Fontainebleau Miami Beach. Photo: Jon Bilous/Shutterstock.com Fontainebleau Miami Beach. Photo: Jon Bilous/Shutterstock.com

A Florida appeals court has ruled against a woman locked in litigation with a Miami lawyer over a brawl at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach.

Florida's Third District Court of Appeal issued an adverse opinion against Houston, Texas, resident Janis Fleming. The appellate court upheld a Miami-Dade Circuit Court order denying Fleming's motion for attorney fees against Yvette E. Blackwell-Gomez, a Miami-based solo practitioner.

Blackwell-Gomez filed a civil complaint against Fleming and Fontainebleau Florida Hotel LLC — the managing company behind the Fontainebleau — on July 29, 2016. According to the complaint, Blackwell-Gomez got in a physical altercation on July 5, 2012, inside of the hotel's lobby.

Blackwell-Gomez's lawsuit contends the dispute began after the attorney verbally intervened in a conflict between Fleming and the hotel. The suit said Blackwell-Gomez was staying at the Fontainebleau on business when she allegedly observed Fleming and her husband, George, "were very upset, loud, disrespectful, rude and being verbally abusive" toward hotel employees over their valet charges.

"After a significant amount of time and noticing that nothing was being done by the defendant [Fontainebleau] to effectively control the situation, the plaintiff Blackwell attempted to deter the defendant from continuing with her obstructive and abusive behavior," the complaint said. After Blackwell-Gomez spoke up, Fleming purportedly became aggressive towards the litigator. Following a tense exchange, Blackwell-Gomez said she called Fleming "low class."

Read the opinion:

The suit alleges Fleming responded by punching Blackwell-Gomez in the right eye. The attorney maintained she did not raise her arms or otherwise threaten Fleming before the punch was thrown.

Fleming was arrested after the incident and was accused of assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress by Blackwell-Gomez. The civil complaint also claimed negligent security by Fontainebleau, an allegation that was dismissed with prejudice following a partial settlement agreement between the parties.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman granted Fleming's motion to dismiss the charges, ruling the defendant had immunity under Florida's controversial "stand your ground" law.

"This is not a case where Blackwell-Gomez was assaulted after calmly walking over in an attempt to intervene in a dispute," Hanzman wrote. "This is a case where Blackwell-Gomez — in literally the blink of an eye — thrust herself into Fleming's personal space, and Fleming had no reason to know — or any 'duty' to sit back and find out — what plaintiff's true intentions were."

The Third DCA dismissed Blackwell-Gomez's appeal of the judge's order in August 2018.

Despite ruling in Fleming's favor, Hanzman later denied her motion for attorney fees because it was filed in an untimely fashion. The judge granted Blackwell-Gomez's own motion to strike the defendant's motion for attorney fees.

Fleming's appeal argued the motion was untimely due to excusable neglect and contended the "stand your ground" statute automatically confers entitlement for the prevailing party to obtain a fee.

The appellate court disagreed and opted to uphold the lower court's findings. Wednesday's opinion only addressed Fleming's contention regarding excusable neglect, writing "the defendant never sought an enlargement of time to file her motion … And the trial court correctly struck the motion for attorney's fees."

Blackwell-Gomez declined to provide comment to the Daily Business Review.

Miami lawyer Stuart Lee Koenigsberg served as Blackwell-Gomez's appellate counsel. He said he was pleased with the appellate court's decision in remarks to the DBR, and referred to the "self-executing" interpretation of the "stand your ground" law presented by Fleming's counsel as problematic.

"Under the rule for filing attorney fees it's pretty well-established that if you don't have an order that has already granted you entitlement to an attorney fee … you have to file a timely motion in 30 days," Koenigsberg said. "I know a lot of collateral issues advanced, but I think it was pretty clear from my view of the record that for whatever reason Fleming's attorneys did not adhere to that deadline."

Grey & Mourin partner Jason P. Grey represented Fleming in the trial and appellate courts. The attorney said the ruling "didn't make any sense" to him and failed to properly address his and his client's arguments.

"We intend to ask for a rehearing or a rehearing en banc because we think it's an important issue that's likely to come up again in the future," Grey said, adding the dispute between Blackwell-Gomez and Fleming "is probably the most litigated misdemeanor case in Miami-Dade County history."

"Sometimes the law is complicated," he added. "If they don't give us a rehearing, we're going to take it to the Florida Supreme Court because it's a matter of great public interest and likely to occur again."

Fleming's criminal case is pending.

Related stories:

Fontainebleau Hotel Guests Sue Over Alleged Sexual Assault by Employee

Miami Courtroom Showdown: Conor McGregor Sued Over Phone-Stomping Incident at Fontainebleau