To be presented with the “Shining Star” Award by the Arts & Business Council of Miami, Inc., is a highly recognizable accomplishment in itself, but to top that with being acknowledged by Florida Trend magazine as one of the top attorneys in Florida in both 2009 and 2010 as well as the top young professional in South Florida by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, is taking overachievement to a new playing field.

Aaron Resnick, a 37-year-old counselor and attorney, began his venture into professional law in 1991 working for a distinguished Florida firm, Gunster Yoakley & Stewart, P.A. After attending academic institutions such as University of Florida, Emory University and Universite de Montpellier in Montpellier, France, the young graduate seemed well-suited to the large firm, but he knew there were greater things out there for a man with his determination. Spending almost seven years in the large firm, Resnick decided it was time for his sprouting career to finally bud. Two college companions from Emory, Jonathan Davidoff and Derek Schwartz, partnered with the goal-driven lawyer in August of 2005, fabricating what they labeled the SRD Law Firm.

As a law student, Resnick had found his core aspirations in sports. Now that he was working for himself, he thought there would be no better time to pursue what his heart was set on. “Two years ago the Florida Gators were in the NCAA championship game here in Miami,” Resnick recalls. “We threw a party for the UF alumni, the former Gator football players and some professional football players and invited them to the dinner party. So I’m sitting there in a room with 100 professional athletes that I either know or am being introduced to and I’m thinking, ‘Why am I not their attorney?’ That was the launching pad of really going straight forward on this.”

Providing more than most other legal representatives, offering accommodations such as concierge services, charity efforts, risk management and crisis management, the young lawyer shined and found success in no time. “I own an entertainment company, I played sports growing up, I’ve got clients and friends who are involved in the sports and entertainment industry, so I’ve been able to leverage those things to really provide those added benefits,” says Resnick.

His perseverance drove him in different directions, which led the attorney to develop other businesses, including his entertainment company and nonprofit work, which he integrates into his successful firm. Being part of so many organizations, Resnick has found ways to merge his personal and professional lives and continually promote his numerous services while still attending each of his events, dinners and galas. Representing anyone from athletes and entertainers to a single business owner or potential real estate monger, Resnick prides himself on being able to perform his tasks to the best of his ability and then some. With a “shoot for the moon” attitude and a natural go-getter ambition, he hopes to one day take his philosophy to a new level of legal representation, providing a blend of three key components: counsel, comfort

and the imperative quality of trust.

One buyer who agreed to pay $5.75 million for an Upper East Side penthouse last year is now trying to break the contract because, among other reasons, the rooftop fitness center with a full-time attendant that he was promised was scrapped for a basement gym, according to the buyer’s lawyer currently negotiating a settlement.

Others suffering from condo-buyers’ remorse have launched similar escrow disputes this year because developers failed to deliver amenities like Bosch kitchen appliances or a common room with a high-definition television.

Real estate lawyers have been inundated with clients looking to break or renegotiate the condo contracts signed before the recession reached Manhattan, according to seven local attorneys. Some buyers are trying to get out of deals altogether without forfeiting the deposits they made on apartments they can no longer afford. Others are looking for partial refunds, price-reductions or concessions from developers based on material differences between a finished unit and the one described in initial offering plans.

“In a good market, it was not always in the buyers’ interest to exercise their rights under a contract,” said attorney David C. Wrobel. “If the apartment was a little smaller, it was a defect that was overlooked. Now people are being more aggressive with pursuing their rights. When you are talking about $2 million down, that’s real money, it damn well should be what was promised.”

Most of these disputes have been settled before they are filed with the state attorney general’s office, which under state law determines which party to award the deposit to if a sale falls through; still, the attorney general’s office has had a surge in the number of escrow disputes filed this year. Of the 133 logged in New York State in 2008 as of Dec. 5, 31 of them were logged in November alone, more than in any other month (the majority of the 133 were in New York City). The statewide number for 2008 was also been significantly higher than in 2007, according to attorneys familiar with the filings.

