8 Florida Cases to Watch in 2019
By Raychel Lean
At the top of 2019, which Florida cases have lawyers checking dockets with bated breath? Here’s a look at eight cases that have gripped local litigators.
Miami business litigator Eric Ostroff, partner at Meland Budwick, P.A., has his eye on Citrix Systems Inc. v. Matthew Ware et al. Chief Broward Circuit Judge Jack Tuter will soon hold a hearing on the case, which tackles the question of personal jurisdiction when it comes to remote employees.
In 2017, Fort Lauderdale-based tech company Citrix Systems Inc. sued seven former employees who worked from North Carolina when they left to work for a competitor. The suit accused the staff of misappropriating trade secrets and breaching a contract that included a covenant not to compete. But the employees argue Florida doesn’t have jurisdiction over them.
Former Florida Supreme Court Justice Raoul Cantero is among a group of Miami lawyers challenging a Third DCA ruling they say could result in Florida courts having to submit to totalitarian regimes.
The Ecuadorean government sued two brothers in Miami for allegedly embezzling about $662 million from Filanbanco, the bank where they were administrators. The suit — Republic of Ecuador v. Roberto Isaias Dassum and William Isaias Dassum — was initially dismissed for lack of standing and expired statute of limitations, but the appeals court reversed the move.
International litigator Arnoldo B. Lacayo of Sequor Law, Miami, said the case is a crucial one for international practitioners, as it asks whether acts in another sovereign state are valid in Florida’s courts.
Dave Kleiman v. Craig Wright, an $11.4 million bitcoin trial will play out in Miami federal court in September, is almost certain to raise eyebrows. Kleiman’s suit accuses his Australian former business partner of committing forgery and filing false documents to take control of bitcoin. Wright has claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto, mysterious creator of the cryptocurrency, but that claim has never been verified.
Complex litigator Daniel Maland at Kozyak, Tropin and Throckmorton is watching closely and says bitcoin transaction logs indicate that Nakamoto is one of the richest people in the world.
According to Alan Rosenberg with Markowitz Ringel Trusty + Hartog, the vast size and scope of the case could serve as a roadmap for future cryptocurrency litigation.
Juan Carlos Gil v. Winn Dixie, an Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuit pending in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, could unravel or affirm a landmark 2017 ruling that found a supermarket’s website violated blind internet users’ rights and laid the groundwork for an influx of website- accessibility lawsuits.
The court will consider Winn-Dixie’s appeal that websites are not places of public accommodation and that the supermarket is in compliance with the ADA. Commercial litigators Michael Landen of Kluger Kaplan and Jason Kellogg, partner at Levine Kellogg Lehman Schneider & Grossman, said many of their clients in the business world are waiting in suspense.