WIDERMAN MALEK, P.L. AND CELEBRATION LAW, P.A.
v.
C.H. AS SETTLOR OF THE J.F. SPECIAL NEEDS TRUST, THE CENTER FOR SPECIAL NEEDS TRUST ADMINISTRATION, INC., AS TRUSTEE OF THE J.F. SPECIAL NEEDS TRUST, ET. AL.
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
Sanctions against law firms for receiving frozen client funds are affirmed, but the joint and several liability is reversed and the case is remanded for separate judgments against each firm.
[1] Sanctions imposed against multiple defendants must be supported by a record basis showing the individual liability of each defendant; joint and several liability cannot b…
Previewing 1 of 1 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceTwo law firms represented clients subject to post-judgment collection efforts related to medical malpractice. The trial court had entered freeze order…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Joint And Several Liability cases and more on FLexlaw
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA
FIFTH DISTRICT
NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO
FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND
DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED
WIDERMAN MALEK, P.L. AND CELEBRATION LAW, P.A.,
Appellants,
v. Case No. 5D20-1446
C.H. AS SETTLOR OF THE J.F. SPECIAL NEEDS
TRUST, THE CENTER FOR SPECIAL NEEDS TRUST
ADMINISTRATION, INC., AS TRUSTEE OF THE J.F.
SPECIAL NEEDS TRUST,
Appellees.
________________________________/
Opinion filed August 13, 2021
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Orange County, Chad K. Alvaro, Judge.
Nicholas A. Shannin and Carol B. Shannin, of Shannin Law Firm, P.A., Orlando, for Appellants.
Jennifer Gentry Fernandez, of The Fernandez Firm, Tampa, for Appellees.
EDWARDS, J.
2
Appellants, Widerman Malek, P.L. and Celebration Law, P.A., appeal a final judgment entered June 22, 2020, against them jointly and severally that requires them to pay $199,428.98 as sanctions to Appellees, C.H., as Settlor of the J.F. Special Needs Trust, and the Center for Special Needs Trust Administration, Inc., as Trustee of the J.F. Special Needs Trust. Appellants are law firms who were representing clients who are subject to post-judgment collection efforts by Appellees related to medical malpractice committed by Dr. James Scott Pendergraft, IV. This is the fourth time some aspect of this matter has been before our Court.1 After careful consideration and review, we affirm as to all but one of the issues raised in this appeal. We reverse only as to the joint and several nature of the final judgment, and remand for further proceedings.
The trial court previously entered detailed orders freezing the clients’ assets while Appellants were representing those clients with regard to those very freeze orders. After determining that the law firms received and kept payments totaling $199,428.98 for legal services rendered to the clients from
2 We likewise fully affirm the orders granting motions for turnover and sanctions and all orders denying rehearing related to those orders and the final judgment, with the same single exception only as to the joint and several nature of the imposition of sanctions.
3 Counsel for Appellants conceded during oral argument that remanding for entry of amended final judgments that did not provide for joint and several liability would be appropriate if we affirmed as to all other issues, as we have done.
WALLIS and TRAVER, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Mills v. State, 225 So. 3d 420 (Fla. 5th DCA 2017)
- Pendergraft v. C.H., 254 So. 3d 417 (Fla. 5th DCA 2018)