Allegations of malpractice against trust and estates lawyer Thomas O. Katz and his Boca Raton firm Katz Baskies & Wolf have led to a $1.3 million settlement.

Katz has denied any wrongdoing, and claims corresponding documents speak for themselves in a case where he represented a wealthy couple, whose children from other relationships later fought over inheritances.

Adam Lamb of Hall, Lamb, Hall & Leto in Miami. Courtesy photo. Adam Lamb of Hall, Lamb, Hall & Leto in Miami. Courtesy photo.

Adam Lamb of Hall, Lamb, Hall & Leto in Miami helped negotiate the settlement.

The dispute began in 2016, when plaintiffs Laurie Riemer and Joanne Rosen sued over millions in inheritance money they claimed they were owed from their mother's second husband, real estate investor and home developer Leonard Miller.

Their mother, real estate broker Carolyn Miller, first sought legal help in 1996 to construct a post-nuptial agreement for her 1976 marriage to Leonard Miller. She retained Harry Smith from now-defunct firm Ruden McClosky, where Katz also worked.

The pair initially used separate lawyers, until Smith began representing both the husband and wife in their estate planning, and Katz eventually took over.

Carolyn Miller died first in 2006. An agreement between the spouses meant that when her husband died, 30% of his net estate would go to Carolyn Miller's children from her first marriage. The remaining 70% would go to Leonard Miller's children from his first marriage.

But when Leonard Miller died in 2014, Lamb says his clients discovered his estate was significantly depleted.

"Leonard had transferred millions of dollars through a series of very complicated transactions to his natural children, or entities that they controlled," Lamb said.

Their lawsuit accused Katz of breach of fiduciary duty and professional malpractice, alleging he oversaw the transactions that wrongly blocked the plaintiffs from receiving any inheritance — which they alleged was the whole purpose of the agreement.

Litigation opened with a discovery battle as the plaintiffs moved to obtain emails between attorney Katz, Leonard Miller and the real estate investor's children. The defense claimed attorney-client privilege, but Lamb argued that privilege didn't apply in scenarios of joint representation.

"So, because the communications related to the subject matter of the joint representation, which was Mr. Katz providing estate planning for Carolyn and Leonard Miller, we would be entitled to see those emails," Lamb said.

Lamb succeeded in obtaining the emails, but the contents are confidential.

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2 paragraphs, 2 interpretations

The case revolved around two paragraphs in the post-nuptial agreement, which both parties read differently.

One of those said: "Except as provided in this agreement, each party shall retain sole ownership, control and enjoyment of his or her property, and he or she may buy, sell, give, devise, use, consume, encumber, create a security interest in or otherwise dispose of or deal with such property at any time or in any manner free from any and all claims and rights of the other party as if no marriage had been consummated."

While another held that the daughters would receive at least 30% of Leonard Miller's "net estate" after he died.

To Lamb, this meant Katz and Leonard Miller had breached their obligation to leave 30% of his estate to his wife's daughters on his death.

But Katz's attorney Justin Levine of Cole, Scott & Kissane in West Palm Beach disputed that. He argued that the postnuptial agreement permitted the transfers because the text said Miller could do what he wanted with his money until his death.

"Everything in the representation of my client for Ms. Riemer was done by the book," Levine said. "There was no issue, everything was done perfectly and correctly, and just a simple reading of the document reflects that."

Levine described the documents as "crystal clear," as they said Miller had sole discretion over his assets.

"He could have burned his money if that's what he wanted to do during his life," Levine said.

But Lamb's clients took a different stance.

"We didn't think that was a reasonable reading of the post nuptial agreement, because we thought it would defeat the whole purpose of the post-nuptial agreement to say that he could transfer all his money out," Lamb said.

The complaint claimed Leonard Miller's net worth in 1996 peaked at $36 million, but Levine stressed that he'd lost about $15 million to Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff around the time of the transactions.

"While they ultimately recovered some of that money, at that time of his life he wasn't sure that they were going to recover any of that money," Levine said. "He wasn't sure that there'd be a whole lot of money left over to provide for his kids."

The plaintiffs also claimed that raised conflict-of-interest issues as some of the transactions occurred while Katz's firm represented both estates. Their complaint pointed to a letter in which Katz allegedly acknowledged a conflict by asking them to fill in a limited waiver. But the plaintiffs claimed they never did complete a waiver, and that even if they had, it wouldn't have excused Katz's conduct.

Levine, on the other hand, retained ethics experts who countered there was nothing wrong or unusual about Katz representing the two estates.

"To have a husband and wife have one attorney to do their joint estate planning is common," Levine said.

The defense moved for summary judgment, claiming that the plaintiffs were simply unhappy with the inheritance they received, and that the agreement was unambiguous. But Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Beatrice Butchko denied the motion and, in Lamb's view, it was no coincidence that a settlement soon followed.

"It put them [the defense] much more at risk once that was decided," Lamb said.

Katz's insurance company agreed to pay its policy limit of $1.3 million. And though the plaintiffs sought more than that, Lamb said it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

"In this kind of situation where the insurance company is offering everything they have, even if your damages exceed that, it doesn't really make financial sense to have a trial when you don't know if you're ever going to recover more than that," he said.

Defense attorney Levine said his client decided to settle to avoid further litigation, though they "felt very, very strongly about our case."

Lamb said the litigation was emotional for his clients, since it involved the wishes of their late mother.

"They felt like they were honoring their mother's legacy, her wishes, because this was the agreement that had been reached with her husband and she wanted her children to have some of this money. They wanted to protect her legacy, and they didn't feel like what had occurred was proper," Lamb said.

Lamb also worked with Miami attorney Andrew Hall on the case, until Hall died at 75 in September 2019.

Read the settlement agreement:

Case: Laurie Riemer and Joanne Rosen v. Thomas Katz and Katz, Baskies & Wolf

Case No.: 16-004198 CA 43

Description: Legal malpractice

Filing date: Feb. 19, 2016

Settlement date: Sept. 5, 2019

Judge: Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Beatrice Butchko

Plaintiffs attorneys: Adam Lamb and Andrew Hall, Hall, Lamb, Hall & Leto, Miami

Defense attorneys: Jonathan Vine and Justine Levine, Cole, Scott & Kissane, West Palm Beach

Settlement amount: $1.3 million

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