Plaza Resort Lawsuit Settled
Before coning to OI in 2018 as a CAM, I was 100% in real estate. I always specialized in condos and condo-hotels, and was an active blogger on Active Rain, at one time of the 10 most prolific bloggers in the nation and #4 in Florida, but it was when I could work till 3:30 AM every day.
I can no longer do it, I fall asleep at my computer, even though I am still a late bird (it is1:00 AM now 🙂 and I took a short break from work for this news.
Among the properties that I was watching relatively closely was the Plaza Resort & Spa, where I have read their extensive condo docs and not just once, visit their annual meetings and budget meetings, being invited by my former clients who I helped to purchase units there. One of the owners, who also has a unit in OI in years became friendly with me. We met when he was in town, we stayed in touch via emails, and phone calls.
I remember him complaining on Plaza rental management and was thinking of a legal way to pursue the case, and I did not believe in it. Long story short, his daughter is a lawyer, he spoke to her, she spoke to another attorney-friend, the guy spent some time on figuring things out, and them involved the biggest law firm in Jacksonville – Rogers Towers, P.A and in January 2016 they filed a lawsuit.
3 years of legal fight finally got them to the point when the lawsuit was certified and Class Action lawsuit, and, finally, they settled at the very end of October 2020. The owner of commercial space agreed to put $2,500,000 into the fund, management company put $150,000. Every owner would receive some of this money, or what’s left from the fund after paying 2 law firms (they can apply for 45% of the total fund), up to $60,000 of costs, and the 3 initial Plaintiffs will each get $25,000. The rest would be divided between the owners.
In 4.5 years of this lawsuits, there were volumes and volumes of documents, depositions, hearings, motions… I read some of it. If you are curious about the case, you can follow it on the court’s website, everything is there. Or you can use this link to the website specifically created to be a source of information for the owners. http://www.plazaresortandspaclassaction.com/
P.S. Just a few months ago the owner of commercial space has sold their holdings to a California company.
