Ten years ago, Cole Scott & Kissane and its partner, Jonathan Vine, was hired to represent a Chicago lawyer and his law firm in a legal malpractice action brought in West Palm Beach. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit were a husband and wife who owned an investment firm and a broker/dealer who had been sued by the SEC in an enforcement action alleging that the husband and wife had defrauded their clients out of millions of dollars (a Ponzi-scheme, of sorts). The allegation was that their lawyer in the action brought by the SEC committed malpractice in the defense he provided, causing millions of dollars in unnecessary legal fees and damages. CSK aggressively litigated this matter on behalf of their clients for the past ten years, culminating in trial. Right before the trial, the prominent law firm handling the case for the plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed the case on behalf of the wife in exchange for an agreement of the defense to not go after her for attorneys’ fees and costs. The husband decided to proceed to trial without counsel, with the Chicago lawyer and law firm represented at trial by our own Jonathan Vine and Barry Postman – partners in the Cole, Scott & Kissane West Palm Beach office. One of the two witnesses for plaintiff attesting to the legitimacy and satisfaction of provision of investment brokerage services was a former 4th DCA appellate judge. Plaintiff also elicited testimony from the investment firm’s compliance officer. Upon Mr. Vine’s vigorous cross examination of the witnesses, the plaintiff agreed to voluntarily dismiss his case also in exchange for an agreement not to seek fees and costs. Mr. Vine and Mr. Postman were assisted by CSK’s Josh Goldstein, Eric Sprechman and Michelle Frezer-D’Alena to achieve the great result that was obtained in this case.
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