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Judy Schaum’s Boca Sports Bus will begin service on Dec. 1 with six buses on routes after school hours and on weekends in western Boca Raton. The routes will be designed to fit kids’ schedules so they can be transported between home, parks and religious institutions.

The company charges $150 for a monthly all-access pass. It also will offer a charter service.

Schaum, 47, who was a manager in a retail store, has been working on her business for a year. Her children, ages 10 and 12, play youth league baseball and soccer.

“Retail is very difficult because if a customer walks in at 4 and your kid has to be somewhere at 4:15, you can’t leave the customer,” she said. “This service was created to try to help busy families have a little more leeway to do what they want.”

Like most parents, Schaum spends plenty of time worrying about her kids. So, she instituted magnetic swipe photo ID cards for the kids, Internet tracking of the bus for parents and video cameras on the buses.

Using her family’s money, Schaum bought five 25-passenger buses and one 33-passenger bus. She hired two route supervisors who used to work for the Palm Beach County School District and 20 part-time drivers, who passed background checks.

“It was expensive, but I did it,” Schaum said. “I’m passionate about the concept and the fact we will be able to make the lives of most families in South Florida easier.”

- Brian Bandell
A new kind of sales pitch

In a twist on the housing bubble of recent years, four South Florida attorneys are offering a different kind of sales pitch, complete with a catchy name, convenient locations and a dedicated Web site.

Attorneys Aaron Resnick, Jonathan Davidoff, Piercy Stakelum, and Derek Schwartz launched www.recovermydeposit.com to assist purchasers through the grueling process of canceling or renegotiating preconstruction contracts and recovering real estate deposits.

The site refers to the unpredictable and volatile real estate market, and begs customers not to walk away from their deposits. So far, few lawsuits in general have succeeded in overturning contracts with developers based on complaints about rising costs or falling values, but buyers continue filing such suits in state and federal courts.

“We are the first of a few firms dedicating an entire practice group to this growing issue in Florida,” Resnick said in a press release.

The firm says it can help when closing on a property does not occur within two years of sale, if there are material changes to the property purchased, when a purchaser provides false or misleading promotional materials, or if a purchaser was not provided with every document required by Florida law.

- Paul Brinkmann
Home heartburn for bankers

A report by Stanford Group Co. casts new light on how some Florida banks, including Boca Raton-based Sun American Bank, are feeling the impacts of the home building crisis.

The Nov. 26 report indicates that nationwide non-current loans to home builders have grown at a severe rate this year. Non-current loans, the official designation for problem loans, are 90 days or more delinquent or are no longer accruing interest.

Jaret Seiberg, an analyst in Stanford’s Washington, D.C., office, focused on 544 banks whose parents are publicly held and where at least 5 percent of loans were for one- to four-family residential construction. Sun American was among 33 with more than 10 percent of those loans non-current as of Sept. 30. The bank’s 11.72 percent ratio put it at No. 28.

“That was one loan, for $3.1 million, and we sold it without a loss early in the fourth quarter,” said Michael Golden, Sun American president and CEO. The borrower was behind in payments on a completed townhome project in Palm Beach County, Golden said. He declined to identify the borrower or loan buyer.

Stanford’s report “shows that a lot of banks are having problems,” said Golden, CEO of parent Sun American Bancorp (NASDAQ: SAMB). “We would be sticking our heads in the sand if we said we did not have some problems. But they just took raw data and covered a small part of our lending.”

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Francis Decker Jr. must pay up – and serve 45 days in jail – for failing to report $4.5 million in gross income over the past eight years, Manhattan prosecutors said yesterday.

In fact, he might not have filed any tax returns – or paid any taxes – for at least 25 years, which is as far back as investigators looked.

“If you don’t file any tax returns at all, you can fly under the radar,” Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said in announcing the plea. Decker was eventually caught by state tax computers that have automated programs.

