WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2019

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DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW

by Raychel Lean

A tuberculosis scare led to a quar-antine at the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami while awaiting test results, delaying a trial and can-celing attorney conferences and social visits.

When the test came back negative, federal marshals  announced servic-es will return to normal  Wednesday.

The Southern District of Florida Blog, run by criminal defense at-torney  David Oscar Markus,  broke the story, writing, “FDC-Miami is still shutdown due to a supposed TB scare.” It posted an email from marshals providing an update on the quarantine after an inmate showed signs of the disease a week ago.

Louis Cruz/FederaL Bureau oF Prisons

The federal pretrial detention center in Miami was quarantined for days while awaiting tests on an inmate with tuberculosis symptoms.

Tuberculosis Quarantine Ends at Miami’s Federal Detention Center

see TB, page a2

by Tom McParland

The Delaware Supreme Court reversed a  Chancery Court decision that would have forced billionaire  William I. Koch  to sell his $2.5 billion energy company based in West Palm Beach to allow two private equity firms to recoup their investments.

Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster misconstrued Oxbow Carbon LLC’s agreement when he ruled last February that  Crestview Partners and Load Line Capital LLC could pursue the company’s sale, a full panel of the high court said. They claimed that’s what they bargained for when they invested in 2007.

Laster applied the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing to fill gap that and blocked Koch’s attempt to thwart the sale. He later appointed a monitor to oversee the sale and ordered Koch to pay tens of millions of dollars in damages for derailing the sale in 2016.

However, Supreme Court Justice Karen L. Valihura said no such gap ex-isted and vacated Laster’s remedies rul-ing from August.

“Although Oxbow’s handling of the is-suances was hardly a model of good cor-porate governance, [Crestview and Load

by Zach Schlein

Florida’s former attorney general will soon find herself in a slightly colder cli-mate than the Sunshine State.

Lobbying and public relations firm Ballard Partners announced Tuesday Pam Bondi  is joining its Washington, D.C., office, where she will chair a new corporate regulatory compliance practice.

Bondi will “focus on serving Fortune 500 companies to implement best prac-tices that proactively address public policy challenges such as human traf-ficking, opioid abuse and personal data privacy,” according to the firm.

The  new position follows specula-tion Bondi would join President Donald Trump’s administration after  conclud-ing  her tenure as Florida’s chief law enforcement officer — a role now held by former judge and fellow Republican Ashley Moody.

Court Overturns Forced Sale of West Palm’s Oxbow Carbon

Pam Bondi Goes to Washington — But Not to Join Trump Administration

Louis Lanzano/assoCiaTed Press

Palm Beach billionaire William i. Koch no longer faces a court order to sell his $2.5 billion energy company at the urging of two private equity stakeholders.

by Lidia Dinkova

Some Miami officials acted more like “PR agents and cheerleaders” for the David Beckham soccer stadium instead of as elected officials who should have pushed for more transparency on who controls Miami Freedom Park LLC, ac-cording to a lawsuit filed Friday.

The city didn’t enforce its own law requiring Beckham, his soccer partners and his attorneys to register as lobbyists when they spoke for the project at a City Commission meeting last July. Instead, according to the complaint, the city knowingly allowed them to bypass the requirement — and has systematically failed to enforce its own lobbying laws.

Miami attorney David Winker, a former partner at Zumpano, Patricios & Winker in Coral Gables who started his own firm, filed the Miami-Dade Circuit Court com-plaint as plaintiff and lead attorney.

For its part, the city said it’s working to ensure compliance.

“The city has been working diligently with the Commission on Ethics to en-sure all our codes are followed,” City

Miami Sued — Again — Over Beckham Soccer Stadium Plan

see sTaDium, page a2

see BonDi, page a2see oxBow, page a6

LauDeRDaLe LaKespRopeRTY BougHT

See Page a10

Manny Crespo and Frank Whitaker

miami-DaDe

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No jailed defendants were brought to trial, and attorney visits were suspend-ed, according to the post.

Prison medical managers awaited test results on a facility cook  at the Federal Correctional Institution in Yazoo County, Mississippi,  who re-cently traveled to Florida for a court appearance.

The quarantine came amid the lon-gest government shutdown in U.S. his-tory, playing out in the background with reports of federal Transportation Security Administration officers, air traf-fic controllers and other federal employ-ees taking sick days in droves after being forced to work without pay.

Marshals attributed the Miami delays to a precautionary quarantine at the jail,

which houses 1,148 male and female in-mates, according to its website.

Tuberculosis is a potentially fatal and contagious bacterial disease that typically strikes the lungs but can attack any area of the body. It’s airborne and spread by coughing, sneezing and talking.

But Markus suggested there might be more to the quarantine.

“The shutdown is having so many negative consequences, it’s hard to measure,” he told the Daily Business Review. “Now it’s taken aim at the Sixth  Amendment as lawyers cannot even visit their clients. It won’t be long ‘till prosecutors and defenders won’t be able to do their jobs, which will cause a crisis.”

The Federal Detention Center  is no stranger to TB alerts, according to Markus’s  post, which  claims this is the first time a potential infection has stopped all visitation and court activity.

Henry P. Bell,  Criminal Justice Act representative for the Southern District of Florida, said, “Essentially, we’ve been told that because of the risk associated with the infected inmate and possibly other inmates, there’s a quarantine.”

Bell conceded the timing of the quar-antine caused some people to question the reasoning behind it, but stressed he had no reason to doubt the official ex-planation.

“I accept at face value what I’m be-ing told,” Bell said. “These are represen-tations being made to me by a lawyer from the Bureau of Prisons, and I believe these representations have been made to the court itself. I don’t have any rea-son to cast dispersion or doubt on that.”

Bell received word from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons Consolidated Legal Center in South Florida, which also in-formed the court and members of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The Bureau of Prisons had no com-ment by deadline.

If the quarantine period lasted much longer, Bell suspected defense attorneys would consider asking judges to release their clients on bond pending trial. s.

The suspension caused issues for law-yers, according to Michael Caruso, fed-eral public defender for South Florida.

“An in-person visit is the only way a lawyer can have a private conversa-tion with his or her client,” Caruso said. “The Bureau of Prisons long has refused to set up a system where a lawyer and client can have a secure communication through either email or telephone. These types of communications are monitored by the Department of Justice and there-fore are of limited value.”

Raychel Lean reports on South Florida litigation for the Daily Business Review. Send an email to rlean@alm.com, or follow her on Twitter via @raychellean.

FROM PAGE A1

TB

Ballard Partners has grown in size and influence during the Trump era, Politico reports. In 2018 the Florida-born and -based firm earned revenue of $18.5 million, nearly doubling its 2017 intake of $9.9 million. In addition to a recently opened Washington, D.C., office, Ballard Partners also operates practices in Tallahassee, Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

Firm president and found-er Brian Ballard is a longtime Republican operator with well-documented connec-tions to the Trump admin-istration.  An October 2017 report in Miami New Times detailed Ballard Partners’

history as  “the Trump Organization’s go-to lobby-

ing wing when it needed to make deals in Florida.” Along

with the Trump Organization, the lobbying firm has also worked for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and controversial South Florida private prison company the GEO Group, accused of tor-ture, human-rights abus-es and unpaid labor at its facilities.

Ballard deemed Bondi “one of Florida’s most accomplished attorneys general” and cited her reputation as “one of the tough-est law enforcement officials in the country.”

“With her unique perspec-tive, experience and stellar reputation, there is no one better to launch and lead our firm’s national corporate regu-latory compliance practice,” he said. The firm declined further comment.

Bondi called her previous position as Florida attorney

general “a privilege and the honor of a lifetime.”

“With my public service now concluded, I am thrilled to join Brian and the brilliant team at Ballard Partners,” she said. “The firm’s new corporate regulatory compliance prac-tice will help our clients design and implement publicly con-scious initiatives that will el-evate their corporate respon-sibility reputation as well as address their critical regula-tory challenges. I look forward to assisting our firm’s clients in these complicated and sig-nificant matters.”

Zach Schlein is a writer based in Miami. Originally from Montville, New Jersey, he holds a B.A. in po-litical science from the University of Florida and is the litigation reporter for Daily Business Review. He can be reached at his email ad-dress, zschlein@alm.com

Attorney Victoria Mendez said in an email sent Friday night.

Winker first raised the lobbyist registration issue in an  ethics com-plaint against Beckham and some of the stadium venture partners with the Miami-Dade County Ethic Commission. He filed the complaint on Oct. 31, 2018, days before voters approved a referendum allowing the city to negotiate a 99-year lease with

Miami Freedom Park for a 25,000-seat Major League Soccer stadium and other development at the Melreese municipal golf course.

In his lawsuit,  Winker maintains Beckham and project partners, includ-ing MasTec Inc. executives, brothers Jorge and Jose Mas, as well as Sprint ex-ecutive chairman Marcelo Claure, didn’t register as lobbyists when they spoke in favor of the referendum last July.

Ethics commission executive director Jose Arrojo in an email to Mendez on Jan. 16 said that the lobbyist registration requirement for Miami Freedom Park has been fulfilled. In his lawsuit, Winker counters that Beckham and the others only registered as lobbyists after Winker filed his ethics complaint.

His lawsuit adds a claim that the com-mission resolution to schedule the refer-endum was approved under false pre-tenses because city officials were misled about who owns and is behind Miami Freedom Park.

Jorge Mas at the July City Commission meetings when the project was dis-cussed listed the project partners, who also include British entrepreneur Simon Fuller and Sprint and SoftBank chair-man Masayoshi Son, and then often used the pronoun “we,” making it seem as if all are behind Miami Freedom Park, according to the complaint.

The Miami Herald first reported Jan. 12  that Miami Freedom Park is wholly owned by Jorge Mas. A letter sent to the city Jan. 10 from Miami Freedom Park

manager Cristina Canales acknowledges that.

If the city had enforced its lobbyist reg-istration law, then this would have come to light sooner, according to Winker. The reg-istration form requires lobbyists to disclose the name of any company they represent, he said during a phone interview Friday.

“Now there’s a ton of questions about what is the structure of this group,” he said.

An attorney for Miami Freedom Park, which isn’t named as a defendant in Winker’s suit, called the complaint and allegations pertinent to Miami Freedom Park “frivolous” and meritless.

“We’ve reviewed Mr. Winker’s lawsuit and it has no merit. Should Mr. Winker continue to pursue his frivolous claims and baseless allegations directed at Miami Freedom Park, we will mount a vigorous defense and seek sanctions and attorney’s fees to the full extent per-mitted by law,” John Shubin, a Shubin & Bass founding partner, said in an emailed statement.

Winker’s five-count complaint also al-leges the city violated a charter require-ment for competitive bidding on public land sales and leases.

This is the second time the city has been sued over how it handled the soc-cer stadium referendum.

Attorney Douglas Muir in July 2018 sued the city and its top officials for skirt-ing their own rules, specifically leasing public land without competitive bid-ding. Muir argued that the ballot lan-

guage sought to amend one part of the city charter but a different section also prohibits a city property lease without public notice and an opportunity for a competitive process.

Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Reemberto Diaz on Aug. 15, 2018, de-nied Muir’s lawsuit in part saying Muir lacks standing because he failed to show he was harmed beyond any harm expe-rienced by the public and that he failed to show a constitutional or statutory right has been violated. Muir has appealed to the Third District Court of Appeal.

Lidia Dinkova covers South Florida real estate for the Daily Business Review. Contact her at LDinkova@alm.com or 305-347-6665. On Twitter @LidiaDinkova.

FROM PAGE A1

STadium

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The city didn’t enforce its own law requiring David Beckham, his soccer partners and his attorneys to register as lobbyists when they spoke for the project at a City Commission meeting last July, according to the complaint.

