Arbitrator: Keyes had right to fire broker after merger

Which side in a two-year-old breach of contract dispute between longtime broker Norma Mirsky and The Keyes Co. emerged victorious from arbitration? It depends on whom you ask.

Kevin Leonard, the owner of a subsidiary of Miami-based Keyes that fired Mirsky in 2012, told the Palm Beach Daily News an arbitrator ruled the firm had the right to terminate the broker and didn’t owe her money from the 2011 sale of her Palm Beach-based agency. Leonard’s firm previously operated as Mirsky Valore Real Estate before Mirsky’s firing.

But Margaret Cooper, Mirsky’s attorney, described the arbitration outcome as “basically a tie.” She cited the arbitrator’s determination that Mirsky did not violate a non-compete agreement by opening a Worth Avenue office for her Mirsky Realty Group.

Keyes purchased Mirsky’s old firm, which included about 25 brokers, in February 2011. At the time, Keyes representatives told the newspaper the merger would help the firm gain a stronger foothold in Palm Beach. [Palm Beach Daily News] — Eric Kalis