The lack of a tax burden made for a good life. Decker and his wife owned a $2 million house on Amity Street in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. They also owned a $2 million Hamptons getaway in Quogue. Both homes were mortgage free, prosecutors said.

Decker is a former partner at the Latham and Watkins law firm in Midtown, where he specialized in defending tobacco companies against lawsuits.

“Mr. Decker has accepted responsibility for his actions, and is very sorry,” said his lawyer, Jonathan Davidoff.

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Francis K. Decker Jr., who specialized in defending tobacco companies, pleaded guilty Friday, admitting he failed to file personal state and city tax returns since 1998 on $4.5 million in gross income, prosecutors said.
Because Decker, 70, was a partner at a Manhattan law firm, no taxes were withheld from his pay, and he made no quarterly estimated income tax payments as required by law, prosecutors said. However, they said, he signed statements telling the firm he had filed returns and paid his taxes.

Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said Decker, who has homes in Brooklyn and Quogue worth $2 million each, was caught when state officials did a routine review of license databases and found he was a licensed lawyer in New York but was not paying taxes.

A condition of Decker’s plea deal is that he must settle with federal tax officials, if necessary, said Assistant District Attorney Daniel Castleman.

Morgenthau said Decker had not filed tax returns since 1982. He said it was ironic that a person who paid no income taxes for decades could avoid detection more easily than someone who occasionally paid but sometimes cheated.

The statute of limitations did not cover income tax offenses before 1999, but Decker agreed to pay going back to 1982.

Besides spending 45 days in jail, Decker will pay a $10,000 fine on each of two counts of failure to file, prosecutors said. He also must pay $779,757 in state and city personal income taxes, interest and penalties for 1999 through 2005 and $720,000 to settle any tax liability for 1982 though 1998. He will be sentenced Feb. 1.

Decker’s lawyer, Jonathan Davidoff, said his client “has accepted responsibility for his actions and is very sorry for his past behavior.”

“By accepting responsibility,” Davidoff said, “Mr. Decker has not only agreed to pay New York state back for past taxes but also is paying society back by pleading guilty and serving the sentence recommended by the district attorney’s office.”

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Ernesto Torres, 48, a veteran porter at 105 Duane St., left for a cup of coffee during his 3 a.m. break and was killed minutes later-struck down by a car while crossing Church Street at Duane Street. There was no arrest and the accident is still under investigation, police said.

Jonathan Davidoff, a resident in the building, said he knew right away that “something was wrong” when he stepped into the lobby that morning and saw the grim faces of the building’s staff.

“They were completely devastated,” he recalls. “Ernesto had been there since day one. This is a horrible thing. A really big loss.”

Another maintenance worker, Carlos Correa, said he had spoken to his friend at length just hours before the accident during the staff’s shift change. “He finally said, ‘Carlos, see you tomorrow,’” Correa recalled. “‘We have to leave something else to talk about.’”

Known as a “tireless” worker by his supervisor, Torres was also known by residents for his easy smile and willingness to listen and lend a hand.

It was not uncommon for residents to spend hours in the lobby late at night chatting with the staff-particularly Torres, who most in the building affectionately called ‘Nesto.’

“Our lives crossed in the lobby,” said resident Russ Schulman. “But the relationships were very deep.”

Torres had worked in the building 11 years, as long as it has been open.

“I always tell people it’s the best building in New York City to live in and what makes the building is the staff,” said Davidoff. “Ernesto made it a better place to live. It’s not going to be the same without him.”

Torres leaves behind his wife, Alicia, and three children, 22, 15 and three-months old.

“I’m taking it one day at a time,” Alicia Torres said, seated in the living room of the family’s East 108th Street home. “I realized the other day that every time I was going to pick up the baby I was crying. I know she could sense that something was wrong. I had to stop doing that. I have to be strong for my children.”

