Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman. Photo: AM Holt/ALM.

When Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman took over a commercial lawsuit following Judge Beatrice Butchko's disqualification, he was not pleased with what he found.

He rebuked lawyers and clients on both sides, before reversing sanctions against Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod partner Jose Ferrer and the firm's former client.

"This run-of-the-mill partnership dispute has gone far off the rails (and arguably over the cliff)," Hanzman wrote. "These combatants have now spent three years litigating collateral matters having absolutely nothing to do with the merits of this case."

Hanzman said the suit has wasted both trial and appellate resources, and amplified "a war" that began when defendant Vicken Bedoyan lost a liability trial to plaintiff Harout Samra.

'Makes no difference'

Samra had sued Bedoyan, his former business partner, in 2014, alleging Bedoyan had breached an oral contract, committed fraud and stole money from their business. After jurors sided with Samra, Bedoyan then accused him of illicit gold and money laundering in Bolivia, and allegedly attempted to frame him for possession of child pornography and for the murder of a Bolivian minister.

But Hanzman—now the fourth judge to preside—said he doesn't know or care about the salacious allegations, because "at this point, it makes no difference."

"What the court does know is that this routine commercial case morphed into a barroom brawl, with each side throwing haymakers in the form of motions to strike, motions for disqualification, motions for sanctions, etc.," the order said.

In a rare move, Hanzman replaced Butchko's 51-page sanctions order with a 44-page ruling, ending what he dubbed an "unseemly sideshow."

After oral arguments, he found Samra, Ferrer and his firm were denied procedural due process because they were left out of an evidentiary hearing.

Butchko had sanctioned Ferrer and his client in September 2019 over allegations that they obtained clandestine phone recordings in bad faith. But Hanzman disagreed.

In a footnote, Hanzman highlighted that Butchko entered Bedoyan's proposed sanctions order "virtually verbatim," and though that doesn't warrant a reversal on its own, it did make the judgment appear one-sided.

Butchko was subsequently removed from that and three other cases, as Samra and other Bilzin Sumberg clients worried about impartiality.

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Related story: Miami-Dade Judge Removed From 3 Cases After Sanctioning Bilzin Sumberg

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Clandestine recordings

Four audio files landed attorney Ferrer and client Samra in hot water. The recordings came to them under mysterious circumstances, according to court pleadings. The sender was Adma Inchausti, the defendant's attorney-in-fact in Bolivia, who allegedly claimed she'd been tricked into framing Samra.

The tapes revealed that Inchausti and Bedoyan had plotted to bring charges against the plaintiff as a negotiation strategy, and even discussed how Samra might be shot by police or killed in jail, according to the ruling.

Some conversations involved Bedoyan's then-attorneys, Angel Cortiñas and Jonathan Kaskel of Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart in Miami, and related only to criminal fraud charges Bedoyan planned to file over the Miami litigation.

But the tapes demonstrated the attorneys knew their client was filing the Bolivia charges as part of a strategy to "reach a good deal," and had helped him try to have Interpol arrest Samra, according to Hanzman's order.

Kaskel and Cortiñas have denied having anything to do with the Bolivia charges.

'Fiasco'

Ferrer's decision to review the recordings—which raised potential attorney-client privilege issues—was "understandable and excusable" because his client was facing potential criminal charges, Hanzman ruled.

But the attorney's mistake was to file a motion to strike the defendant's pleadings, instead of simply asking the court for review, the judge wrote.

However, Hanzman found that although Ferrer could have done things differently, he didn't act in bad faith.

"While Ferrer may have exercised poor judgment, and may have been a bit overzealous, the court will not ignore the fact that he was involuntarily thrust into a bizarre (and potentially dangerous) situation he had never encountered—a situation instigated by Bedoyan's attempt to have his client arrested on false charges, and thrown in jail," the ruling said.

The way Hanzman saw it, everyone was at fault.

"All counsel share responsibility for this fiasco, as none of them exercised restraint or attempted to deescalate this 'feud,' and refocus on the merits of the lawsuit," the order said. "That is unfortunate, but this nonsense is over, and the case will now be brought to a swift conclusion based on the merits."

The damages trial will begin April 20.

Ferrer declined to comment, while Kaskel and Cortiñas did not respond by deadline.

Samra's new attorneys are Christopher King and Jose Ortiz of Homer Bonner Jacobs Ortiz in Miami, and Scott Cosgrove of Leon Cosgrove in Coral Gables.

"We are very pleased that Judge Hanzman vacated the sanctions order," Ortiz said. "We are also pleased that he set the damage trial on the April calendar. We look forward to the trial."

Bedoyan's counsel are Gonzalo Dorta of Dorta Law in Coral Gables, Jason Murray of K&L Gates in Miami, Kara Rockenbach Link and Scott Link of Link & Rockenbach in West Palm Beach.

They did not respond to requests for comment by deadline.

Read the ruling:

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