FROM PAGE A1

Bondi

Diego M. raDzinSchi

Pam Bondi will “focus on serving Fortune 500 companies to implement best practices that proactively address public policy challenges such as human trafficking, opioid abuse and personal data privacy,” according to the firm.

A2 dailybusinessreview.com WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2019 DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW

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DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2019 dailybusinessreview.com A3

FLORIDA LEGAL REVIEW

by Raychel Lean

Spain’s biggest airline emerged almost scot-free from a personal-injury trial in the Southern District of Florida, where a Miami jury found it just 1 percent liable for a pas-senger’s injuries during severe turbulence.

As a result, Iberia Lineas Aereas de España, Sociedad Anónima Operadora Co. de-feated a lawsuit worth almost $1.2 million.

The passenger, Miami resi-dent Fanny Quevedo, was 99 percent at fault, according to Wednesday’s verdict form, as she hadn’t proved Iberia caused or contributed to her in-juries. Quevedo wasn’t wearing her seat belt when turbulence struck, and although jurors de-cided she sustained $1,175,000 in damages, they held Iberia li-able for just $1,750 of that.

On the evening of May 14, 2015, Quevedo left Miami International Airport for Madrid, Spain, a connecting flight on her way to Milan, Italy. Quevedo claimed she in-jured her hip during that flight, when turbulence struck and a tripod fell from the overhead baggage area that another passenger had left open.

Quevedo was in too much pain to fall asleep, according to the lawsuit she filed with her husband, Carlos, in March 2017.

Click here to read the complaint

On the second flight — No. 3252 from Madrid to Milan — Quevedo claimed she fell asleep almost immediately. Flight

attendants made their usual an-nouncements about passenger safety and instructed everyone to wear seat belts, but Quevedo wasn’t wearing hers, according to a court order by U.S. District Judge Robert N. Scola in the Southern District of Florida.

When the plane began its descent, crew members scanned passengers’ laps to check for seat belts, Scola’s order said. Flight attendant Diego Rubio Sanz testified that he couldn’t see Quevedo’s seat belt buckle because the pas-senger was asleep with a jack-et over her lap. But he claimed

he looked from behind her seat and saw that both ends of the belt appeared to connect on her lap.

Sanz eventually realized the belt was unfastened during landing and got up to fasten it. But severe turbulence struck at the same time, tossing him and Quevedo to the ceiling of the plane as it shook, accord-ing to the complaint.

The airline denied respon-sibility, stressing that crew members had told everyone to wear seat belts, but Quevedo had failed to follow that in-struction.

The lawsuit cited several surgeries Quevedo had after the accident, including operations to insert metal hardware in her back, cervical area and ankle.

In an October 2018 sum-mary judgment, Scola ruled that Iberia was liable for the accident, but asked jurors to decide the extent of the blame.

The jury awarded the lowest possible amount, a great result for Iberia’s lawyers, Anthony U. Battista, Lisa Heller and Harrison Squires of Condon & Forsyth in New York.

“We’re very happy with the jury’s verdict and the effort

they put in to analyze all the evidence,” Battista said. “We feel this is a tremendous out-come for the airline.”

Michael Olin of Buckner & Miles in Miami represented the Quevedos, who plan to ap-peal the verdict.

“We’re obviously disap-pointed,” Olin said. “And we believe that we have some very meritorious post-trial motions.”

Raychel Lean reports on South Florida litigation for the Daily Business Review. Send an email to rlean@alm.com, or follow her on Twitter via @raychellean.

by Zach Schlein

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Tuesday named Carlos Muñiz as his newest appoint-ment to  the Florida Supreme Court.

Speaking  in front of the Governor’s Mansion in Tallahassee, DeSantis de-scribed Muñiz as  “among the highest qualified individuals to serve our state as a jurist on the Florida Supreme Court.”

“Justice Muñiz is regarded by his peers within the legal community as one of the most brilliant legal minds to serve our state,” DeSantis said. “His record in public service spans across two decades and all three branches of government, where he’s demonstrated a deep appreciation for the sepa-ration of powers throughout these institutions and a clear regard for the proper role of the courts.”

But critics were quick to point to the new justice’s lack of judicial experience.

Muñiz is general counsel for the U.S. Department of Education, where he leads the Office of the General Counsel, and provides legal and policy advice to the secretary of edu-cation and other senior offi-cials, according to his public profile. The Yale Law School graduate served as deputy general counsel for former Gov. Jeb Bush, a role that saw him work under  then-general counsel Charles Canady, who has since risen to chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court. Muñiz later acted as general counsel for Marco Rubio dur-ing the U.S. senator’s tenure as speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.

Muñiz served as deputy attor-ney general and chief of staff to former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi between 2011 and

2014. He also defended Florida State University in a lawsuit al-leging the school neglected to investigate a sexual assault al-legation against star Seminoles quarterback Jameis Winston.

Muñiz thanked DeSantis as well as President Donald Trump in his remarks during the an-nouncement. He also commit-ted “to excellence, to humility and to liberty” while serving on the bench.

Reactions to Muñiz’s ap-pointment have varied.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody praised DeSantis’ pick, calling the new  jurist “a great addition to the Florida Supreme Court.”

“Prior to taking office, I and my staff met and talked with Justice Muniz multiple times,” Moody said. “I was struck by his intellect, his integrity and his in-sight into government. My office looks forward to appearing in front of the full Florida Supreme

Court, including Justice Muniz.”But Florida Democratic

Party Chair Terrie Rizzo criti-cized Muñiz’s new role within Florida’s highest court.

“From his appointment it’s clear that Ron DeSantis has no respect for the rule of the law and is seeking to stack the courts with his political allies,” Rizzo said. “Carlos Muñiz has no judicial experience, [and] in-stead comes with a long political resume that includes working for Betsy DeVos’ Department of Education and Pam Bondi’s Attorney General Office.”

Greenberg Traurig share-holder  Fred  Karlinsky  — a member of the Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission — called Muñiz’s experience  a “potential posi-tive” for the bench.

“His background is one that’s very diverse,” Karlinsky said. “He’s known to a number of people and I believe he will excel

as a judge.  ... He’s always served in every role with distinction, and I’m sure he’ll do the same as a justice on the Supreme Court.”

Karlinsky referred to Muñiz’s elevation to the Florida Supreme Court as “another very thoughtful appointment” by Gov. DeSantis, who’s also elevated Third District Court of Appeal Judges Robert Luck and Barbara Lagoa.

He said, “Anyone in the le-gal community who knows the three new justices knows that they are very qualified, will ex-cel in their roles, will not legis-late from the bench, and uphold the law and Constitution of the state of Florida.”

Zach Schlein is a writer based in Miami. Originally from Montville, New Jersey, he holds a B.A. in po-litical science from the University of Florida and is the litigation reporter for Daily Business Review. He can be reached at his email address, zschlein@alm.com

ShutteRStOck

A Miami jury found Spanish airline giant Iberia just 1 percent liable for a passenger’s injuries during severe turbulence because she wasn’t wearing a seat belt.

Spain’s Iberia Airlines Jets Past $1.2 Million Payout in Damages

GOP Insider Muñiz Rises to Supreme Court Without Time on Bench

A4 dailybusinessreview.com WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2019 DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW

by Scott Graham

Jaguar Land Rover Ltd. has lost a bid to hang a $130 million verdict on Bombardier Recreational Products Inc. (BRP) in a trademark jury trial.

Jaguar was seeking all of the prof-its from a BRP off-road vehicle called the Can-Am Defender, contending that BRP was infringing Jaguar’s mark on its Defender SUV. Jaguar called Defender “the heart and soul of the Land Rover brand,” though the company has not marketed the vehicle to U.S. consumers since 1998.

A federal court jury in Detroit appar-ently concluded that there was no likeli-hood of consumer confusion. “That was the fundamental dispute in the case,” said Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr partner Louis Tompros, who led BRP’s trial team.

“We are pleased that the jury rec-ognized the Can-Am Defender as a unique and distinctive product,” Martin Langelier, BRP’s general counsel, said in a written statement.

The verdict was returned Friday in U.S. District Judge Gershwin Drain’s courtroom.

BRP was spun out from Bombardier Inc. in the early 2000s. It launched the Can-Am Defender, a side-by-side off-road vehicle, in 2015. Tompros said his team introduced survey evidence

showing that the two vehicles served different industries and markets across different eras.

Jaguar hadn’t revealed that it would seek all of BRP’s profits on the Can-Am Defender until the eve of trial, Tompros said. “It’s been a very successful prod-uct” for BRP, he added.

BRP had also asked the jury to find that Jaguar abandoned the Defender mark and made false statements when renewing its U.S. trademark registra-

tion. Jaguar argued that after 1998 it continued selling new Defenders to the military; manufacturing Defender parts, accessories and merchandise for sale in the U.S.; and selling and servicing pre-owned Defender vehicles.

The jury ruled for Jaguar on both those questions.

“I’m absolutely fine with them hang-ing onto their registration as long as we got what we want”: the finding of nonin-fringement, Tompros said. Assisting him

at trial were Wilmer associate Colleen McCullough; Dean Amburn and Lisa Asmar of Giroux Amburn; and Yves St. Arnaud of BRP.

Jaguar Land Rover, which had won a similar case against BRP in the European Union two years ago, was represented by Brooks Kushman.

Scott Graham focuses on intellectual property and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Contact him at sgraham@alm.com.

by Scott Flaherty

After admitting he im-properly practiced law in Illinois, Texas-based lawyer Christopher Bandas, who has been accused of being a “pro-fessional objector” to class action settlements, has been banned from several activities that plaintiffs firm Edelson PC challenged as part of a lawsuit.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer in Chicago issued an injunction and judgment against Bandas and his Corpus Christi, Texas-based Bandas Law Firm on Thursday that prohibits him from engaging in unauthorized legal practice. The judgment brings to a close a lawsuit that Edelson, a lead-ing plaintiffs firm in privacy, data security and consumer protection cases, filed in 2016 against Bandas, his firm and some of his associates.

Edelson’s suit called out Bandas as a so-called profes-sional or serial objector, alleg-ing that he and some of his associates made a living by shaking down plaintiffs lawyers who negotiate large class action settlements. Edelson originally included racketeering claims in the suit, but they were later dismissed.

The suit alleged that Bandas often filed frivolous objections to class action settlements, then threatened to continue them unless the lead plaintiffs

lawyers paid him a portion of their legal fees from the settlement.

Edelson said it had a front-row view of this alleged scheme in one of its cases when it was forced to pay $225,000 so Bandas would drop an objec-tion to a $13.8 million settle-ment in Telephone Consumer Protection Act litigation against publisher Gannett Co. Inc., ac-cording to court documents.

With Pallmeyer’s judgment, Bandas is required to with-draw any pending objections he might have in the Illinois state and federal courts, and he’s prohibited from ghostwrit-ing objections and asking local lawyers to file them without Bandas’ ever personally ap-pearing in court.

Similarly, Bandas is not al-lowed under the ruling to pay or offer to pay any clients in

connection with an objection to a class action settlement, unless he receives prior court approv-al. He also has to show a copy of Pallmeyer’s order whenever he applies for pro hac vice admis-sion in jurisdictions where he isn’t a member of the bar.

“We were pleased by the court’s order,” said Edelson founder Jay Edelson. “We cer-tainly hope and expect that what happened in this case will similarly impact the actions of others in the objector’s bar go-ing forward.”

Bandas, who recently brought on new defense counsel in Robert Cummins of Norman Hanson DeTroy in Maine, didn’t immediately respond to a request for com-ment on Friday.

In recent days, though, Bandas made a series of ad-missions in court filings, in-cluding that he engaged in the unauthorized practice of law and was remorseful for his con-duct. In a filing on Tuesday that asked to withdraw a counter-suit against Edelson, Bandas’ defense team wrote that he un-derstood the ramifications of a court ruling “that yet another member of the bar and law firm has placed self-interest and fi-nancial considerations above ethical obligations.”

