A fired concierge at
Miami’s high-end Palm Bay Tower condominium claims he was a
victim of retaliation after reporting video and audio
recordings were made in the building with secret cameras.
Christian Miranda sued Palm Bay Towers Condominium
Association Inc. and KW Property Management LLC, which
oversees day-to-day building operations, under the state
whistleblower and communications security acts.
The 27-story Palm Bay was built in 1972 On Biscayne Bay at
720 NE 69th St. Units offer expansive water views, and many
are owned by high-profile Miamians. Developer Avra Jain,
known for breathing life into the MiMo Historic District on
Biscayne Boulevard, is a unit owner.
Florida is a two-party consent state requiring all parties
to agree to be recorded, and the whistleblower act protects
employees who report illegal activities.
“Your condo is your home, and it should be a safe and
private sanctuary,” attorney Peter Valori, partner at Damian
& Valori|Culmo Trial Attorneys in Miami, said by email. ”To
me, it is a personal violation to secretly spy on people. It
is one thing to have security cameras that we can all see.
It is entirely different for a management company to operate
a secret surveillance network with hidden devices. I can’t
imagine why a condominium board would allow this type of
thing.”
KW Property attorney Frank Simone denied the allegations of
secret recordings and retaliatory termination.
Miranda “was terminated for cause for violating clear
company directives. KWPM will vigorously defend this
action,” Simone of Frank Simone Law Offices in Miami said in
an email.
Association attorneys Jeannie Hanrahan, shareholder at
Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin in Fort
Lauderdale, and Marc Halpern of Halpern Rodriguez in Coral
Gables didn’t return request for comment by deadline.
Miranda said KW Property hired him in November 2018. He was
fired in February after he objected two days in a row to the
hidden recorders and told a supervisor he wasn’t comfortable
with the association secretly recording him and others.
KW installed numerous cameras throughout the complex with
the consent of the condo board, and the recorders were
disguised to look like small USB charging plugs, according
to the complaint.
“There existed no legitimate nonretaliatory reason for the
decision to terminate Mr. Miranda’s employment,” the
Miami-Dade Circuit Court complaint said.
Miranda asked for his job back as well as for compensation
for lost wages, emotional distress, actual damages,
statutory damages, attorney fees and costs and injunctive
relief.
The suit lists violation of Florida’s Whistleblower and
Security of Communications acts as well as intentional
infliction of emotional distress counts against KW. It also
lists civil conspiracy intentional infliction of emotion
distress and conspiracy to violate the Communications Act
against KW and the association.