Barry Balmuth. Photo: Melanie Bell/ALM.

It's not easy to challenge "The Man" and emerge victorious, but Palm Beach Gardens attorney Barry S. Balmuth has a knack for finding a way.

Balmuth holds Florida's record for the largest ever recovery in an inverse condemnation case. In it, he secured a $42 million settlement in exchange for 38 acres from landowners who'd already lost about 7 acres of their Dania Beach tree farm to the county, thanks to flooding and lack of access caused by nearby airport construction work.

Balmuth was also behind the largest individual judgment under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, landing a $3.5 million award in 2016 for a Gainesville job-seeker who sued First Advantage Background Services after it twice mistook him for a South Florida convict. His client, Richard Williams, was a college graduate who'd never had a brush with the law, but suffered the misfortune of sharing a birthday with repeat-offender Ricky Williams.

"The first time, they indicated on the background report that he had been arrested for selling cocaine," Balmuth said. "And the second time was even worse: It was a conviction for battering a pregnant woman, and burglary."

Potential employers Rent-A-Center and Winn-Dixie didn't consider Ricky Williams employee material, which meant Richard Williams went without a job for months.

"[First Advantage] reviewed the Department of Corrections website when they prepared the second report to confirm the conviction," Balmuth said. "But if they'd looked at that carefully, they would have seen that Ricky Williams was in the Broward County Jail at the very time my client was applying for a job in Gainesville, which was a pretty unlikely scenario."

Balmuth's client is now working at Winn-Dixie, while he waits to hear how the Eleventh Circuit will rule on an appeal against his multimillion-dollar verdict.

Major wins in Balmuth's field take perseverance and elbow grease, but he insists "really good facts" are the special sauce. It's most satisfying, he says, to represent "the regular folks," for whom their case isn't just another piece of litigation, but a huge event with make-or-break consequences.

"Most of them are really good people that are getting screwed by either big government or big companies," Balmuth said.

As counsel to Miami Dolphins punter Reggie Roby in his 1992 bankruptcy case—at a time when free agency was a fledgling idea—Balmuth felt Roby's four-year contract wasn't good enough.

"You had a punter punting for the Giants who was making a million dollars, and Reggie was only making $400,000," Balmuth said. "So I suggested to him that we might be able to get him out of his contract and he could potentially be a free agent, if he filed bankruptcy and we rejected the contract."

Balmuth floated the idea with an adversary complaint—which prompted the Dolphins to cut Roby, and rendered the case moot. Then Balmuth's client, finally a free agent, went on to a contract with the Washington Redskins worth about $750,000.

'She prayed she didn't wake up'

Though the high-dollar verdicts and settlements grab the headlines, Balmuth looks back with pride upon some cases involving little or no money at all. In one personal injury case, he represented a former special-needs teacher at an assisted-living facility.

"She had osteoporosis and recently gotten divorced, and was really down in the dumps," Balmuth said. "In fact, she had told me that when she went to bed she prayed she didn't wake up."

One day a miscommunication with a new nurse at the facility resulted in Balmuth's client being "wrenched out of bed," fracturing her kneecap. Two other attorneys had turned the case down before Balmuth took it, perhaps concerned that a jury might attribute the injury to osteoporosis, rather than employee negligence.

The case settled for $205,000.

"She said that gave her the money to kind of start her life anew and definitely improved her disposition," Balmuth said.

While filling in for the attorney who normally handled animal care and control cases at the Palm Beach County Attorney's Office, Balmuth encountered a man who had left a dog chained to a post in his backyard.

"He'd gotten the dog apparently when it was a puppy or not fully grown, and he kept the same collar on the dog," Balmuth said. "And the dog had actually grown into the collar, to the point where the collar was digging into the dog's skin. It was horrible."

A judge granted Balmuth's request to have the dog taken away from its owner.

"Hopefully it was adopted by a loving family," Balmuth said.

'A fire that's always burning'

Balmuth began his career as a lifeguard in mid-'80s Fort Lauderdale, "back when spring break was big," and never really lost his athletic side. Aside from occasional white-water rafting and scuba diving, Balmuth has completed two marathons. He belongs to a Juno Beach club called Fun Runners, who "share the love of training hard."

Palm Beach Gardens attorney Barry Balmuth Courtesy photo.

West Palm Beach attorney James Spitz met Balmuth at the gym in 1989, when they became workout partners, and said Balmuth has a determination that bleeds into all areas of his life.

"He's willing to wander out there and take the unusual case or the difficult case that a lot of attorneys don't want to take," Spitz said. "He's a laid-back guy, but I think he has a fire that's always burning."

Balmuth isn't averse to defense work. He served as an assistant Palm Beach County Attorney in the 1990s, then went on to represent the county as a solo practitioner. In 2006, Balmuth successfully defended a Palm Beach County lifeguard, who had claimed self-defense as opposed to malicious assault, after punching a man.

Balmuth is "motivated solely by a strong desire to do what's right," according to Palm Beach County Attorney Denise Nieman, who became his boss in 1996. He soon earned a "superstar" status, Nieman said, winning almost anything put before him.

Mindful of manners

Balmuth with Karen, his wife of almost 29 years. Courtesy photo.

Above all, colleagues say they admire Balmuth's mannerisms: humble and respectful to a fault.

"He has a unique disposition," Nieman said. "Very approachable, not a bulldog at all, as many would think lawyers should be. But you'd never want him against you because he knows his stuff."

Spitz said he dreams of a parallel universe where all lawyers are as courteous as Balmuth.

"I wish the world was made up of all Barry Balmuths," Spitz said.

Balmuth is board-certified in business and civil trial litigation. Past chair of the Florida Bar's Eminent Domain Committee, he said the best thing about his arena is its small size.

"People tend to be more professional and courteous if they know they're going to see you again," he said.

A self-professed straight shooter, Balmuth prizes fairness in litigation.

"You have to be honest with the court, particularly when there's something bad about your case," Balmuth said. "That's when it's most important."

Barry S. Balmuth

Born: New Jersey, 1961

Spouse: Karen

Children: Chad

Education: Emory University, J.D., 1990; M.B.A., 1990

Experience: President, Barry S. Balmuth P.A., 1997-present; Assistant Palm Beach County Attorney, 1995-1997; Associate, Moyle, Flanigan, Katz, Fitzgerald & Sheehan, 1990-1995.

 

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