Bandas’ filing continued: “Defendants acknowledge that their reputations before the courts of this jurisdiction

and across the country have been gravely but justifiably tar-nished. Undoubtedly, should defendants continue to practice class litigation, they will carry the tattoo of these orders with them and they greatly regret the circumstances that bring them before this court.”

Bandas in August made an initial offer of judgment in which he agreed, in general terms, to stop practicing law in Illinois without authorization. Edelson opposed that offer, however, arguing that it was vague and wouldn’t actually curb Bandas’ conduct.

The judgment Pallmeyer ul-timately entered on Thursday was more detailed than Bandas’ initial proposal, and closer to the injunction Edelson sought in the case. The judge also or-dered Bandas to pay $5,447.65 to cover Edelson’s costs in the lawsuit.

Bandas’ approach to settle-ment objections previously earned him a dressing down from a state appeals court in Illinois, which found in November that Bandas and a lawyer he worked with commit-ted “fraud on the court” with their objection to the Gannett settlement.

Scott Flaherty, based in New York, covers the business of law with a focus on legal ethics, lawyer misconduct, conflicts of interest and litigation involving law firms. He can be reached at sflaherty@alm.com. On Twitter: @sflaherty18.

ShutterStock

Jaguar Land Rover had been seeking $130 million from Bombardier Recreational Products over its “Can-Am Defender” off-road vehicle, right. Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr persuaded a Detroit jury there was no likelihood of consumer confusion.

Christopher Bandas told a judge he and his Texas law firm “will carry the tattoo of these orders with them and they greatly regret the circumstances that bring them before this court.”

Jaguar Land Rover Loses Trademark Case Over Defender SUV

Judge Slaps Down Lawyer Tagged ‘Professional Objector’

FrOm THe COUrTS

DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2019 dailybusinessreview.com A5

by Amanda Bronstad

The Missouri Supreme Court has temporarily halted an upcoming trial of 13 women or their spouses who al-lege that Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder products caused their ovarian cancer.

The Jan. 14 order sustained a peti-tion for a permanent writ of prohibition filed by Johnson & Johnson to stop the trial, which was to begin in St. Louis with opening statements on Jan. 22.

The trial would have been the second ovarian cancer case against Johnson & Johnson to involve multiple plaintiffs, the first of which ended with a $4.7 billion verdict last year. Several more trials in-volving multiple plaintiffs are scheduled for this year. Last year’s verdict, for 22 women or their spouses from 13 states, proved that consolidating so many plain-tiffs into a single trial would confuse and mislead the jury, resulting in gargantuan verdicts, Johnson & Johnson attorney Beth Bauer wrote in the petition.

“Unsurprisingly, this patently un-constitutional trial ended in exorbitant, nearly identical jury verdicts for each of the plaintiffs despite the significant differ-ences in their claims and extent of their alleged injuries,” wrote Bauer, a partner at HeplerBroom in Edwardsville, Illinois. “It is almost inevitable that the same re-sult will occur if the plaintiffs’ claims are tried together here.”

In a statement, Johnson & Johnson spokeswoman Kimberly Montagnino praised the Missouri Supreme Court’s order.

“We trust the court will take a diligent look at what has transpired here, against the backdrop of prior trials in St. Louis, because in addition to believing that the science does not support plaintiffs’ claims, it is improper and prejudicial to join so many individuals from various states, with completely different factual

and medical circumstances, together in one trial,” she wrote.

Representing Johnson & Johnson in the upcoming trial were James Smith of Blank Rome in Philadelphia, Debra Pole of Sidley Austin in Los Angeles, and Allison Brown of Weil, Gotshal & Manges in Princeton, New Jersey.

Ted Meadows of Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, who led the plaintiffs’ team, declined to comment.

The trial is the latest linking Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder and Shower to Shower products to ovarian cancer. Women or their spouses have filed more than 10,000 lawsuits, most consolidated in multidistrict litigation in New Jersey. In 2016 and 2017, St. Louis juries awarded verdicts ranging from $55 mil-lion to $110 million, many against plain-tiffs outside Missouri and some reversed on appeal.

On Dec. 19, 22nd Circuit Court Judge Rex Burlison, who has presided over most of the trials, refused to toss the $4.7 billion award, citing Johnson & Johnson’s reprehensible conduct.

The Missouri Supreme Court had denied a similar writ from Johnson & Johnson to halt that trial. In both cases, Johnson & Johnson had argued that sev-eral plaintiffs should be severed from the case and transferred to another venue.

The Missouri Supreme Court heard similar arguments last year in another case, originally involving three plain-tiffs that went to trial in 2017, two of whom were not from Missouri. Burlison had declared a mistrial after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bristol-Myers Squibb v. Superior Court made it harder for plaintiffs to sue in states out-side their own. The Missouri Supreme Court granted Johnson & Johnson’s

petition for writ of prohibition as to the sole remaining plaintiff, a Missouri resi-dent, who was about to begin a new tri-al. Johnson & Johnson insisted that the plaintiff, Michael Blaes, whose wife died of ovarian cancer in 2010, was not in the right venue because he was from a town in St. Louis County, not St. Louis. Oral ar-guments focused on Missouri’s rules that permit, in certain circumstances, mul-tiple plaintiffs to be joined in the same case and tried in the same venue.

The court has yet to rule on that matter.

Johnson & Johnson’s recent petition, filed on Jan. 9, comes after Burlison re-jected its motion to sever all but the St. Louis resident, Vickie Forrest, from the case and transfer them to another venue for trial. A Missouri Court of Appeals re-jected Johnson & Johnson’s petition on Jan. 7.

Johnson & Johnson’s petition be-fore the Missouri Supreme Court called Burlison’s order an “abuse of discretion.” The petition noted that the women in the upcoming trial had different types and stages of ovarian cancer and varied per-sonal histories, and that the plaintiffs’ experts had pathology evidence as to some, but not all, of them. A consolidated trial also would involve a “mountain of evidence” and lengthy jury instructions on nine separate state laws.

“If respondent were correct, he would have a magic bullet for resolving mass tort cases — thousands of claims could proceed in one trial,” Bauer wrote of Burlison. “Clearly, however, that would be neither fair nor practicable, and the line must be drawn somewhere. Relators firmly urge the court to hold that line must be drawn at far less than 13 plaintiffs’ claims.”

Amanda Bronstad is the ALM staff re-porter covering class actions and mass torts nationwide. Contact her at abronstad@alm.com.

by Caroline Spiezio

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s 2018 Year-End Securities Enforcement Update said the federal agency focused strongly on cryptocurrency and digi-tal asset regulations last year. That’s in part because of cryp-to’s popularity, media coverage and fluctuating value in 2018, said Mark Schonfeld, the co-chairman of Gibson Dunn’s securities enforcement practice group.

“I think the challenge going forward is how the SEC does more than just say no, but finds ways in which to help compa-nies take advantage of digi-tal assets in a way consistent with [its] regulatory mission,” Schonfeld said.

The SEC had a number of “firsts” this year: charging an unregistered broker-dealer for selling digital assets, finding that a hedge fund manager’s digi-tal asset investments were an investment company registra-

tion violation, and finding that a digital token-trading platform operated as an unregistered na-tional securities exchange.

According to the report, the SEC went after initial coin offer-ings claiming to be registered with the SEC and celebrities failing to disclose they were be-ing paid to promote these offer-ings.

Schonfeld said in-house counsel at crypto companies should take caution when offer-ing digital currencies or tokens because it is “an area fraught with risk if you’re not doing it with the right guidance.”

“The biggest risk is not com-plying with the SEC registra-tion requirements when offer-ing a digital token,” Schonfeld said. “The SEC has expressed the view … that in most cases if not all, digital tokens have qualified as securities under the securities laws, and the of-fering of digital tokens, initial coins, requires registration with the SEC. And so, thus far,

that has been the biggest risk that companies in this space have faced.”

The SEC also pushed for companies to get cybersecurity

measures in place, publicly cau-tioning nine public companies breached by fraudulent emails. Schonfeld said it’s increasingly important for companies to put

adequate policies in place to prevent cyberattacks.

It’s also important to give whistleblowers a place to report internally, and to take internal reports seriously. Schonfeld said the SEC gave an award of $39 million to a whistleblower in 2018. Growing reward sizes “are a significant incentive” for whistleblowers whose claims aren’t being handled by their employer.

“It emphasizes again the need for companies to have a mechanism by which whistle-blowers or potential whistle-blowers can bring issues to the attention of the company,” he said. “And for the company to react to those complaints by looking into them and keeping an adequate record of the actions taken, remedial steps taken to address any issues.”

Caroline Spiezio reports for Corporate Counsel, an ALM affili-ate of the Daily Business Review. Contact her at cspiezio@alm.com.

Thirteen women or their spouses allege that Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder products caused their ovarian cancer.

Diego M. RaDzinschi

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had a number of “firsts” this year: charging an unregistered broker-dealer for selling digital assets; finding that a hedge fund manager’s digital asset investments were an investment company registration violation; and finding that a digital token-trading platform operated as an unregistered national securities exchange.

Court Grants J&J’s Bid to Halt Upcoming Talc Trial of 13 Women

SEC Report Focuses on Crypto, Cybersecurity and Whistleblowers

fRoM the CouRtS

in briefex-US rep. DenniS roSS LanDS at GrayrobinSon

Former Republican U.S. congressman Dennis Ross has joined GrayRobinson’s Lakeland office in an of counsel role.

“Dennis has represented Floridians at the highest levels of government for almost two decades,” said Mayanne Downs, president and managing director of GrayRobinson, in a state-ment. “Dennis’ experience and reputation in both Florida and Washington will further enhance our abilities to accelerate our business growth and advance our clients’ interests. We’re hon-ored to have him on our GR team.”

Ross served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011 to 2019, and in the Florida House of Representatives for eight years before that. In Congress, he served as deputy majority whip and as a member of the House Committee on Financial Services. Joining Florida Republicans Thomas Rooney and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Ross announced in April of last year that he would not

run for re-election. Tampa attorney Ross Spano now holds his seat representing the 15th District.

Ross will work with the GrayRobinson’s state and federal lob-bying teams, though due to federal regulations he cannot lobby members of the U.S. Congress until Jan. 4, 2020.

“Ensuring a strong, growth-oriented vision for Florida’s future has been at the forefront of every decision that I make, and cor-nerstone to my choice to join GrayRobinson at this critical time,” said Ross in a statement. “I look forward to being a part of the team that is making such a tremendous impact for Floridians.”

The addition for GrayRobinson comes at the heels of the Orlando-based firm’s acquisition of a Eris Group, a Washington, D.C., boutique lobbying group lead by a former chief of staff to the former Florida Attorney General and Congressman Bill McCollum. The deal was GrayRobinson’s first move outside of Florida. (Dylan Jackson)

A6 dailybusinessreview.com WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2019 DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW

©2019 ALM Properties, LLC. All rights reserved. No reproduction of any portion of this issue is allowed without

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by andrew Messios

Dentons has taken over Norton Rose Fulbright’s office in Venezuela to launch its  first operation in the country at a fractious time for politics and its infla-tion-driven economy.

The Caracas office with eight part-ners and 18 lawyers had been a part of Norton Rose since 2012.

The firm, which will be called Despacho de Abogados Miembros de Dentons SC, is strong in the practice areas of energy and natural resources, corporate, labor and employment, liti-gation and dispute resolution, banking and finance, tax and public law.

Although the incorporation of the new office into Dentons’ verein struc-ture still requires a global partner vote, which is due in the next few weeks, a firm representative said that these are usually approved.

The transition comes amid fresh strife in Venezuela, where nationwide demonstrations against the leadership of President Nicolas Maduro were ex-pected Wednesday.

