An appeals court ruled in favor of Don Peebles on Wednesday as part of a decade-long legal battle with Realtor Dora Puig.
The Third District Court of Appeal nullified a $724,000 judgment Puig won from Peebles for unpaid commissions at the Residences at the Bath Club on nearly $43 million of resale units as director of sales and marketing of the condo development on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, according to published reports.
“We reverse the judgment because Peebles’s conduct giving rise to Puig’s fraud claim was not independent, separate and distinct from the conduct forming the basis of Puig’s breach of contract claim,” the appellate panel ruling stated, according to the Daily Business Review.
Whether Puig was entitled to the commissions on the resales was based on the contract between the prominent Miami Realtor and Peebles’ PADC Marketing LLC, which Peebles himself was not on the hook for, the ruling reads, reversing a verdict that found him personally liable for making fraudulent misrepresentations and omissions to Puig.
The Peebles-owned Collins Avenue Associates is still liable for the $724,000 judgment, the Miami Herald reported. And Puig is fighting back. She just filed a lawsuit against the Collins Avenue company alleging that the developer is using other corporations to transfer assets out of the company. [Miami Herald] [DBR] – Katherine Kallergis