Article Courtesy of The
Real Deal
By Lidia Dinkova
Published April 13, 2024
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The Hammocks settled a lawsuit against a pair of law firms that represented
the homeowners association’s criminally charged former president.
The firms, Jose M. Quiñon P.A. and Quintero Broche P.A., which share a Coral
Gables office, each will pay $53,000 without admitting to any wrongdoing and
liability, according to their respective settlements.
The agreements mark the latest settlements between the Hammocks and
attorneys who were involved with the HOA during the reign of the criminally
charged former board members.
The Hammocks, a West Kendall community that is home to over 18,000 residents
and is one of Florida’s biggest HOAs, was embroiled in an alleged massive
fraud scheme for years. In November 2022, prosecutors charged ex-board
President Marglli Gallego and three other former board members for their
role in hiring bogus contractors that did no work on the 3,800-acre property
and for then allegedly misappropriating the HOA’s payments to the
contractors. Gallego’s husband, Jose Antonio Gonzalez, who also is charged,
is accused of leading some of the fake vendors. All five arrested have
pleaded not guilty.
One of the suits was against law firms Jose M. Quiñon and Quintero Broche,
as well as Coral Gables-based Hermida Law. The law firms received a combined
$350,000 from the HOA for working as Gallego’s criminal defense attorneys
when she was first charged in 2021 with theft of HOA funds, but the
attorneys rendered no services directly to the association, according to
Gersten’s complaint.
In response, the law firms argued they did nothing wrong because the
Hammocks’ own governing documents require the HOA to indemnity board
members.
“It is common for boards to indemnify and advance legal fees on behalf of
directors, such as Ms. Gallego,” Jose M. Quiñon, founder of his eponymously
named firm, and Frank Quintero, managing shareholder of Quintero Broche,
wrote in separate court filings. “Otherwise, most individuals will not
volunteer to serve on the board for fear of lawsuits and having to pay
attorney’s fees and costs out of their own pockets, which could lead to
their financial ruin.”
Jose M. Quiñon and Quintero Broche received a combined $150,000 in attorney
fees from the Hammocks, meaning the $106,000 settlement amount represents “a
significant portion of the total amount of attorneys’ fees received” by the
firms from the HOA, Gersten wrote in court filings. The HOA also paid the
firms a $20,000 advanced cost retainer, though the receiver previously
recovered $14,850 of that.
Unlike past settlements with HOA attorneys, the Jose M. Quiñon and Quitero
Broche agreements don’t say the settlement funds would be tendered by the
law firms’ insurers. This is likely because attorneys’ insurers generally
cover malpractice claims, but Gersten sued Jose M. Quiñon and Quintero
Broche for unjust enrichment.
In an email to The Real Deal, Quiñon said that at no time did his law firm
act “inappropriately, nor did it have knowledge of any alleged wrongful or
illegal activities by board of director members while they served in that
capacity for the Hammocks.”
“My law firm acted legally and ethically at all times in representing Ms.
Gallego in a criminal case,” he said in his statement.
Quiñon also pointed out a clause that appears in both his and Quintero
Broche’s settlement that counters one of Gersten’s allegations. The law
firms’ representation of Gallego “helped to further the ongoing theft of
association assets and worked to conceal the criminal activities of Ms.
Gallego and the board of directors against the interests of and to the
detriment of the association,” Gersten wrote in the complaint.
But Jose M. Quiñon’s and Quintero Broche’s settlements include a clause that
says that despite this claim by Gersten, “it should be understood that the
receiver did not intend to imply or suggest – or found any evidence” that
either of the law firms’ work for Gallego “was knowingly, deliberately, or
purposely carried out to further or conceal the alleged wrongdoing by Ms.
Gallego or any member of the board of directors.”
Quintero Broche didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
The settlements were reached during a March 22 mediation. Miami-Dade Circuit
Court Judge Beatrice Butchko, who is overseeing the Hammocks receivership
case, approved the settlements on Monday.
Although Hermida Law also was at the mediation, it hasn’t settled, though it
appears the law firm isn’t eager to keep litigating.
“I am hopeful we can find a resolution,” Ricardo Hermida said. “We are
working toward a mutually beneficial resolution.”
Two other lawsuits against former HOA attorneys have settled for a combined
$800,000, paid by the attorneys’ insurers. The fourth suit is against Rasco
Klock Perez & Nieto and Hilton Napoleon II, which are fighting Gersten’s
allegations. The law firm and attorney Napoleon received a combined $1.5
million from the HOA after they were hired by the ex-board to help fight
Miami-Dade County police officers who were poking into Gallego and the HOA,
according to Gersten’s complaint.
Todd Boyd, Rasco Klock’s attorney, has said Gersten has provided no evidence
to support his allegations against the law firm. “Simply filing a lawsuit …
does not create liability,” Boyd has said.
Napoleon has argued that his work for the Hammocks was well-justified
because the police officers he sued on behalf of the HOA had “slandered,
harassed and threatened” Gallego, and investigators’ records requests were
too burdensome.
A trial in that case is expected to begin on July 8.
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