Attorney Jorge Luis Piedra's Legal Cases

Litigation

Patricia Saenz, et al. v. Best Meridian Insurance Company

Jun 27, 2007

OUTCOME: Confidential Settlement

In this case, our client's husband (the insured) procured a $200,000 life insurance policy. Our client claimed that her husband made all required premium payments, the that Defendant failed to properl ... y notify the insured of a cancellation for failure to pay premiums and, even if such notice was properly sent, that the insured made the required premeium payment to the Defendant's agent. Shortly thereafter, our client's husband died. The Defendant denied all allegations, denied that it received a timely payment, cancelled the policy and refused to pay the beneficiaries under the policy. We filed suit on behalf of our client. After taking substantial discovery, the case settled for a confidential amount at mediation.

Litigation

Galloway Sun Estates, Inc. v. Juan C. Rodriguez and Raul Rodriguez

Oct 11, 2005

OUTCOME: Specific Performance Awarded in Favor of Plaintiff

The Plaintiff is a developer that was assembling property in Miami-Dade County in order to build a single family residential development at the height of the development "boom." The Plaintiff entered ... into a contract to purchase a parcel of land from the Defendants. The subject property was one of only two remaining parcells that would allow the Plaintiff to complete the assemby and proceed with its planned project. The Plaintiffs undertook due dilligence and re-zoned the property. Theafter, the Defendants refused to close on the sale of the subject property. We filed this lawsuit seeking specific performance of the real estate purchase and sale contract and recorded a Lis Pendens against the property on behalf of the Plaintiff. The Defendants vigorously defended the case on the basis that the Plaintiff did not close in a timely manner. The case was referred to arbitration. At the arbitration, we were able to prove that the Defendants' agent orally agreed to extend the closing date, then the Defendants imroperly refused to close, and that the Defendants were not ready, willing and able to close on the sale of the subject property on the initial date set forth in the contract.. The arbitrator ordered that the subject propery be sold by the Defendants to the Plaintiff for the contract price less the Plaintiff's attorneys fees. Thereafter, the Defendants sold the subject property to the Plaintiffs for the contract price less the attornes fees incurred by the Plaintiff in this action.

Litigation

Eduardo Kriete Avila v. Pablo Alvarez and Wildlife Creations

Apr 12, 2005

OUTCOME: Jury Verdict for Plaintiff

Plaintiff was an avid hunter of wild game. The Defendant was his former taxidermist. The Defendant was holding over 100 skins from animals hunted by the Plaintiff. The Plaintiff claimed that the Def ... endant was supposed to have performed taxidermy services on the animals and that he had paid for same. The Defendant claimed that the Plaintiff had not paid for the services and that he had a proper lien on the animal skins. After a 2 day jury trial, the Jury returned a verdict for the Plaintiff. The Jur awarded the Plaintiff $10,000.00 for coversion and $4,420.00 for breach of contract. More importantly, the jury ordered that the Defendant return the animal skins to the Plaintiff.

Litigation

Everglades Warehouses v. General Star National Insurance Company

Apr 01, 2005

OUTCOME: substantial confidential settlement

Plaintif suffered a catrostophic fire to its warehouse complex. The insurance carrier refused to provide coverage based upon policy language which it claimed limit the amount of coverage as to each da ... maged parcel of property. In addition, the insurance carrier claimed that there was a separate, minimal, business interruption policy limit. We disputed these claims and filed a lawsuit againsgt the insurance carrier on behalf of our client. After taking substantial discovery on the coverage issue, we filed a Motion for Summary Judgment as to liability. The Court agreed with our interpretation of the insurance policy. Shortly thereafter, the case settled for the policy limits plus all outstanding interest, attorneys fees and court costs.

Litigation

Century Evergaldes, LLC. v. Alberto Hernandez

N/A

OUTCOME: $436,178.37 Judgment in favor of Plaintiff

Case by an employer against a former employee that created separate fraudulent schemes to divert monies from the employer's clients. After discovering the fraud, our firm investigaged the matter, gath ... ered the necessary evidence. In November, 2003 we conducted a 2 day trial, proved our client's case, and obtained a substantial judgment against the former client. We also assisted the client recover the policy limits under the employer's insurance policies covering employee dishonesty.

