Morgan & Morgan's Business Trial Group Wins $14.5 Million Jury Verdict

After roughly four years of litigation and a three-week trial, a jury handed down verdicts totaling $14.5 million to Good Gateway LLC and SEG Gateway LLC, who were represented by Morgan & Morgan Business Trial Group attorneys Clay M. Townsend, Keith R. Mitnik, and John W. Dill, in a case stemming from numerous contract and tort claims made against the defendants over a mixed-use development project.

“These fair-minded jurors heard the truth from our clients and delivered a just result,” Townsend said. “This is an illustration of the power of our judicial system.”

The plaintiffs in the suit, developers of the 120-acre, $500 million Orlando Gateway mixed-use development project on the northwest corner of Beachline Expressway near State Road 528 and Semoran Boulevard, claimed Orlando Gateway Partners LLC and their related defendants “fraudulently deprived them of their membership interest in the project.” The project, which broke ground in 2009, will have “140,000 square feet of retail space, 1,200 luxury apartments, six to eight restaurants, 200,000 square feet of office space, and 525 hotel units.”

According to court documents, the plaintiffs alleged breach of the operating agreement, conversion, breach of fiduciary duty, tortious interference, conspiracy to commit civil theft, and constructive fraud against Orlando Gateway Partners LLC, Nilhan Hospitality LLC, Niloy & Rohan LLC, Chittranjam K. Thakkar, and NCT Systems Inc.

The verdicts were handed down on July 16 by an Orange County jury following a three-week trial in the Complex Business Litigation Court. Additionally, after five evidentiary hearings, the court ruled the defendants had committed fraud on the court and sanctioned them with an “adverse jury instruction” for their attempts to conceal material evidence and believability. On September 26, the court denied all of the defendants’ post-trial motions, which included motions for a directed verdict, new trial, and remittitur.

Update: On October 3, the court entered three final judgements against the defendants for more than $15 million, $12 million, and $2.5 million.

The Morgan & Morgan Business Trial Group is a team of trial attorneys focused solely on contingency-fee business litigation cases. The Business Trial Group has successfully recovered millions of dollars through verdicts and settlements in a wide-variety of commercial litigation and securities cases. Specifically, Clay Townsend and co-counsel Keith Mitnik have litigated multiple complex cases involving parties that include Brittany Spears, the Backstreet Boys, actor Michael Douglas, director Steven Spielberg, and the Harlem Globetrotters, among others. To discuss your legal rights or learn more about the Business Trail Group, contact us at (407) 245-3505 or BTG@ForThePeople.com.