The Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida has received a reprieve from an appellate court in its long-running legal battle with a Miami law firm.

On Wednesday, Florida's Third District Court of Appeal issued an opinion reversing and remanding a Miami-Dade Circuit Court order denying the tribe's motion for attorney fees against the Lewis Tein law firm. The appellate panel ruled the lower court erred in its determination that the tribe's offers of judgment totaling $7,500 had been made in bad faith, in turn precluding it from collecting attorney fees. As noted in Wednesday's opinion, the trial court's conclusion was based on the “nominal” nature of the offers and because they were “not made at the beginning of the lawsuit but nine months into the case.”

“This was error under the facts of this case because 'even viewing such offers with “considerable skepticism,” proof of bad faith requires a showing beyond the mere amount of the offer,' ” the appellate court said, noting “ the nominal nature of the offers of judgment does not automatically indicate a lack of good faith.” The order also cited the principle of sovereign immunity and the Third DCA's lengthy August 2017 opinion dismissing Lewis Tein's suit against the tribe in its reasoning for the reversal.

“Here, the tribe had a well-founded, good faith, and legally correct belief that sovereign immunity divested the trial court of subject matter jurisdiction,” the opinion said. “Given these circumstances, the nominal offers had a reasonable foundation, namely the tribe's nominal exposure. In these circumstances, the nominal offers did not indicate a lack of good faith.” The appellate court also held the tribe's proposal was made “well within” the time restrictions outlined by the Florida statutes concerning offers of judgment, and could not be reasoned to have been made in bad faith due to timing.

Attorneys Guy Lewis and Michael Tein represented the Miccosukee Tribe until 2010, at which point now-disbarred Coral Gables litigator Bernardo Roman III handled its affairs. On Roman's involvement, a flurry of lawsuits were filed against the Lewis Tein law firm alleging it had overcharged the tribe for their legal services. In July 2018 the Florida Supreme Court disbarred Roman for misconduct and entering false evidence. The high court is currently considering a 10-year disbarment for Miami attorney Jose Herrera in connection with his purported role in assisting Roman with the lawsuits.

Read the appellate court's opinion:

Lewis Tein filed a complaint seeking damages from the tribe in August 2016 following Roman's lawsuits. The case reached the Third DCA after the tribe appealed a Miami-Dade Circuit Court order denying its motion to dismiss. Colson Hicks Eidson partner Curtis Miner represented the law firm before the appeals court and criticized both Wednesday's opinion as well as the appellate panel's August 2017 order in a statement to the Daily Business Review.

“In its original opinion the Third District Court of Appeal said that Lewis and Tein had to 'suffer from the squeeze' of the doctrine of tribal sovereign immunity, which left them with no recourse in our courts for the tribe's malicious prosecutions,” Miner said. “It is disappointing that, after all the Miccosukee Tribe has put Lewis and Tein through, that it would seek to have them suffer further through the imposition of attorney's fees.”

Plantation-based attorney Robert Saunooke served as counsel to the tribe alongside Atlanta attorney George Abney. Saunooke called the Third DCA's ruling straightforward in a phone conversation with the Daily Business Review.

“We're obviously very pleased with the decision from the appellate court,” he said. “We look forward to this decision hopefully helping us resolve the matter and letting all the parties move forward from there.”

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