Judge rules in favor of Chinese translator’s brokerage earning commission on luxury Miami condos

An appellate court ruled that nearly $1 million in commissions should go to the brokerage of a translator who solicited condo sales from Chinese investors at One Paraiso.

The Third District Court of Appeal upheld a lower court ruling in favor of Beini Xu. Xu, who’s employed by Miami-based American Da Tang Realty, was also hired as an independent contractor by Miami Real Estate to network prospective Chinese buyers and help with sales, according The Daily Business Review.

Miami Real Estate Invest, led by David Landau, sued Xu and American Da Tang in August 2015, after Landau alleged the defendants conspired to cut him out of a deal to sell 16 units at One Paraiso in Edgewater. The units totaled $20 million in sales and Landau claimed he was owed $1 million worth of commissions stemming from the deal.

One Paraiso is a 53-story, 276-unit condo tower that is part of a four-tower development by the Related Group on Biscayne Bay in Edgewater.

Xu said she worked as Mandarin translator and an assistant to American Da Tang CEO Shan-Jie Li, rather than a real estate agent, according to the Miami-Dade Circuit Court final judgment. She said her work on the condo deal was part of her employment with Li, not Miami Real Estate Invest.

The judge agreed, and said Miami Real Estate didn’t prove it ultimately cased those sales at One Paraiso, according to the Daily Business Review. [DBR]  — Keith Larsen