Association class representation

The efforts of firm shareholder Jason M. Rodgers-da Cruz, together with Patrick S. Montoya of the Coral Gables-based law firm of Colson Hicks Eidson, were the subject of a front-page article headlined “This Miami Case Was Too Big For the Courtroom: Organizing Convention Center Trial ‘Like Setting Up a Show’” in today’s edition of the Daily Business Review, South Florida’s exclusive business daily and official court newspaper. The article discusses how it was going to be impossible for all of the jurors, defendants and their legal counsel to safely hold a trial at the Miami-Dade County Courthouse under Covid restrictions for a lawsuit by firm client Latitude on the River Condominium Association against eight defendants over the property’s allegedly faulty fire-sprinkler system. Even though the case was ultimately settled confidentially before proceeding to trial, the duo’s plans to hold the proceedings in the James L. Knight Convention Center are now serving as a blueprint for remote courtroom proceedings for large multi-party cases with adequate social distancing precautions. The article reads:

. . . The case, which took more than five years of litigation and multiple hearings, involved a class-action lawsuit brought by Latitude On The River Condominium Association Inc. against eight defendants over an alleged faulty fire sprinkler system with incompatible components.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey allowed plaintiffs attorneys Jason M. Rodgers-da Cruz of Siegfried Rivera and Patrick S. Montoya of Colson Hicks Eidson to work with her staff to plan for the massive jury trial. Jury selection was scheduled to start at the end of April.

Firm partner Michael L. Hyman authored a guest commentary column that appeared in today’s edition of the Daily Business Review, South Florida’s exclusive business daily and official court newspaper. The article, which is titled “Legislative Fix Needed in Condo Association Property Tax Assessment Appeals Ruling,” focuses on the ramifications of a recent ruling by the Third District Court of Appeal involving challenges to property tax appraisal assessments by community associations on behalf of their unit owners. His article reads:

Condominium associations regularly represent all of their unit owners as a consolidated class of litigants in cases challenging their local county ad valorem property tax appraisal assessments. However, a vital segment of the representation that associations provide their owners in such actions may soon be coming to an end as a result of a recent Florida appellate court ruling.

The ruling in March by the Third District Court of Appeal in Central Carillon Beach Condominium Association v. Garcia surprised many of the attorneys who focus on this highly specialized area involving condominium and real estate tax law. It found that unit owners cannot join together as a class to respond to a county appraiser’s appeal of an assessment reduction because the law requires that the defendant in such appeals must be the taxpayer. The result could be deleterious for Florida property owners and circuit courts, and it demands a legislative fix during next year’s session.

Articles Posted in Association class representation

Jason Rodgers-da Cruz’s Work for Latitude Condo Association Chronicled by Daily Business Review: This Miami Case Was Too Big For the Courtroom: Organizing Convention Center Trial ‘Like Setting Up a Show’

Article by Michael Hyman in Today’s Daily Business Review: Legislative Fix Needed in Condo Association Property Tax Assessment Appeals Ruling