The office will be the 22nd for Dentons in Latin America and the

Caribbean. But the firm is a relative newcomer to the region. It opened its first offices in Bogota and Mexico City in 2016.

“Three years ago we didn’t have a single office in Latin America or the Caribbean. Baker McKenzie had a 55-60-year head start on us, DLA Piper had a 30-year head start, Hogan Lovells had 20 years,” said Dentons global chair-man Joe Andrew. “There was a lot of

skepticism when we said we wanted to be the first truly pan-Latin American and Caribbean firm. Today we have tri-pled the number of offices of our closest competitor.”

Norton Rose gave a more downbeat assessment of the change. Explaining the firm’s reasons for leaving the country, chief executive Peter Martyr said: “Market conditions in Venezuela have been challenging for some time.  Therefore, we have reached a mutual agreement with our Caracas partners that Norton Rose Fulbright will no longer maintain a local market presence in Venezuela. We wish them well.”

Dentons Latin America CEO Jorge Alers countered that the office was very, very successful for Norton Rose. “They were not asked to leave by any stretch of the imagination, and they elected to join us for their own reasons,” he said.

Alers said the success of former Norton Rose colleagues in Bogota who left to join Dentons last year “demon-strated to them how they could suc-ceed in Dentons’ model, and I assume that it was an important factor in their decision.”

Dentons Opens in Venezuela as Norton Rose Leaves

froM the coUrtS

JOHn DISnEy

Line] were highly sophisticated entities with three board members who were capable of reading the LLC agreement and bargaining for the rights they now seek through litigation,” Valihura wrote in a 47-page opinion.

Palm Beach-based Koch, the brother of the billionaire conservative political activists Charles and David Koch, said Thursday that he was “pleased that the Supreme Court unanimously agreed with Oxbow on all issues in this litigation.”

“We are evaluating our next steps,”  William Koch  said in a state-ment. “Oxbow is a very profitable com-pany and an industry leader. We will continue to provide our clients with the highest quality products and the best service.”

A spokeswoman for Oxbow’s Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo attorneys declared the ruling a “full and complete victory.” R. Robert Popeo, who represented Oxbow, directed inquiries to a company spokesman, who did not return a call for comment by deadline.

Attorneys for Crestview and Load Line did not immediately respond to re-quests for comment.

Laster’s ruling set the stage for Oxbow’s sale within a year and aimed to resolve more than two years of messy Chancery Court litigation, where Koch accused Crestview and Load Line of conspiring to force him out of Oxbow to force a quick sale when commodities prices were tanking.

The case, which went to trial in July 2017, also featured wide-ranging alle-gations of wrongdoing, including asser-tions from Koch that Crestview planted a “mole” on the Oxbow board to spy on him and pressure him to resign.

Crestview countered by accusing Koch  of mismanagement and board-room paranoia.

According to court documents, Koch went so far as to install cameras at com-pany facilities and hired private inves-tigators to help build his case against Crestview. Surveillance records and other information were turned over to the investors in discovery.

Valihura remanded the case to Laster for further proceedings, though it was not clear what the next  steps would be.

Oxbow is one of the world’s largest producers of petroleum coke, a valuable byproduct of the oil refining process, which is used in aluminum production.

Oxbow is represented by Kenneth J. Nachbar, Thomas W. Briggs Jr. and

Richard Li of Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell and Michael S. Gardener, Breton Leone-Quick and R. Robert Popeo of Mintz Levin. Koch is represented by Stephen C. Norman, Jaclyn C. Levy and Daniyal M. Iqbal of Potter Anderson & Corroon and David Hennes and C. Thomas Brown of Ropes & Gray.

Crestview is represented by Kevin G. Abrams, Michael A. Barlow, J. Peter Shindel Jr., Daniel R. Ciarrocki and April M. Ferraro of Abrams & Bayliss; Brock E. Czeschin, Matthew D. Perri and Sarah A. Galetta of Richards, Layton & Finger; and Michael B. Carlinsky, Jennifer J. Barrett, Chad Johnson, Sylvia Simson, Silpa Maruri of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.

Load Line is represented by Dale C. Christensen Jr. and Michael B. Weitman of Seward & Kissel and J. Clayton Athey and John G. Day of Prickett, Jones & Elliott.

The case is captioned In re Oxbow Carbon Unitholder Litigation.

Related stories:$88M Bond Set to Appeal Forced

Sale of West Palm Beach CompanyWest Palm’s Oxbow Sued for Records

of Founder’s Payments to Mintz Levintom Mcparland of Delaware Law Weekly

can be contacted at 215-557-2485 or at tm-cparland@alm.com. follow him on twitter @tMcparlandtLi.

FROM PAGE A1

OxbOw

DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2019 dailybusinessreview.com A7

by Andrew Rosati and Fabiola Zerpa

It was still dark, but Venezuela’s army had already smothered a mutiny and turned to tear-gassing protesters sup-porting the rebels. Later in the morning, the loyalist Supreme Court announced that it would depose the National Assembly’s head and nullify its motion declaring President Nicolas Maduro’s rule invalid. Then, Brazil’s president predicted a speedy regime change.

It was only Monday.Governing this hungry and

restive nation has become a balancing act for Maduro, who faces a litany of threats, any one of which could break his grip on power. Foes at home and abroad have rallied behind the opposi-tion’s fresh-faced leader, assem-bly president Juan Guaido, who’s calling on world leaders and the military to recognize him as the rightful head of state. Open pro-test meetings and spontaneous rebellions are building, and the opposition is calling for country-wide demonstrations Wednesday against the Socialist autocracy.

“The government is acting quickly to avoid anything that could lead to a chain reaction,” said Marco Antonio Ponce, the director of the Venezuelan Social Conflict Observatory, a Caracas non-profit. “Protests are only going to continue.”

Maduro has tried to insu-late himself as his country, once South America’s richest, spiraled into dysfunction and misery. He won a six-year term last year in an election widely viewed as fraudulent, he has jailed and exiled dissidents, and he has created a so-called Constitutional Assembly that is politically omnipotent. But his regime remains vigilant for any spark that could kindle his country into flame.

One was stamped out before dawn Monday. About two doz-en national guardsmen raided Caracas military outposts, steal-ing weapons and holding other soldiers captive before gather-ing in a fort near the city center. Videos posted on social media show guardsmen arguing with their hostages about why they wouldn’t break ranks given the state of the country, while oth-ers called on civilians to rise up.

“Didn’t you want the military to take the streets and light the fuse?” a guardsmen who identi-fied himself as Sgt. Luis Bandres said in one of the recordings. “We’re lighting it here.”

Speaking on state television, Diosdado Cabello, the head of the Constitutional Assembly, told reporters that counter-security forces quashed the rebellion, detaining 27 peo-ple, including Bandres, and recovering the looted arms. Investigations are underway across the armed forces to root out dissidents and the govern-ment “has no fears about tak-

ing the actions that need to be done,” he said.

In 2017, Maduro, the 56-year-old successor to the late Hugo Chavez, relied on security forces to beat back a wave of anti-gov-ernment demonstrations result-ing in more than 120 deaths. Demonstrations may now be less visible, but they’re more frequent. According to the Venezuelan Social Conflict Observatory, over 12,700 protests took place in Venezuela in 2018, many over rising prices and crumbling basic services, a 30 percent increase from the year prior. Ponce said their spread demonstrates the government’s dwindling support among the poor, long seen as the bedrock of Chavez’s political project.

Maduro’s difficulties aren’t in the streets alone. Since Guaido took the helm of the opposition-dominated National Assembly on Jan. 5, he has argued that the constitution lets him serve as acting president in the ab-sence of a lawful government. The idea appears to be gaining

traction with Venezuelans and regional powers, including the U.S. and the Organization of American States. On Monday, Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro told reporters at the Davos World Economic Forum that he hoped Venezuela’s government changed “soon.”

Last week, the National Assembly, which is the only in-stitution not controlled by ruling socialist party loyalists, declared Maduro’s rule illegitimate and approved the framework that would allow for a caretaker gov-ernment. The move was largely symbolic; Venezuela’s Supreme Court stripped the body of al-most all its powers in 2017, but on Monday it went even further.

The court declared the legis-lature in contempt and nullified all its recent actions, including the appointment of Guaido as its president. The 35-year-old said he wouldn’t back down and redoubled his calls to the streets Wednesday, the anniver-sary of Venezuela’s six-decade-old democracy.

Guaido released a video ap-pealing to the military to not suppress the demonstrations.

“We’re not asking you for a coup,” he said re-

peating his offer of blanket amnesty. “We’re asking you

not to shoot us, and to defend the right of

the people to be heard.”Discontent has been

simmering in the armed forces, long seen as the key power bro-ker in Venezuela. Over the past year, the government has qui-etly jailed dozens of soldiers ac-cused of conspiring against the regime.

Monday’s predawn rebel-lion was ended before most Venezuelans in the capital got to work. But for many in Cotiza, the working-class neighbor-hood where the fort sits, the raid was treated as a call to arms.

After being awoken by gun-fire, residents responded by banging pots and pans and de-scending on the national guard post. Protesters lit trash bins on fire at the entrance of the base and hurled stones and trash at soldiers from hillside shanties. They returned fire with volleys of teargas and plastic buckshot.

Since Chavez took power two decades ago, the wealthy- and middle-class sectors that make up East Caracas have been the prime staging ground for anti-government unrest. Monday’s clashes took place near down-town, just over a mile from the presidential palace and govern-ment ministries.

“What happened in Cotiza shows that working-class sectors, and those loyal to Chavismo, are willing to take to the streets — and even back those who take up arms,” Ponce said.

Andrew Rosati and Fabiola Zerpa report for Bloomberg News.

BloomBerg news

Open protest meetings and spontaneous rebellions are building in Venezuela, and the opposition is calling for countrywide demonstrations against the Socialist autocracy.

Mutiny Attempt Tests Maduro’s Tenuous Grip on Power in Venezuela

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A8 dailybusinessreview.com WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2019 DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW

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Commentary byJosh Migdal

The construction industry may have been booming, but

data now sug-gests that this marked boost has resulted in an accumulation of noted sub-standard work. According to statistics pulled from Courthouse

News, the sheer number of construction defect claims in Florida has increased exponen-tially in the last decade. In 2008, there were only 31 construc-tion defect complaints filed, but that number dramatically increased in 2017 to close to 1,000. These startling statis-tics indicate an extreme level of exposure for contractors, sub-contractors and other big play-ers in the industry.

The tight labor market may partially be to blame for these unsettling findings. In Florida, construction employment rose by 6.2 percent in 2017, mak-ing it one of the most rapidly expanding labor segments in the state. This may be good news for the average American worker: more jobs are available

to those who have endured long periods of unemployment and wages are being driven higher.

However, the booming economy and increased devel-opment activate an underly-ing problem within the indus-try—an overpriced labor pool that doesn’t have the requisite training and skills to perform the required work to properly complete a project. In fact, many high-ranking members in the industry have cited costs and availability of labor as one of their top concerns in the construction market. Add to that the rising costs of safe-ty compliance, stricter time-lines with punitive measures for missed deadlines and the

ever-present danger of late or delinquent c o m p e n s a -tion on the part of the hiring client,

and contractors and construc-tion firms are hard-pressed to consider any and all solutions for keeping their businesses afloat.

Did these players bite off more than they can chew? As labor costs continue to rise, em-ployers are forced to balance cost, quantity and quality of workers. Naturally, firms resort to engaging a greater portion of cheaper, unskilled labor com-

pared to that of more expen-sive, skilled labor. On top of that, many construction firms do not take time or allocate resources to properly train and educate their employees. This may sim-ply be a result of a business decision, or it could be indica-tive of an inherent skill short-age in the industry. Either way, this leaves property owners with an increased susceptibil-ity to defects. Likewise, it leaves firms, contractors, and the like significantly exposed to poten-tial liability in construction de-fect claims, as they continue to

rely on an unskilled labor force that lacks proper training to complete complex construction projects.