She said she still has few details about the accident. “They only tell me they are still investigating,” she said.

“I’m having trouble erasing it from my mind,” said Charlie Burgos, an overnight maintenance worker at 199 Church St. who phoned police after he saw an SUV with New Jersey plates hit Torres. The driver did not stop.

“I never saw brake lights,” he said.

Cab drivers tracked the driver by the trail of water leaked from the damaged radiator. They cornered the stalled jeep on Worth Street, he said.

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While marking the apogee of a family dispute, the decision also touched upon unsettled issues of personal jurisdiction.

After plaintiff Jonathan Davidoff discovered the defacement and allegedly traced it back to the computer of his uncle and aunt, S. Robert Davidoff and Ila Davidoff-Feld, he filed suit against them in Supreme Court, asserting six causes of action, including defamation and tortious interference with a business.

The couple moved to dismiss, claiming among other things that the court lacked personal jurisdiction.

Justice Carol Robinson Edmead agreed and granted their motion.

Justice Edmead interpreted state precedent to dictate that personal jurisdiction does not require the alleged tortfeasor to be within New York at the time of the tort. Rather, the “tortious act” itself must have occurred here.

“This Court adopts the view that physical presence of the defendant in New York is not a prerequisite to CPLR 302(a)(2), but instead, requires that the tortious act committed by defendant be one deemed to have been committed in New York,” she held in Davidoff v. Davidoff, 101728/06.

However, Edmead added, “[T]his conclusion is of no avail to plaintiff under the particular facts herein.”

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The charges proceeded to trial. The ASAs who handled the trial, Michael Padula and Jonathan Davidoff, commented on the excellent presentation of all officers who testified. “Their testimony was very direct and credible – they spoke from their hearts – and they kept their cool on crossexamination” (police brutality had been alleged by the defense). The defendant was convicted of two counts of battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting with violence and disorderly conduct.

At time of sentencing, Officers Chohonis and Abud testified, as did Chief Free. The extent of the defendant’s rage, over a simple parking ticket, was not lost on the presiding Judge, Manuel Crespo. Although the defendant had no prior criminal history, he was sentenced to 5 years in prison. Crimes Against LEOs Subcommittee
The above case obviously progressed appropriately through the criminal justice system to a successful conclusion. The Crimes Against Law Enforcement Officers subcommittee of the Police- Prosecutor Coordinating Committee was created to assure the proper handling of cases involving police officers as victims. Cases where officers have been seriously injured are now reviewed and referred for special handling if the circumstances warrant it. The co-chairs and subcommittee members are listed on the last page of The Rap Sheet; you should feel free to contact any one of  them if you have questions about the handling of your case

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Everyone who works in the criminal justice system is constantly challenged. There is always so much to do and precious little time to get it all accomplished. In this never-ending balancing act we sometimes run across those
who shine; whose dedication inspires our respect and gratitude. On those days when our best efforts are met with no reward, these extraordinary efforts serve to keep us going in the good fight we engage in every day, and these efforts should be recognized and shared.
ASAs Jordan Lewin and Jonathan Davidoff recently went to trial on a years-old DUI case; the defendant had several prior DUI convictions. Imagine their dismay upon learning that the main witness in the case, Florida Highway  Patrol Trooper Daphne Yuncker, had moved to Naples since the arrest. However, Trooper Yuncker not only returned to Miami for this trial, but during the trial week, journeyed from Naples to Miami no less than three times, returning on one day just in case she might be needed for rebuttal testimony. She waited hours while the jury deliberated, so was present to hear the jury’s guilty verdict and the substantial sentence
imposed. Trooper Yuncker went above and beyond the call of duty, did a real service to our community and deserves our thanks and recognition.
If you have any items you would like to submit for “Above and Beyond”, please contact Kristi Bettendorf at the State Attorney’s Office.
E-mail address: Kdorf@sa11.state.fl.us

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