RE: Demand for retraction and apology
DeLand, Florida -- November 28, 2005
Dear
Mr. Wean, As
demanded in a letter mailed to me by your legal counsel Clifford B.
Sheppard, dated June 3, 2005, I hereby publicly apologize for the
following statement, made in a private e-mail sent to Ms. Patty Pensa
(Reporter Sun-Sentinel) and Barbara Katz (Coalition
of Boynton West Residential Associations, Inc.): “Dick Spears was the one who tried to get liens and foreclosures for fines into the HOA statutes again. See HB 1593. He failed miserably. His best buddy is Paul Wean, the attorney who got sued for malpractice and now had to settle.” I hereby officially apologize for the erroneous statement – see above -- and retract the above statement as demanded in the letter.
The sentence should have read as follows: “His best buddy is Paul Wean, the managing shareholder of the law firm of Wean & Malchow, the law firm that was named as defendant in a malpractice lawsuit filed by the Southchase 45 Community Association, which was, according to my information, later on settled.” I can only hope that you can agree to that wording, which is made to the
best of my knowledge with the honest intention to correct my misstatement. In
order to clarify certain misconceptions – and/or misunderstandings – I
feel it appropriate to write this apology and retraction as an open
letter. Recent
private e-mails, forwarded to you by people, who obviously don’t
consider private meaning private, have caused you, or a law firm you
employ for that purpose, to write letters and e-mails demanding retraction
and apology for certain wordings in these e-mails regarding the lawsuits
involving your law firm. Let’s
make sure that everybody understands what really happened in the
Southchase 45 Community Association, Inc. lawsuits that seem to be the
center of these arguments. These
are the facts – to the best of my knowledge: (CASE
NO. C10-01-10023) Filed
by the law firm of Wean & Malchow, P.A., on behalf of their clients,
the appeal failed in the Florida Courts of Appeal – District 5.
(CASE
NO. 5D02-818) These
court decisions encouraged the Southchase
45 Community Association, Inc. to file a malpractice lawsuit against the
law firm of Wean & Malchow, P.A., in the CIRCUIT COURT OF THE NINTH
JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA.
(CASE NO. 03-CA-9741) This
case was dismissed but then re-filed.
According to your own words, finally this case was “dismissed with prejudice.” I don’t think there is any doubt about all these statements being correct, since most of the facts are taken from public records! I personally think that was an honest mistake caused by the fact that I grew up in a generation that was brought up to take responsibility for its actions. It was my obviously wrong idea that a managing shareholder of a law firm would be partially responsible for any actions of the firm. Please let me apologize again for my misconception. I absolutely agree that the malpractice lawsuit was officially dismissed. But, as everybody knows, there are various reasons for a lawsuit to be dismissed. And I think that everybody, who is actually interested in finding the real reason for this dismissal, would have to look into the 2005 financial records of the Southchase 45 Community Association, Inc. I guess that would tell the true story – or do you disagree? I doubt that the fact that the president of the board of Southchase 45 Community Association, Inc. was later the Vice President of Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc. would have had any influence on the rulings of the judges involved, as I think you may have implied in one of your e-mails. In my opinion, the cases were clearly decided on the merits! You are obviously very proud that the Senate President appointed you to the Advisory Council on Condominiums. Maybe rightfully so? We are aware of the House representatives that pushed for this appointment. They are the same representatives who pushed House Bill HB 1593, a bill that was considered to be “a bill of shame” by many homeowners and condo owners! It would have allowed associations – and their attorneys – to lien and foreclose again for fines levied by neighbors without safeguards to protect the owners. This dictatorial tool had been removed in 2004 by recommendation of the HOA Task Force, created by Governor Jeb Bush. You in person spoke in favor of reinstating this very often-abused provision at the hearing of the House Committee on CIVIL JUSTICE on Wednesday, March 30, 2005. That makes it in my opinion pretty clear where you stand! As you can imagine, many homeowners and condo owners wonder why attorneys, who strongly opposed the bill creating the Advisory Council on Condominiums during the legislative session of 2004, are now pushing to get appointed to this Council? Maybe to destroy the legislative intent of this Council from the inside out? I can assure you that not too many of Florida’s condo unit owners
expect to see any owner-friendly legislation proposals coming from this
Council. We actually expect
to see more legislative proposals that will serve the financial welfare of
the service providers – as usual! The
House representatives who pushed for your appointment?
To my knowledge, minimum two of them are running for offices that
will require the votes of constituents who reside outside their districts.
I can assure you that we owners will make sure that voters will not
forget who is on their side – and who is not!
It is time that Florida’s voters get a longer memory that will
help them to vote for the legislators that support their welfare, not
their demise! I
just hope that this open letter will avoid future misunderstandings and
make it very clear on which side of the fence we stand! Please
understand that not all of us are legal eagles, but that a lot of emotions
are involved when it comes to families’ homes.
Often honest mistakes are being made, not intentionally meant to
harm a person or his professional reputation. I
don’t think that the threat of filing lawsuits is the solution for these
differences of opinions. Sometimes
just a little clarification at the right place and time can help to avoid
these misunderstandings! This
open letter was written with the intent to clarify certain facts, so that
everybody interested really understands what is going on. I’ll
gladly discuss these issues with you publicly.
Please let me know if you feel that certain facts are presented
wrong. If they are, it was
unintentional – or just my personal opinion! Jan
Bergemann, President
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