The construction industry should be concerned about their continually expanding exposure. With all the ques-tions surrounding the future of the construction industry one thing is for sure: while the construction market may have “boomed,” certain companies may go bust due to the corners that they cut.

Josh Migdal is partner with Florida boutique litigation law

firm Mark Migdal & Hayden. As a trusted counselor and commercial litigator, Migdal represents clients such as banks, public and private com-panies, real estate developers, investors and owners, tech entrepreneurs, gaming opera-tors, family offices, and hotels.

Josh Migdal is a partner with boutique litigation law firm Mark Migdal & Hayden in Miami. He represents clients such as banks, companies, developers, investors and owners, tech entrepreneurs, gaming operators, family offices and hotels.

Construction Defect Cases On the Rise: Who’s to Blame and What’s Next?

Migdal

BOARD OFCONTRIBUTORS

praCtiCe foCus / real estate

ShutterStock

DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2019 dailybusinessreview.com A9

by Sharon Cohen and Adam Geller

Locked up for life at 15, Norman Brown remains de-fined by the crime that put him behind bars.

Twenty-seven years ago, Brown joined a neighbor twice his age to rob a Chesterfield, Missouri, jewelry shop, and the man shot the owner to death. The shooter was executed. But state officials, bound by a 2016 Supreme Court ruling, pledged to give Brown an op-portunity for release — then rejected parole in a process a judge ruled recently must be overhauled.

Three years after the Supreme Court gave inmates like Brown a chance at free-dom, about 400 offenders sen-tenced to life without parole as juveniles have been released nationwide and hundreds more have gotten shortened sentenc-es. But most remain behind bars, and amid tensions over how to handle some of these cases, lawsuits have been filed in states like Missouri.

“States are moving away from these sentences,” said Jody Kent Lavy of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth. But “there are still some outliers that in many ways are refus-ing to comply with the court’s mandate.”

Missouri lawmakers decided the more than 100 inmates serv-ing life for adolescent crimes would get a parole hearing af-ter 25 years. But the board has denied release in 85 percent of cases and failed to consider of-fenders’ rehabilitation efforts, a lawsuit by the MacArthur Justice Center alleges.

The board’s actions violate the constitutional requirement that inmates be provided a “realistic opportunity for re-lease,” a federal judge wrote in October, ordering changes. Missouri’s corrections agency and attorney general’s office declined comment.

In an interview from prison, Brown, now 42, recounted his 1991 crime and said he hopes officials will recognize his re-morse and his work in a prison hospice and training rescue dogs.

“It’s shameful. … Because I’m an adult now, I know what it is to love your family,” he said.

Florence Honickman’s hus-band, Stephen, was killed by

Brown’s companion, and she vividly recalls the teen snatch-ing a pendant off her neck as she lay bleeding from bullet wounds.

“Do you really know deep down that this man — he’s a man now, not a child — has he really, really changed?” she asks.

The Supreme Court, citing research that the brain devel-opment of adolescents makes them likelier to act recklessly, found they must not be pun-ished with the same sever-ity as adults unless deemed beyond rehabilitation. At the time of the 2016 ruling, more than 2,000 inmates sentenced as teens were serving manda-

tory life without parole, most for murder convictions.

In Pennsylvania, 399 of more than 500 juvenile lifers have been resentenced and 163 released, according to the Department of Corrections.

In Louisiana, after years of resistance by courts and prose-cutors, the state is reconsidering the sentences of roughly 300 of-fenders. Through December, 45 had come before a parole com-mittee, with 37 approved and 31 released, according to the Board of Pardons and Parole. Louisiana prosecutors are seek-ing to keep 80 others in prison for life.

In Michigan, more than 140 inmates have been resen-

tenced and about half freed. Prosecutors are pursuing new life-without-parole sentences for 200 others. Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker has sought no-parole terms in about half of his 24 cases, and judges have agreed for four inmates.

“We tried to take the worst of the worst, the most depraved ones,” Becker said.

Some requests have been rebuffed. A Kent County judge recently resentenced inmates Chad Maleski and Joshua Rogers to 35 to 60 years. They were 17 when they joined two others in abducting and killing 66-year-old Willie Jones. The judge cited Rogers’ remorse and participation in prison self-improvement programs and Maleski’s cooperation that led authorities to Jones’ body.

The Supreme Court has shown little appetite for revis-iting the issue of juvenile sen-tences, leaving unsettled what to do with thousands of others who are legally entitled to pa-role but serving such lengthy terms they are unlikely to ever get out.

In April, the court declined to hear the case of Missouri’s Bobby Bostic, who was 16 when he and a friend partici-pated in one armed robbery, then forced their way into a woman’s car and demanded cash at gunpoint before re-leasing her. Bostic won’t be eligible for parole until he turns 112.

“I’m not the victim,” said Bostic, 40. “But a teenager dy-ing in prison, what lesson do you teach him?”

Sharon Cohen and Adam Geller Associated Press.

NathaNiel MiNor/associated press

Curtis Brooks speaks during an interview at the Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility in Ordway, Colorado. In December 2018, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper granted clemency to Brooks, who was serving life without parole for his role in a 1995 fatal carjacking.

After 2016 High Court Ruling, Battles Over Juvenile Lifer Cases PersistFrom the CourtS

by tales Azzoni

With a guilty plea and a huge fine, Cristiano Ronaldo finally put an end to his tax ordeal in Spain.

Nearly four years after an investigation was opened, Ronaldo appeared at a court in Madrid on Tuesday to plead guilty to tax fraud and agree to a fine of nearly $21.6 million.

The Juventus forward, who was facing charges stemming from his days at Real Madrid, spent about 45 minutes in court to sign the agreement. He was also given a two-year suspend-ed sentence.

Ronaldo will not have to serve time in prison because judges in Spain can suspend sentences for two years or less for first-time offenders.

The Portugal star smiled broadly after leaving court de-spite the unwanted trip back to Madrid, where he played until last summer.

“It’s done,” he said briefly as he walked past some of the hundreds of journalists outside the courthouse.

Ronaldo arrived in a black van and was wearing sun-glasses, a black sports coat, black pants and white tennis shoes. He stopped to sign an autograph before walking up some stairs leading to the court house. He was accompanied by his lawyers and his partner, Georgina Rodriguez. Police offi-cers escorted him.

The court had dismissed Ronaldo’s request to enter the building directly from the parking lot, which would have allowed him to avoid the media. The re-quest was made for security rea-sons, but the court said it didn’t think the measure was needed despite the player’s notoriety.

Court officials said Ronaldo didn’t make any comments while in the courtroom to sign the agreement.

On his way out of the court house, he again stopped to sign autographs for a few fans who were wedged among the jour-nalists. He also made a thumbs-up sign as people gathered near the court.

Ronaldo made the deal to plead guilty with Spain’s state prosecutor and tax authorities last year.

The investigation reportedly began in 2015, and two years later a state prosecutor ac-cused Ronaldo of four counts of tax fraud from 2011-14 worth $16.7 million. Ronaldo was accused of having used shell companies outside Spain to hide income made from im-age rights.

The accusations didn’t in-volve his salary from Real Madrid, his club from 2009 until joining Italian champion Juventus last year.

In 2017, Ronaldo spent about 90 minutes answering

questions in court and told a judge he never tried to avoid paying taxes.

Separately, Ronaldo is facing a rape allegation in the United States.

Kathryn Mayorga filed a civil lawsuit in Nevada in September claiming Ronaldo raped her in his Las Vegas hotel room in 2009. Police reopened an in-vestigation into the allegation at her request. Ronaldo has de-nied any wrongdoing.

Former Real Madrid player Xabi Alonso also was in court in Madrid on Tuesday. He is ac-cused of defrauding tax author-ities of about $2.3 million from 2010-12.

The retired Spain midfielder denied any wrongdoing after spending nearly three hours in the court house.

“I’ve done everything cor-rectly, never tried to hide any-thing,” he said. “I’m confident justice will be done.”

Alonso had initially been found innocent but the case against him was reopened.

He could be sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of $4.5 million, in addition to the amount alleg-edly defrauded. The charges are related to Alonso’s income from image rights. He played for Madrid from 2009-14.

Several other soccer figures have been subjected to investi-gations from tax authorities in Spain in recent years, including Lionel Messi, Jose Mourinho, Javier Mascherano, Marcelo, Luka Modric, Alexis Sanchez, Ricardo Carvalho, Angel Di Maria, Radamel Falcao and Fabio Coentrao.

Messi was found guilty three years ago, along with his father, on three counts of defrauding tax authorities of $4.6 million on income made from image rights.

tales Azzoni reports for the Associated Press.

Cristiano Ronaldo Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud at Madrid Court

by David Wilkening

Minneapolis got last year’s Super Bowl but through last November Miami was right behind it as the No. 2 fastest-growing in another area: The RevPAR market. It’s a trend expected to continue this year with the first announced Miami hotel sale in 2019.

This first sale for $48.65 million of the Pullman Miami Airport Hotel is “kicking off what investors perceive to be a strong year of transactions in Miami coming off of 6.8 percent RevPAR growth (year to date through November), a brand-new convention center, and nearly two percent in airport traffic growth (YTD through October),” Alexandra Lalos, managing director of HFF, tells GlobeSt.com.

Hotel sales volume in 2015 for transactions greater than $20 million in the Miami mar-ket totaled over $1.6 billion, said RCA. After the first Zika

announcement in July of 2016, total transaction volume fell to $663 million in 2016 and $186 million in 2017. Volume grew to $216 million in 2018.

“After experiencing a ‘mini cycle’ in Miami, where RevPAR declined and was stagnant dur-ing 2016 and 2017, respec-tively, as a result of the effects of the Zika virus, global currency

fluctuations and the Miami Beach Convention Center un-der renovation, Miami has re-bounded with force,” Lalos said.

HFF Managing Director Tony Malk adds: “The strength of the South Florida lodging market is attracting new international sources of capital, including L+R, who are making their first hotel

investment in Miami with the Pullman.”

Malk and Lalos marketed the sale of the full service, 281-room Pullman within the Blue Lagoon Office park in Miami on behalf of the seller. London + Regional (L+R), a London-based, privately-owned real estate firm, purchased the as-set unencumbered of the exist-ing management agreement.

Former SoFitel convertS to Pullman

Originally constructed in 1986, Pullman Miami Airport underwent a multimillion-dollar renovation in 2016 that converted the hotel from a Sofitel to a Pullman. The hotel features 18,500 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting and event space.

It’s located at 5800 Blue Lagoon Drive on a 10-acre site within the Blue Lagoon Office Park, a 1.6 million-square-foot park home to Fortune 500 brands like Burger King,

Visa, Sony, Hasbro, Pepsi and FedEx.

The hotel site benefits from further development opportunity. Visible to more than 400,000 annual flights, it is situated four miles from Miami International Airport, which is the second busiest airport in the U.S. for interna-tional passengers.

The HFF investment adviso-ry team representing the seller included director Lalos, Malk and senior managing director and head of HFF’s hotel group Daniel C. Peek.

The HFF Hotel Team con-tinues to be active in the South Florida hotel market, hav-ing recently advised on the sales of the Element Miami Airport and the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Marathon and the refinancing’s of the Four Seasons at the Surf Club and the JW Marriott Marquis Brickell.

David Wilkening reports for GlobeSt.com.

COMMERCIAL real eState

The city’s first hotel sale this year for the $48.65M Pullman Miami Airport Hotel kicks off a trend.

SOUTH FLORIDA TRAnSAcTIOnS

These reports are based on public records filed with the clerks of courts. Building area is cited in gross square footage, the total area of a property as computed for assessment purposes by the county appraiser.

