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Article
Courtesy of The SUN SENTINEL
By
Joe Kollin
Published March 31, 2006
About
1,200 South Florida residents will get $50 checks in the mail soon from a law
firm accused of illegally threatening to collect debts they allegedly owed their
condominium and homeowner associations.
U.S. District Judge William P. Dimitrouleas on Thursday approved the $250,000
settlement of a lawsuit brought by four owners in a Fort Lauderdale oceanfront
condo against Katzman & Korr of Lauderhill.
Although they originally filed the lawsuit for themselves three years ago, the
owners in the Plaza East condo at 4300 N. Ocean Blvd. found so many others had
been dunned with the same type of threats, including foreclosure, that they
asked the judge to make it a class-action case. He agreed.
"We are convinced at this point that the settlement is in the best interest
of not only our clients but the class as well," Fort Lauderdale attorney
Blane Carneal told the judge. He represented the four, Ramsey Agan, Grace Agan,
Sherry Ann Spies and Nancy J. Bochicchio.
Their suit accused the law firm of violating the federal Fair Debt Collection
Act and Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act in the way it collected money
allegedly owed for late fees, maintenance fees and special assessments between
December 2001 and December 2003.
The settlement deal calls for each member of the class to get $50, with all
leftover money going to Broward County Legal Aid. The settlement is based on
1,500 unit owners splitting the $75,000. But only 1,300 had submitted their
names by the deadline, so the leftover $10,000 of the law firm's money left over
will be donated to Legal Aid.
Of the remaining $175,000 of the $250,000 settlement, the four owners in Plaza
East get $5,000 each, the attorneys get $135,000 and $20,000 goes for expenses.
Neither Thomas Dykstra of Miami, who represented the law firm, nor Carneal would
discuss the settlement. The parties entered into a confidentiality agreement.
Katzman & Korr and its member attorneys, by settling the lawsuit, "do
not admit or concede [but, to the contrary expressly deny] any wrongdoing,
liability or improper conduct of any nature," according to the agreement.
The firm settled, the agreements states, to avoid the cost of continued
litigation and the uncertainties of going to trial.
This was the third time the case went to Dimitrouleas for approval of a
settlement. In November, the two sides reached an agreement that included a
request for the judge to approve a letter that the law firm could legally use in
the future to dun condo and homeowner association owners. Dimitrouleas refused
and the law firm refused to settle.
Later in November, Dimitrouleas refused to approve a settlement because the two
sides couldn't agree about what to do with excess money. The law firm had agreed
to pay $30 to each condo and homeowner unit owner out of the $75,000 set aside
for them. That assumed 2,500 owners would join the class.
Carneal said the excess money should be used to increase the amount to the 1,300
owners. Or, he said, the excess should be donated to a local consumer protection
program or Broward County Legal Aid. Katzman & Korr wanted leftover money
returned.
The state Legislature, as a reaction to such cases, has been debating measures
to make it harder for attorneys to dun unit owners.
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