Lydecker Scores Victories for Clients in Two Noteworthy Cases
Lydecker has won two legal victories in just one week for clients Extended Stay Hotels and The Street.com.
Attorneys Stephen Hunter Johnson and Joan Carlos Wizel successfully represented Extended Stay Hotels, winning dismissal with prejudice of landlord tenant claims brought by three registered sex offenders formerly living under Miami’s Julia Tuttle Causeway. The threeindividuals had been staying at a hotel property along with dozens of other sex offenders for more than a month, after leaving the makeshift camp they had set up under the Causeway. The case, filed in Miami-Dade County Court in April, and styled Wilson Crosby, Hector Alvarez and Edward Jones v. HVM LLC, d/b/a Extended Stay Hotels Case No: 10-1929 CC 21, sought to have the Plaintiffs deemed tenants pursuant to Florida’s Landlord Tenant Act (Chapter 83 Florida Statutes), and sought damages for wrongful eviction when the Hotel terminated the Plaintiffs’ stay in mid-April of this year. Miami-Dade County Judge Ana Marie Pando ruled that the Plaintiffs were guests of the Hotel, and that Florida Statutes Chapter 83 did not apply. The Plaintiffs were represented by Legal Services of Greater Miami, Inc.
Also, the Florida Supreme Court has declined to hear arguments in The Street.com, inc. v Gary Carroll, (Supreme Court Case NO. SC10-43/4th DCA Case No. 4D09-2649), resulting in an appellate victory for journalists. Lydecker Partner Onier Llopiz, Mr. Hunter Johnson and Mr. Wizel prepared the briefs for The Street.com and Reporter Melissa Davis. Both the website and Ms. Davis were being asked to reveal their sources as part of an ongoing lawsuit. The Supreme Court’s action upholds an important decision by Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal regarding the Journalist’s Privilege to keep sources confidential.
“We are pleased that the courts have recognized the merits of our arguments in both of these cases,” said Managing Partner Mark Hendricks. “Their decisions will help carry on significant protections of the freedom of press and the right of a hotel property to remove guests when warranted.”