Litigation

Galloway Sun Estates, Inc. v. Efren Costa

N/A

OUTCOME: Settled after arbitriation

The Plaintiff is a developer that was assembling property in Miami-Dade County in order to build a single family residential development at the height of the development "boom." The Plaintiff entered i ... nto a contract to purchase a parcel of land from the Defendant. The subject property was one of only two remaining parcells that would allow the Plaintiff to complete the assemby and proceed with its planned project. The Plaintiffs undertook due dilligence and re-zoning of the property. Theafter, the Defendant refused to close on the sale of the subject property. We filed this lawsuit seeking specific performance of the real estate purchase and sale contract and recorded a Lis Pendens against the property on behalf of the Plaintiff. The Defendants vigorously defended the case on the basis that the Plaintiff did not close in a timely manner. In addition, the Defendant filed a counterclaim demanding the $50,000.00 deposit as liquidated damages under the real estate contract. The case was referred to non-arbitration. At the arbitration, we were able to prove that the Defendant did not cooperate in the rezoning of the property and that the time date of the closing was not clear from the terms of the contract. We also proved that the Defenant should have given the Plaintiff notice and a proper opportuning to close upon the contract before it was cancelled. The arbitrator ruled in favor of our client and ordered the Defendant to convey the property to the Plaintiff. The Defendant failed to request a trial de novo in a timely manner and the trial court entered a judgment for the Plaintiff ordering the sale of the subject property. The Defendant appealed and the case settled during the appeal with the Defendant selling the property to the Plaintiff.

Litigation

Petro-Miami, Inc. v. Petroleum Marketing Wholesalers, Inc. and Tomas Pequeno

N/A

OUTCOME: The case settled in July, 2009 for $800,000.00.

Plaintiff was a local gas station and the Defendant was the gasoline wholesaler and its principal. The Plaintiff was required to purchase its motor fuel exclusively from the Defendants. The Defendant ... s were selling the Plaintiff the gasoline at predatory prices preventing it from competing with other gas stations in the neighborhood. Plaintiff brought this lawsuit for breach of contract as well as a violation of Florida's Motor Fuel Marketing Pracices Act. After refusing to participate in discovery, the Court entered an order striking all of the Defendants' pleadings and entered a judgment of liability. The trial on damages was conducted on August 20, 2008 and the Plaintiff was awarded $595,865.79. The case settled in July, 2009 for $800,000.00

Construction and development

J&K Mechanical, LLC. d/b/a Tropic Air Conditioning v. Jasco Construction Co. and Travelers Insurance Company

N/A

OUTCOME: Jury verdict for $245,000.00

A subcontractor sued the general contractor on 3 subcontracts to provide the mechanical (air conditioning) construction for 3 new Miami-Dade public schools. The Plaintiff/subcontractor claimed that th ... e general contractor breached the contract by failing to make timely payments, failing to pay change orders and improperly terminating the subcontractor. The Plaintiff also claimed that the general contractor requested and received payments from the school board and then refused to pay the subcontractor the amounts received for mechanical work in violation of Chapter 253, Florida Statutes. The Plaintiff also made claims against the surety which bonded the jobs. The Defendant general contractor claimed defects and deficiencies in the Plaintiff's work and that the Plaintiff improperly walked off of the jobs. The Defendant filed a counterclaim and sought set offs for the amounts paid to other mechanical contractors to complete the Plaintiff's work. Just prior to trial, the Defendant dismissed its counterclaim. The issues were tried for 5 days to a jury which returned a verdict in favor of the Plaintiff for the full amounts owned under the contracts, $245,000.00, with no set off for amounts paid by the Defendant to other sub-contractors. The Defendants took an appeal. The case was subsequently settled.

Jorge Luis Piedra's Legal Cases (8)

Patricia Saenz, et al. v. Best Meridian Insurance Company

Galloway Sun Estates, Inc. v. Juan C. Rodriguez and Raul Rodriguez

Eduardo Kriete Avila v. Pablo Alvarez and Wildlife Creations

Everglades Warehouses v. General Star National Insurance Company

Century Evergaldes, LLC. v. Alberto Hernandez

Galloway Sun Estates, Inc. v. Efren Costa

Petro-Miami, Inc. v. Petroleum Marketing Wholesalers, Inc. and Tomas Pequeno

J&K Mechanical, LLC. d/b/a Tropic Air Conditioning v. Jasco Construction Co. and Travelers Insurance Company