Florida Appeals Court "Bitch-Slaps" Miami Law Firm For Class Action Conduct

The Miami Herald reports:

• "Prominent attorney Hank Adorno -- already under Florida Bar investigation for his role in Miami's fire-fee scandal -- on Wednesday was blasted by the Third District Court of Appeal for what the judges called his ''reprehensible conduct'' in the now infamous case. In a unanimous opinion that upheld a lower-court decision invalidating Miami's $7 million fire-fee settlement with just seven people, the appeals court ripped into Adorno, who had represented the so-called ''lucky seven.'' The Adorno & Yoss firm stood to earn a $2 million share of the $7 million payout, while some 80,000 taxpayers got nothing."

As best as I can figure this case, a lawsuit seeking class action status against the City of Miami was settled prior to such status being granted; only the named plaintiffs shared in the proceeds of the financial settlement. However, the amount of the financial settlement appears to have been reached "as if" the case was a class action lawsuit, thereby resulting in approximately $84,000 in plaintiffs' monetary claims being settled for $7 million (no - this is not a "typo").

For more, see Judges: Miami fire-fee attorney acted reprehensibly (The Third District Court of Appeal has upheld a lower-court ruling invalidating Miami's $7 million fire-fee settlement. The appeals court also had choice words for attorney Hank Adorno.).

For a longer version of this post, including a link to the actual court case, see Florida Appeals Court "Bitch-Slaps" Miami Law Firm For Class Action Conduct, on the companion blog, The Home Equity Theft Reporter Cases & Articles.