Greenberg Traurig Wins $1.2 Million in Attorney Fees for Years of Litigation
Greenberg Traurig's Stephen Mendelsohn worked on one of the longest-running disputes in the Palm Beach Circuit Court.
March 12, 2018 at 03:41 PM
3 minute read
Palm Beach Circuit Judge Donald Hafele granted Greenberg Traurig more than $1.2 million in attorney fees and costs in a ruling that provides insight into billing rates at one of the nation's largest law firms.
Greenberg Traurig is the eighth-largest U.S. law firm based on attorney head count, according to the National Law Journal's 2017 NLJ 500 ranking. With about $1.39 billion in gross revenue in 2016, it ranked 14th on The American Lawyer's 2017 Am Law 200. On the 2016 Global100 survey, it was the world's 19th highest-grossing law firm.
The details in the Palm Beach Circuit Court ruling point to rates for high-priced attorneys who billed up to $785 per hour.
“The court has reviewed the record and agrees with the parties' counsel that their hours and attorneys' fees and costs are reasonable,” Hafele ruled March 7.
The final judgment resolved a dispute that Greenberg Traurig has shepherded since 2008 when the firm entered an ongoing fight on behalf of shopping center investors in an ownership dispute. It capped about 23 years of litigation in what Greenberg Traurig believes is the oldest continuous case in the Palm Beach Circuit Court.
The case dates back to 1995 with Becker & Poliakoff serving as plaintiffs counsel until 2008. It pitted plaintiffs Delray Property Investments Inc. and SOSQ Property Investments Inc. against Plaza La Mer Inc., South Square Development Inc. and Boca Raton businessman Harry Hahamovitch.
Their feud stemmed from the sale of two commercial properties — Plaza La Mer in Juno Beach and South Square in Brooksville. The one-time business associates had a profit-sharing agreement, but plaintiffs claimed Hahamovitch fraudulently received a $144,000 commission.
Before Greenberg Traurig entered the case, the jury agreed Hahamovitch had committed fraud. But the court then rejected the plaintiffs' argument that the finding wiped out the defendants' right to share in the venture's profits.
“The next question was how do you define their profit participation, and how do you calculate them?” said Greenberg Traurig shareholder Stephen Mendelsohn. “That took from 2008 until 2013 to determine.”
It took years for a court-appointed accountant to unravel the shopping centers' finances on a month-by-month basis. A sticking point was whether the investment had generated any gains from which the defense would benefit.
“It was still theoretical,” Mendelsohn said.
That question turned on a complicated formula the parties used to determine profits. The algorithm would keep a neutral party, CBIZ Inc. accountant Bradley N. McIver, occupied for about five years.
“I wouldn't say (the formula) was as complicated as the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, but it had similar principles,” Mendelsohn quipped.
In complex litigation that the Fourth District Court of Appeal once described as a marathon, the defense asserted a right to $10 million in cash flow on the Juno Beach property alone. But the trial court ruled in the plaintiff's favor, and the Fourth DCA affirmed.
BILLING RATES
Hafele this month returned a million-dollar award for the plaintiffs' litigation expenses following a Sept. 26, 2017, appellate ruling ordering the circuit court to enter final judgment and calculate expenses for litigation from 2008 to 2013.
The order shows Mendelsohn billed at $405, $460, $525, $575 and $625 per hour over the years. Shareholder Marc Sinensky billed at $645 and $685. Brigid Cech Samole's rate ranged from $400 to $535. Appellate shareholder Elliot Scherker had the highest rate of $785 per hour.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllVedder Price Shareholder Javier Lopez Appointed to Miami Planning, Zoning & Appeals Board
2 minute readReal Estate Trends to Watch in 2025: Restructuring, Growth, and Challenges in South Florida
3 minute read830 Brickell is Open After Two-Year Delay That Led to Winston & Strawn Pulling Lease
3 minute readTrending Stories
Who Got The Work
J. Brugh Lower of Gibbons has entered an appearance for industrial equipment supplier Devco Corporation in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. The suit, accusing the defendant of selling knock-off Graco products, was filed Dec. 18 in New Jersey District Court by Rivkin Radler on behalf of Graco Inc. and Graco Minnesota. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi, is 3:24-cv-11294, Graco Inc. et al v. Devco Corporation.
Who Got The Work
Rebecca Maller-Stein and Kent A. Yalowitz of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer have entered their appearances for Hanaco Venture Capital and its executives, Lior Prosor and David Frankel, in a pending securities lawsuit. The action, filed on Dec. 24 in New York Southern District Court by Zell, Aron & Co. on behalf of Goldeneye Advisors, accuses the defendants of negligently and fraudulently managing the plaintiff's $1 million investment. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick, is 1:24-cv-09918, Goldeneye Advisors, LLC v. Hanaco Venture Capital, Ltd. et al.
Who Got The Work
Attorneys from A&O Shearman has stepped in as defense counsel for Toronto-Dominion Bank and other defendants in a pending securities class action. The suit, filed Dec. 11 in New York Southern District Court by Bleichmar Fonti & Auld, accuses the defendants of concealing the bank's 'pervasive' deficiencies in regards to its compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and the quality of its anti-money laundering controls. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, is 1:24-cv-09445, Gonzalez v. The Toronto-Dominion Bank et al.
Who Got The Work
Crown Castle International, a Pennsylvania company providing shared communications infrastructure, has turned to Luke D. Wolf of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani to fend off a pending breach-of-contract lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 25 in Michigan Eastern District Court by Hooper Hathaway PC on behalf of The Town Residences LLC, accuses Crown Castle of failing to transfer approximately $30,000 in utility payments from T-Mobile in breach of a roof-top lease and assignment agreement. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Susan K. Declercq, is 2:24-cv-13131, The Town Residences LLC v. T-Mobile US, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Wilfred P. Coronato and Daniel M. Schwartz of McCarter & English have stepped in as defense counsel to Electrolux Home Products Inc. in a pending product liability lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 26 in New York Eastern District Court by Poulos Lopiccolo PC and Nagel Rice LLP on behalf of David Stern, alleges that the defendant's refrigerators’ drawers and shelving repeatedly break and fall apart within months after purchase. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack, is 2:24-cv-08204, Stern v. Electrolux Home Products, Inc.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250