DEAL OF THE DAY

Lauderdale Lakes Bank Building Trades for $1.4 MillionAddress: 3660 NW 31st St. in Lauderdale LakesProperty type: This is a 3,963-square-foot bank building on an acre lot, according to the Broward County Property Appraiser’s office.Price: $1,400,000Seller: Lauderdale Lakes Property Corp.Buyer: ZR11 US Oakland LLCPast sale: $665,600 in March 2000

gOOgLE

A Super Bowl for Miami Hotel Sales?

A10 dailybusinessreview.com WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2019 DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW

DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2019 dailybusinessreview.com A11

TOWN OF MEDLEY

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARINGON ADOPTION OF AN ORDINANCE

AMENDING THE LIST OF PROHIBITED USES FOR ALL ZONING DISTRICTS

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that at a regular meeting of the Town Council of the Town of Medley, Florida

to be held on Monday, February 4, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. at the Medley Municipal Services Facility located

at 7777 NW 72nd Avenue, Medley, Miami-Dade County, Florida, 33166, the Medley Town Council will

consider on SECOND READING at the second public hearing the passage of the proposed Ordinance,

the title of which is as follows:

AN ORDINANCE OF THE TOWN OF MEDLEY, FLORIDA, AMENDING CHAPTER 62

“ZONING” BY AMENDING ARTICLE I “IN GENERAL”, SECTION 62-1 “DEFINITIONS,”

TO PROVIDE DEFINITIONS RELATED TO MARIJUANA USES; AND BY AMENDING

ARTICLE III “DISTRICT REGULATIONS”, SECTION 62-86 “RESTRICTIONS IN GENERAL”,

TO PROHIBIT MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES IN ALL ZONING DISTRICTS; PROVIDING

FOR CONFLICTS; PROIDING FOR SEVERABILITY AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE

DATE.

The Town Council, in its capacity as the Local Planning Agency, will hold a public hearing on this

Ordinance on Monday, February 4, 2019 at the Medley Municipal Services Facility located at 7777 NW

72nd Avenue, Medley, Miami-Dade County, Florida, 33166 commencing at 6:30 p.m., in order to make

a recommendation to the local governing body (Town Council) regarding the proposed amendments.

Upon the close of the Local Planning Agency hearing, a public hearing will be held by the Town Council

at or about 7:00 p.m.to consider SECOND reading of the proposed Ordinance.

Any and all interested parties are invited to attend this meeting and be heard with respect to the matter

to be discussed. Anyone who decides to appeal any decision made by any board, agency, council, or

commission with respect to any matter considered at such meeting or hearing will need a record of

the proceedings, and for that reason, may need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is

made, which record includes the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is to be based.

The documents pertaining to these public hearings may be inspected at the Office of the Town Clerk

during regular business hours. Inquiries may be directed to that department at (305) 887-9541.

IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT OF 1990 (ADA), DISABLED

PERSONS WHO, BECAUSE OF THEIR DISABILITIES, NEED SPECIAL ACCOMMODATION TO

PARTICIPATE IN THIS PROCEEDING SHOULD CONTACT THE RECEPTIONIST AT THE MEDLEY

MUNICIPAL SERVICES FACILITY AT 7777 NW 72 AVENUE, MEDLEY, FLORIDA 33166 OR

TELEPHONE (305) 887-9541, EXTENSION 0 NOT LATER THAN THREE (3) BUSINESS DAYS PRIOR

TO SUCH PROCEEDING.

This Notice of Public Hearing dated at Medley, Florida this 23rd day of January, 2019.

HERLINA TABOADA, TOWN CLERK

1/23 19-21/0000374369M

BANKING/ FINANCE

by Annie Massa

A data leak revealed last week at BlackRock Inc. exposed names, email addresses and other information of about 20,000 advisers who are clients of the asset manager, including 12,000 at LPL Financial, the largest U.S. inde-pendent broker dealer.

“BlackRock inadvertently posted a small number of sales-related docu-ments, which were up for a short period of time, and promptly removed,” the company said Monday in an emailed statement. “The information related to a very limited number of wealth man-agement platforms impacting approxi-mately 20,000 independent advisers in the U.S.”

LPL informed advisers over the week-end that BlackRock posted details about some of them on its website. The leak affected advisers who do business with BlackRock’s iShares exchange-traded funds unit.

“After being informed by BlackRock of this issue, our first priority was to reach out to our advisers to make them aware of the situation and share the de-tails we had learned,” Jeffrey Mochal, a spokesman for LPL, said Sunday in a statement. “We will continue to stay in close communication with BlackRock as they research the incident and will share information with our advisers as it becomes available.”

BlackRock and LPL are the latest fi-nancial firms to be ensnared in a data issue affecting a key part of their busi-ness. ETF sales are crucial to BlackRock, which runs the world’s largest ETF busi-ness. Such products account for one-third of the approximately $6 trillion in assets BlackRock oversees. Registered financial advisers who work with bro-kerages such as LPL are a key channel for getting ETFs into individual investor portfolios.

BlackRock didn’t identify the other platforms affected. The company said it “recognizes the seriousness of the error and we deeply regret that it occurred. We always seek to treat the information entrusted to us with great care.”

Bloomberg News reported on Friday that BlackRock accidentally released in-formation on thousands of financial ad-visers on its website. The data appeared in several spreadsheets, some of which included designations such as “club lev-el.” LPL categorizes advisers with such tiers, including a so-called “Chairman’s Club” for some top performers.

In its statement, BlackRock said the disclosures resulted from human er-ror. “There was no security breach and no compromise of BlackRock systems,” the firm said. Sales-related information for an internal customer relationship management-related system was in-advertently posted on iShares.com, the company said.

BlackRock said it notified affected firms about the leak, and that after performing reviews of its website, the company is confident it understands the “limited scope and implications” of the issue. “The sales related documents did not relate to any other client busi-nesses at BlackRock,” according to the statement.

“No information about financial advisers’ end clients was included,” BlackRock said. “And no sensitive per-sonal or financial information about advisers or anyone else was included. Additionally, there were no ticker- or portfolio-level holdings information disclosed.”

LPL serves more than 16,000 finan-cial advisers with functions including trading and compliance. In a separate incident in November, LPL said that it was investigating a data breach at a vendor firm, Capital Forensics Inc., that put investors’ personal information at risk.

Capital Forensics confirmed at the time that the attack exposed data from a “small number” of its clients.

Keeping information secure is an in-creasingly important issue at financial firms, forcing them to brace against both cyber attacks and human error.

“Inadvertent exposure and loss of data is more common than we think,” Rahul Telang, a professor of infor-mation systems and management at Carnegie Mellon University, said in an interview. “A lot of time the firms spend a lot of money trying to protect data from hackers but small errors on the part of a human can have the same effect.”

Karen Barr, president and chief ex-ecutive officer of the Investment Adviser Association, said any advisers con-cerned their information may have been disclosed should start by taking stock of what was released.

“The first step is to assess the depth and type of the information” that was available, she said. “You really put your arms around the issue and the extent of the potential damage.”

Annie Massa reports for Bloomberg News.

ShutterStock

BlackRock and LPL are the latest financial firms to be ensnared in a data issue affecting a key part of their business.

BlackRock’s Data Leak Strikes 20,000 Advisers, Mostly at LPL

A12 dailybusinessreview.com WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2019 DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW

BANKING/ FINANCE

by David Goodman

The Federal Reserve and other major central banks are right to rethink their plans to tighten monetary policy in 2019 as global growth slows, according to the investors and former policy makers at-tending the Davos summit.

As the World Economic Forum’s an-nual meeting got underway on Tuesday, billionaire investor Ray Dalio chastised monetary policymakers for an “inap-propriate desire” to tighten monetary policy faster than the capital markets could handle, but expressed hope that they were now looking to shift more slowly.

“The U.S., Europe, China — all of those will be experiencing a greater level of slowing, probably a great level of disappointment,” Dalio, the founder of hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, said on a Fox Business Network panel. “There’s a reasonable chance that by the end of that, that monetary policy and fiscal policy may have to become easier relative to what is discounted in the market.”

Concern over the outlook for the world economy shaped the first day in Davos with most of those present declar-ing a slowdown was underway, while predicting a recession should be avoid-ed. The International Monetary Fund on Monday cut its forecast for global growth this year to 3.5 percent, the weakest since 2016 but a still relatively robust pace.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has al-ready signaled the U.S. central bank may be more patient in raising interest rates after doing so four times last year, while European Central Bank President Mario Draghi has warned that uncertainties “remain prominent.”

“We’re slowing, but we’re still grow-ing,” said Philipp Hildebrand, vice chair-man of BlackRock Inc. and a former gov-ernor of the Swiss National Bank, said on Bloomberg Television. “The key risk is a policy mistake.”

Unlike before the last recession in 2009, central banks are short of ammu-nition to fight a slump so should be wary of causing one by restricting policy too much, he said. The Fed, for example, has a current rate target range of 2.25 per-cent to 2.5 percent, about half the 500 basis points in cuts it made to fight past downturns.

“What worries me most is if we were to run into a serious problem, a reces-sion or something worse, we would have very limited firepower left to respond to it,” said Hildebrand.

UBS Group AG Chairman Axel Weber, a former president of the Bundesbank, said that central banks were too slow to

raise rates during better times, and that the current soft patch could lead to an-other pause.

That has particular implications for the ECB, which he said “will never even leave negative territory if they don’t start raising rates this year.”

“In general, monetary policy normal-ization is not an issue for this cycle. It’s for the next cycle,” he said. “It will be mission aborted” at the ECB.

Also in Davos, former Indian central bank governor Raghuram Rajan said Fed needs to be more reliant on data, just as Powell has pledged to be.

“The Fed has to go by what it sees as activity, it has to become far more con-

tingent than it was last year,” Rajan said on Bloomberg Television. “The volatility last year, as well as genuine fears about whether activity would slow given the uncertainty created about policy, has rightfully put the Fed in a more tentative mood.”

Still, Jacob Frenkel, the chairman of JPMorgan Chase International, said while trade and political issues might prompt a pause in the Fed’s hiking cycle it could resume tightening.

“I will not rule out the fact that the Fed will continue raising rates,” he said.

David Goodman reports for Bloomberg News.

by Jan-Henrik Forster, Donal Griffin and Jenny Surane

Calls for European bank-ing consolidation are growing louder, but the next big deal may well happen in the U.S.

European banking needs a reset in a market where scale is everything, UBS Group AG Chairman Axel Weber said Tuesday from the Swiss resort town, where banking consoli-dation was already high on the agenda last year. Tidjane Thiam, who runs Credit Suisse Group AG, agreed with Weber, while cautioning that obstacles remain in a region that’s still fragmented along national borders.

Such obstacles may mean that a wave of mergers may hit the U.S. before making their way to Europe. Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan predicts an-other round of consolidation in

the U.S. like the one that created his firm.

European banks have strug-gled to keep up with Wall Street peers since the financial crisis, in part because the region re-mains fragmented along na-tional borders. The six biggest U.S. firms just posted their first $100 billion year ever. Compare that to Europe, where one of the largest investment banks — Deutsche Bank AG — is still struggling to pull off a turn-around after years of losses.

“The one thing that matters in banking is size,” Weber said in an interview, pointing to how Wall Street firms have come back stronger from the finan-cial crisis. “European banks need to reinvent themselves.”

Banking chiefs at Davos had already urged European consolidation a year ago, with talk of BNP Paribas SA taking over Commerzbank AG and some analysts predicting that

takeovers and mergers would help lift bank stocks in 2018. A year on, no big deal has hap-pened and shares of Europe’s lenders are down.

