01/04/2021
There’s no way around it - 2020 was a rough year for many families and businesses alike. At TEVT, our main focus was ensuring that our team stayed safe and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we also wanted to keep our operations as normal as possible to ensure that our clients continued to receive the quality of excellent and efficient services they are used to receiving from our firm. Thanks to our attorneys’ and staff’s hard work and the implementation of new technology that allowed us to perform a variety of tasks virtually, we were able to have an extremely successful year. Some of our highlights include:
- Obtaining final resolution of structural subcontractor’s claim against general contractor after a ten day arbitration hearing, resulting in a $2,300,000.00 recovery.
- Obtaining jury verdict in federal court on behalf of demolition, drywall, flooring and millwork subcontractor on the Civics Towers project in Miami against the general contractor and its surety. The jury verdict and several trial court rulings were appealed by defendants to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and TEVT prevailed on each appeal, with the 11th Circuit affirming the trial court rulings and jury verdict on all grounds.
- Obtaining verdict in general contractor’s favor following a four day Zoom bench trial wherein the homeowner’s $300,000.00 claim against the general contractor was defeated and the general contractor was awarded damages on its affirmative claim for wrongful termination in connection with a luxury home built in Coral Gables. The Court awarded our client the unpaid value of the work performed, plus lost profits on the work the owner prevented our client from completing due to the wrongful termination.
- Recovering approximately $275,000.00 in attorneys’ fees against a surety under a Fla. Stat. 255.05 payment bond on behalf of subcontractor.
- Defeating homeowner’s arbitration claim seeking delay damages and completion costs against a general contractor. Our client was determined to be the prevailing party and was entitled to recover its attorneys’ fees from the homeowner.
- Successfully representing a hotel owner in arbitration regarding claims against the general contractor for defective construction and liquidated damages, while defeating contractor’s claim for payment on the contract balance and alleged change orders.
- Prevailing in a non-jury trial on behalf of fire alarm subcontractor against the general contractor for work done at the Tamiami Airport, with a finding that our client is entitled to recover its attorneys’ fees from the general contractor.
- Successfully prosecuting an arbitration claim for loss of productivity on behalf of a marine subcontractor who installed a seawall in the City of Miami Beach. Our client was awarded in excess of $200,000.00, plus attorneys’ fees, costs and interest against the prime contractor.
- Obtaining final judgment (following summary judgment) in New York in subcontractor’s favor, awarding the full amount of the claim asserted (in excess of $130,000.00) in connection with a breach of contract claim against the general contractor and a lien claim against a hotel owner.
- Successfully representing a hotel owner in negotiating a performance bond surety’s completion of a hotel project after the general contractor was terminated.
- Obtaining favorable settlement of a Fla. Stat. 558 claim on behalf of the facility owner against the general contractor and multiple subcontractors.
- Obtaining final summary judgment on behalf of a commercial landlord awarding all unpaid rent, including accelerated rent due under the lease, in an amount greater than $70,000.00.
- Obtaining jury verdict in excess of $50,000.00 in homeowner’s favor against insurance company after five years of litigation for challenging claim involving hot water supply line leak.
- Obtaining summary judgment in scaffolding rental company’s favor against condominium unit owner who sued rental company for reimbursement of amounts paid in exchange for a partial release of lien.
- Obtaining a 2.5 multiplier attorneys’ fee award following contentious familial dispute. But for the firm’s willingness to assist this client on a contingency basis, the client would not have had the means to hire competent legal representation. The firm was awarded this maximum multiplier due to its high level of lawyering and willingness to take on the risk of the case so that justice could be served.
In addition to these great results for our clients, 2020 was also a year of professional growth for our firm. Two of our attorneys, Tim Corwin and Vanessa Van Cleaf, achieved Board Certification in Construction Law, bringing the TEVT count of board certified construction attorneys to eight. We also introduced a new class of Senior Attorneys, where Tim and Vanessa were joined by Amy Ruiz and Paul Washington to recognize their seniority, loyalty, and upward track in the firm. Finally, we were happy to welcome four new talented and dynamic associates to the team - Leticia Mora, Kristina Puente, Lucas Sanchez and Anthony Villa de Rey.
All in all, we are extremely grateful for the success we experienced in 2020 despite the circumstances. We can only hope that the difficulties we experienced last year are almost behind us, and we wish our clients, colleagues, family, friends, and all those in our community the best that 2021 has to offer.
