”
On Oct. 6, the parties filed a joint stipulation dismissing the case with prejudice and agreeing that each side would cover its own legal fees and costs.
“I would be very remiss if I didn't tell you Bob [Critton] and his firm has done a spectacular job,” said
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