“We hear talk that European regulators are ripe for that con-solidation but in the end there’s always a nationalist pride of having a national champion or a series of national champions,” Citigroup Inc. CEO Michael Corbat said in an interview with Bloomberg, also in Davos. “We’ll see how the politicians and regulators come out.”

As if to underscore how the continent is further falling be-hind, Moynihan said another round of consolidation could lead to the emergence of a new competitor — in the U.S.

“How does somebody emerge? The same way we emerged,” Moynihan said on a panel in Davos. “The emer-gence will come out of the con-solidation of another round of

people which still has to hap-pen in the United States. There are now 6,000 odd banks, and you’ll find them continuing to consolidate.”

Corbat said that while the “industrial logic is certainly there for consolidation” in the U.S., appetite for deals among large banks may be limited.

In Europe, such consolida-tion has proven harder because the region hasn’t managed to establish a single banking mar-ket. Thiam, speaking in an in interview with Bloomberg TV, said while the “appetite for con-solidation” is there in Europe, “structural impediments” make cross-border deals unlikely.

“Until we have a more level playing field,” he said, it’s “hard to see cross border consolidation.”

A case in point is Deutsche Bank. Its woes have fueled dis-cussions, including at the level of management, regulators

and the government, about a potential merger. During a strategy retreat in September, bank executives concluded that a deal with UBS was the most favorable option among potential European partners, though they determined that the time isn’t right, Bloomberg has reported.

Weber on Tuesday down-played suggestions that his bank may come to the rescue of the German rival, saying he hasn’t gotten such a request. UBS doesn’t plan any large deals, he said, because it has successfully pivoted to the busi-ness of wealth management, where it already is the world’s largest provider.

“I don’t think UBS will play a role in that,” he said about consolidation. “Mergers tie you down for years.”

Jan-Henrik Forster, Donal Griffin and Jenny Surane report for Bloomberg News.

Jason alden/BloomBerg news

Billionaire investor Ray Dalio chastised monetary policymakers for an “inappropriate desire” to tighten monetary policy faster than the capital markets could handle.

Dalio Aligned With Davos View That Fed Has to Rethink Tightening

Davos Elite’s Call for Europe Bank Deals Grows Louder a Year On

DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2019 dailybusinessreview.com A13

TOWN OF MEDLEYNOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

AMENDING THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN OF

THE TOWN OF MEDLEY, FLORIDA

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that at a regular meeting of the Town Council of the Town of Medley, Florida

to be held on Monday, February 4, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. at the Medley Municipal Services Facility located

at 7777 NW 72nd Avenue, Medley, Miami-Dade County, Florida, 33166, the Medley Town Council will

consider on SECOND READING at the second public hearing the passage of the proposed Ordinance

amending the Town’s Comprehensive Plan , the title of which is as follows:

AN ORDINANCE OF THE TOWN OF MEDLEY, FLORIDA, AMENDING

THE TOWN’S COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FUTURE LAND USE ELEMENT

BY AMENDING THE PERMITTED USES IN THE INDUSTRIAL AND

INDUSTRIAL AND OFFICE LAND USE CATEGORIES TO ALLOW

HOTELS AND APARTMENT HOTELS; AUTHORIZING TRANSMITTAL

OF THE PROPOSED COMPREHENSIVE PLAN AMENDMENTS TO

THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY; AND

PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.

The Town Council, in its capacity as the Local Planning Agency, will hold a public hearing on this

Ordinance on Monday, February 4, 2019 at the Medley Municipal Services Facility located at 7777 NW

72nd Avenue, Medley, Miami-Dade County, Florida, 33166 commencing at 6:30 p.m., in order to make

a recommendation to the local governing body (Town Council) regarding the proposed amendments.

Upon the close of the Local Planning Agency hearing, a public hearing will be held by the Town Council

at or about 7:00 p.m.to consider SECOND reading of the proposed Ordinance.

All interested parties are encouraged to appear and be heard regarding the proposed Amendments to

the Comprehensive Plan and may submit written or oral comments before or at the hearings.

A copy of the proposed Amendments to the Town’s Comprehensive Plan will be available for

public inspection at the Town Clerk’s office, 7777 NW 72nd Avenue, Medley Florida, 33166,

between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm Monday through Thursdays, excluding holidays.

IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT OF 1990 (ADA), DISABLED

PERSONS WHO, BECAUSE OF THEIR DISABILITIES, NEED SPECIAL ACCOMMODATION TO

PARTICIPATE IN THIS PROCEEDING SHOULD CONTACT THE RECEPTIONIST AT THE MEDLEY

MUNICIPAL SERVICES FACILITY AT 7777 NW 72 AVENUE, MEDLEY, FLORIDA 33166 OR

TELEPHONE (305) 887-9541, EXTENSION 0 NOT LATER THAN THREE (3) BUSINESS DAYS PRIOR

TO SUCH PROCEEDING.

If any person decides to appeal a decision made in any matter considered at the hearing, such person

will need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceeding is made, to include the testimony and

evidence upon which any such appeal is to be based.

This Notice of Public Hearing dated at Medley, Florida this 23rd day of January, 2019.

HERLINA TABOADA, TOWN CLERK

1/23 19-22/0000374372M

BANKING/ FINANCE

by Lisa Marie Pane

When gunmakers and dealers gather this week in Las Vegas for the industry’s largest annual conference, they will be grappling with slumping sales and a shift in politics that many didn’t envi-sion two years ago when gun-friendly Donald Trump and a GOP-controlled Congress took office.

Some of the top priorities for the indus-try — expanding the reach of concealed carry permits and easing restrictions on so-called “silencers” — remain in limbo, and prospects for expanding gun rights are nil for the foreseeable future.

Instead, fueled by the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, the federal government banned bump stocks and newly in-charge U.S. House Democrats introduced legislation that would require background checks for virtually every firearm sale, regardless of whether it’s from a gun dealer or a private sale.

Even without Democrats’ gains in November’s midterm elections, the in-dustry was facing a so-called “Trump slump,” a plummet in sales that hap-pens amid gun rights-friendly adminis-trations. Background checks were at an all-time high in 2016, President Barack Obama’s last full year in office, number-ing more than 27.5 million; since then, background checks have been at about 25 million each year.

Gary Ramey, owner of Georgian gun-maker Honor Defense, says the mood at last year’s SHOT Show, which stands for Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade, was subdued. He’s expecting the same this year.

“There was no one to beat up. You didn’t have President Obama to put up in PowerPoint and say ‘He’s the best gun salesman, look what he’s doing to our country,’” he said.

“Numbers are down,” he added. “You can’t deny it.”

Robert J. Spitzer, chairman of po-litical science at the State University of New York at Cortland and a longtime watcher of gun issues, said that not only have shifting politics made it difficult for the gun industry to gain ground but high-profile mass shootings — like the Las Vegas shooting that happened just miles from where the SHOT Show will be held and the Parkland, Florida, high school shooting — also cast a pall.

“After the Parkland shooting, (gun rights’ initiatives) were kind of frozen in their tracks,” Spitzer said. “Now there’s no chance that it’s going anywhere.”

It’s easier to drive up gun sales when there’s the threat or risk of gun-rights being restricted, he said. “It’s harder to rally people when your target is one house of Congress. It just doesn’t have the same galvanizing effect.”

The National Shooting Sports Foundation’s SHOT Show has been held annually for more than four decades. This year more than 60,000 will attend the event that runs Tuesday through Friday — from gun dealers and manufacturers to companies that cater to law enforcement. There’s a wait list for exhibitors that is sev-eral hundred names long and it will have some 13 miles of aisles featuring products from more than 1,700 companies.

Last year’s show in Las Vegas was held just months after a gunman killed 58 people and injured hundreds at an outdoor music festival. The massacre was carried out by a gunman armed with bump stocks, which allow the long guns to mimic fully automatic weapons.

Organizers last year restricted media access to trade journalists. This year’s show will again allow reporters from mainstream media to attend.

Gun-control advocates are rejoicing in the gun industry’s misfortunes of late and chalking it up to not just shifting at-titudes among Americans but a shift in elected political leaders.

“Without a fake menace in the White House to gin up fears, gun sales have been in a Trump slump and, as a re-sult, the NRA is on the rocks,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, a group founded by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Joe Bartozzi, the new president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, said the industry isn’t disturbed by the drop in gun sales or the shift in federal politics. While Democrats who ran on gun-control platforms made huge gains in the House, he sees the Senate shifting to the other end of the spectrum.

“Having been in the industry for over 30 years and seeing the trends of gun sales ebb and flow over time, it’s very hard to put your finger on any one specific issue as to why this happens. It’s just the cycli-cal nature of the business,” he said.

Lisa Marie Pane reports for the Associated Press.

ShutterStock

Some of the top priorities for the gun industry — expanding the reach of concealed carry permits and easing restrictions on so-called silencers — remain in limbo, and prospects for expanding gun rights are nil for the foreseeable future.

Political Shifts, Sales Slump Cast Shadow Over Gun Industry

A14 dailybusinessreview.com WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2019 DAILY BUSINESS REVIEW

BANKING/ FINANCE

by Kyunghee Park and Jason Clenfield

Air pollution from cars and factories has been regulated in much of the world since the 1970s. When it comes to the smoke-belching ships that carry global trade, the rules have been a lot looser.

Big changes start next January, though, when long-debated stan-dards from the International Maritime Organization mandate steep cuts of sul-fur emissions associated with respirato-ry disease and acid rain. Much tougher rules are supposed to take effect in 2050, when the IMO will require ships also reduce carbon dioxide emissions by at least half.

By itself, next year’s cap could prevent 150,000 premature deaths and millions of childhood asthma cases each year, according to research published in the journal Nature. It will also cost tens of billions of dollars for an industry that’s dragged its feet on the environment.

Necessity being the mother of inven-tion, some of the world’s most conser-vative companies are starting to experi-ment with cleaner fuels and cutting-edge technologies. Here some of the brave, new ideas in green shipping:

1. SailS!A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S is consider-

ing using a modern version of the old-fashioned sail to help power its ships. The devices, which are being tested on one of Maersk’s giant tankers, look more like huge marble columns than anything you’d expect to see on a traditional yacht. Together, the two 10-story-tall cylinders can harness enough wind to replace 20 percent of the ship’s fossil fuels, accord-ing to Norsepower Oy Ltd., which makes them.

Eco Marine Power, a startup based in Japan, has designed another sail — this one with solar panels in its body. Chief Technology Officer Greg Atkinson says the firm is in talks with one of the world’s biggest shippers to test the de-vice this year.

2. Underbelly bUbbleSJust as carmakers fine-tune the aero-

dynamics of their vehicles to get better gas mileage, shipbuilders also try to

reduce the friction between a vessel’s body and the water. Optimizing hull shape is one strategy. Another, being tried by firms including Samsung Heavy Industries Co. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., is streaming bubbles out of tiny holes in a ship’s underbelly, as a lubricant, to help it slice more cleanly through the water. It’s a little like float-ing on a carpet of air.

Samsung says it’s already installing the system on one vessel being built for Mediterranean Shipping Co. and has received two other orders. The tech can cut fuel consumption by 4 or 5 percent, according to the company.

3. robot CleanerSSince the earliest days of sea voyages,

sailors have been troubled by grasses, barnacles and other organisms that grow on hulls. All the biggest cargo lines are now using submarine robots to strip away such debris and improve fuel efficiency.

One device, developed by a Japanese startup called Hullbot, looks like a propeller-powered go-cart with ny-lon brushes and a vacuum on its belly. Thrusters on its back keep it pinned to the vessel’s hull. No divers are needed,

but the machine still requires a human operator to guide it by remote control.

4. Hydrogen FUelThe world’s biggest shipbuilder,

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., last year announced it’s developing hydrogen-fu-eled engines for its massive vessels. The tech is in its infancy, but some proof of concept may come later this year when a small ship being billed as the first fuel-cell passenger ferry, the Water-Go-Round, begins operating on San Francisco Bay. Hydrogen-based ferry systems are also planned in Norway and Scotland’s re-mote Orkney islands.

5. battery boatSThe challenges faced by electric cars,

with their limited driving ranges, are even more daunting when it comes to ocean-going ships, which can weigh 600,000 tons and must often travel thousands of miles. Shipbuilders are ex-perimenting with smaller river vessels and other craft that stay near shore.

In Norway, where the government wants two-thirds of all ferries carrying passengers and cars along its Atlantic coast to be electrified by 2030, Kongsberg

Gruppen ASA is offering battery-powered ship engines and developing a short-haul electric container vessel.

A Chinese-built ship launched in 2017 on the Pearl River, near Hong Kong, was the first fully-electric cargo carrier of any size, according to the China State Shipbuilding Corp. The vessel is emis-sions-free, but even with batteries suffi-cient to power three dozen Tesla sedans, the 2,000-ton ship can only travel about 50 miles without recharging, says the China News Service.

6. exHaUSt SCrUbberSWithin the next few years, some 10

to 15 percent of ships are projected to install scrubber systems, like the ones used on factory chimneys, to capture sulfur and fine particulate emissions be-fore they escape exhaust funnels.

Makers of the devices, such as Finland’s Wartsila OYJ and Sweden’s Alfa Laval AB, say there’s already a big backlog of orders, so many ships won’t be outfitted in time for the 2020 rule change. Bloomberg NEF estimates some 4,800 vessels will be scrubber-equipped by 2025.

7. FoSSil FUel SwitCHThe most immediate — and conse-

quential — change is the most mun-dane: switching to lighter marine gas oil, which is something closer to the diesel used for highway trucks. It’s still a fossil fuel, but less polluting because it’s been more thoroughly refined.

Marine gas oil is already used in Emission Control Areas, like the ones around Europe’s coasts, but using it full time in order to meet the new emissions rules will cost shipping companies an extra $40 billion to $60 billion annually, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and researcher Wood Mackenzie.

Liquefied natural gas is another op-tion, but the cleaner fuel requires whole new engines and port facilities to store it. In 2016, Nippon Yusen KK launched the world’s first LNG-powered car carrier and last October a Russian super tanker the length of several football fields crossed the Baltic Sea, running on the condensed gas.

Kyunghee Park and Jason Clenfield report for Bloomberg News.

by Molly Schuetz

Elliott Management Corp. sent a letter to the board of eBay Inc. outlining steps it says are “urgently needed” to boost the value of the online marketplace.

Elliott, which owns more than 4 percent of eBay, pro-posed a five-step plan that involves reviewing eBay’s portfolio of companies, includ-ing StubHub, revitalizing the company’s Marketplace, which Elliott deems poorly man-aged, and returning capital to shareholders.

If the recommendations out-lined by the activist investor run by billionaire Paul Singer are followed, Elliot sees eBay’s

shares valued at $55 to $63 a share, potentially doubling their value from Friday’s close. EBay surged 12 percent in early trad-ing Tuesday to $34.70 after the letter was released.

“Despite its remarkable history as one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms, EBay as a public-company in-vestment has underperformed both its peers and the market for a prolonged period of time,” Elliott wrote in the letter.

Representatives for San Jose, California-based eBay weren’t immediately available for comment outside of normal business hours.

EBay Chief Executive Officer Devin Wenig has been trying to differentiate the online mar-

ketplace, which doesn’t charge membership fees, as a destina-tion where shoppers can find deals and discover new prod-ucts. Though eBay gave an upbeat profit forecast when it reported earnings in October and revenue was in line with analysts’ estimates, investors have been concerned that the company can’t compete with Amazon.com Inc. and retail rivals moving online such as Walmart Inc.

EBay and Amazon are fierce competitors that rely on inde-pendent merchants who sell on their sites. Amazon has more customers, sales and faster growth than eBay, but some sellers prefer the eBay plat-form since it’s a pure market-

place, meaning eBay doesn’t compete with its own mer-chants for sales like Seattle-based Amazon.

EBay sued Amazon last year, claiming the online retailer in-filtrated eBay’s internal email system to recruit high-value sellers.

In the letter, Elliott says eBay management should focus on “growing and strengthening Marketplace,” which Elliott says has weathered “prolonged, self-inflicted misexecution.”

EBay has boosted advertis-ing and changed the market-place-shopping experience in an effort to lure new customers to the site. It tries to differenti-ate itself from Amazon, which charges yearly or monthly

dues for shipping discounts, by emphasizing that eBay has no membership fees to access deals that often include free shipping.

Last June, eBay announced a reorganization that result-ed in staff cuts of almost 300 employees. Software engi-neers and research scientists were among those let go in California. The company had 14,100 employees globally at the end of 2017.

In the letter, Elliott said eBay needs to increase “operational efficiency,” and also recom-mends eBay accelerate its share repurchase plan to $5 billion this year.

Molly Schuetz reports for Bloomberg News.

ShutterStock

Necessity being the mother of invention, some of the world’s most conservative companies are starting to experiment with cleaner fuels and cutting-edge technologies.

How the Cargo Ship Industry Is Cleaning Up Its Filthy Act

Elliott Says Urgent Changes Needed at EBay; Stock Surges

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Miami Bank President Aids in $33MBuy of Waterfront ‘Gem’ in Palmetto Bay

by Lidia Dinkova

A Tamarac-based investment company  has A 71-acre vacant waterfront property in Palmetto Bay could be headed for residential development.

Developer  Oscar Barbara, founder of Coral Gables-based Luxcom, bought the property at 6525 SW 152nd St. from Florida Power & Light Co. for $33 million by financing the purchase with a $19.8 million Centennial Bank loan. Both deals closed Dec. 21.

The property already has a basin where a marina could be built and bridge-free access to Biscayne Bay.

“Land in Miami is just becoming scarce. Developers, when they are going around looking for land, there’s just not a whole lot of land,” said J.C. de Ona, the Centennial Bank president in Miami who closed the loan. “It was a gem of a prop-erty. There’s really nothing like it down here.”

The two-year loan has a 6 percent interest rate and renewal options.

Exactly what will be built remains unknown.Barbara is developing single-family homes at

Mosaic at Venetian Parc at 15100 SW 176th St. in south Miami-Dade County and the Greyson town-house community at 9919 Pioneer Road in West Palm Beach, according to Luxcom’s website.

The Palmetto Bay property would lend itself well to residential, most likely single-family homes, de Ona said.

Its primary land use is vacant residential, ac-cording to the county property appraiser’s office.

The property is near schools, surrounded by residential development and could accommodate homes of different sizes, de Ona said.

“It’s a big enough property if you want to have different price points for different individuals and different-sized lots to meet the needs, I think you can,” he said.

The difficulty was closing quickly during the holi-days.

De Ona said closing the loan quickly was vital for Barbara to beat competitors on the purchase.

“There were other people who wanted to buy this property,” de Ona said.

Still, moving fast during the holidays isn’t easy.“Any time you are in the holiday season there’s

always days that are dead days, whether it’s while you are getting an appraisal or if you have people who are on vacation. It just makes it a little bit more difficult at that time of the year to close something quickly,” de Ona said. “It’s one of those efforts that everyone needs to do what they can to make that happen for Mr. Barbara.”

Home BancShares, the parent company of Arkansas-based Centennial Bank, in 2017 bought Pompano Beach-based Stonegate Bank. The take-over increased the bank’s ability to issue loans.

“If we were still Stonegate Bank, we wouldn’t have been able to do this. We were limited on expo-sure. Oscar was an existing client, and we already had existing projects with him,” de Ona said. “Now our capacity is much larger.”

De Ona said he has closed about six Barbara project deals.

Adding a layer of comfort for Centennial Bank is the property’s location north of the Deering Estate.

“You know how they say, ‘Real estate is location, location, location.’ Anytime you have such a unique property like this and it’s waterfront, it adds a level of comfort,” de Ona said. “It’s just really a marquee property.”

by Lidia Dinkova

More than 70 percent of the of-fices in Coral Gables’ new Ofizzina have been sold for a combined $50 million, showing the office-condo market can be strong in the right setting.

“I would say the bulk of the office space in the marketplace is straight rental. (But) the con-dominium form of ownership is catching on again,” said Manuel Crespo, who closed the deals. “Prior to the real estate crisis, a lot of office condominiums and such were sort of in the planning phases, and they fell by the way-side. But that segment of office condominium space is seemingly catching on again.”

An affiliate of Ofizzina’s Miami-based developer TSG Group sold 41 of the 54 office spaces in about 19 transactions that closed in the past three months. Some buyers bought an entire floor, while other sales consisted of several units or single units.

Crespo, a  Greenspoon Marder partner, and law firm associ-ate  Frank Whitaker, both based in Miami, closed the transactions on behalf of TSG Group. They are working to sell the remaining 13 spaces.

The 16-story,  97,668-square-foot Ofizzina at 1200 Ponce Leon Blvd. was  finished in 2018 and includes three ground-floor retail spaces, two rooftop terraces and 331 parking spaces.

It’s a high-end addition, com-plete with a gym and concierge, to the growing Coral Gables market,

which has been adding offices and entertainment to the existing resi-dential sector.

“There’s just a demand for high-end office space in a boom-ing downtown Coral Gables. It’s an upper level enclave, and I guess people need office space that cor-responds to the type of city it is,” Crespo said.

He sees the city developing into a live-work-play area putting resi-dents near their jobs and enter-tainment on Miracle Mile.

“Anecdotally, I can tell you a ... bunch of my lawyer friends live in the area, and everybody enjoys the five-minute commute or less,” Crespo said.

The  city’s office market has been growing and appears to be doing well, especially compared with other office submarkets like downtown Miami and Brickell. It had an 11 percent vacancy rate in the fourth quarter, less than down-town’s 21 percent rate and almost as low as Brickell’s 10 percent rate, according to an Avison Young re-port.

TSG Group capitalized both on the growth of Coral Gables and the office-condo concept, where  the building owner sells individual units instead of renting them or selling the building.

TSG “just introduced condo-minium offices in the marketplace, which they think — and I think quite correctly — that there was a need for in the Gables market,” Crespo said.

Office condos are an investment for the buyers who gain from ap-preciation, he added.

“It’s the same principal as own-ing your own home,” he said.

Crespo declined to provide the names of the buyers and said he doesn’t know whether buyers plan to set up offices in Ofizzina or lease the spaces.

Miami-Dade County property records showed some of the buy-ers are  Patrimonio Inmobiliario Familiar LLC, which in state Division of Corporation records is linked to accounting firm Jordan Ricardo & Co., and  Kodiak Real Estate LLC.

The office spaces are unfinished, meaning buyers or their tenants can retrofit to best fit their needs.

“You are just getting the bricks on the wall,” Crespo said.

Crespo has a long history of working with TSG Group, taking the client with him to Greenspoon Marder from Sanchez-Medina, Gonzalez, Quesada, Lage, Gomez & Machado, where Crespo was partner.

At SMGQ, Crespo said he and fellow partner Roland Sanchez-Medina Jr. represented TSG in buying the Ofizzina site in 2014 for $6.65 million.

When he moved to Greenspoon Marder, Crespo closed a $10 mil-lion construction loan for Ofizzina, although only $8 million was used.

“I’ve represented them for a number of years, so I am famil-iar with their entire management team,” Crespo said.

Lidia Dinkova covers South Florida real estate for the Daily Business Review. Contact her at LDinkova@alm.com or 305-347-6665. On Twitter @LidiaDinkova.

Most Coral Gables Ofizzina OfficeCondominiums Sell for $50 Million

Manuel Crespo, a Greenspoon Marder partner, and law firm associate Frank Whitaker, both based in Miami, closed the transactions on behalf of TSG Group.

de Ona