Miami Beach agent wins $1M judgment in lawsuit over owed commissions and stolen funds

A Miami Beach real estate agent won a $1 million judgment in a three-year court battle over owed commissions and stolen funds.

Ryall Tarpley had sued his ex-broker, Daniel S. Moon and Moon’s companies, over commercial deals he worked on between 2011 and 2017 in Miami Beach, Wynwood and the Miami Design District.

The deals involved properties owned by David Edelstein, Thor Equities and RedSky Capital and JZ Capital Partners.

Tarpley alleged his former boss committed breach of oral agreement, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, civil theft, breach of fiduciary duty and other counts in his original complaint, filed in March 2018 in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court.

Judge Antonio Arzola issued the two judgments in November and January for $914,926 and $212,844, respectively, which include legal fees.

In his lawsuit against Moon, Moon LLC and Moon Worldwide, Tarpley alleged he was owed $402,448. That included $175,000 that Moon allegedly wrongfully withdrew from a commission account in both Moon and Tarpley’s names. The complaint alleges that Moon had Tarpley created the account in order to disperse Tarpley’s shares of the commissions, based on a verbal agreement between the two.

It appears that Tarpley has yet to collect on the judgments. According to a hearing notice for next month, Tarpley’s attorneys filed a motion for contempt and sanctions against Moon for violating the court order. Tarpley is now an agent with Pulse International Realty, state records show. He left Moon Commercial Real Estate in September 2017, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Tarpley said Moon has made it difficult to proceed with the lawsuit, and said it was not unexpected that Moon hasn’t paid the money owed.

“It’s just unfortunate circumstances,” Tarpley said. “I have given Moon every possible chance to try to work this out before going to court. I’m not a litigious person.”

Moon could not immediately be reached for comment. (Moon, of Chicago, is not related to the Daniel Moon who leads a Dallas real estate company and is married to Dr. Tiffany Moon of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Dallas”.)

Commission disputes are not uncommon in both commercial and residential real estate.

In Tarpley’s case, the commissions were for Edelstein’s properties at 918-920 Lincoln Road in Miami Beach, and Atlas Plaza at 130 Northeast 40th Street in Miami, as well as 114, 120 and 126 Northeast 40th Street in Miami. The RedSky/JZ property is at 2301 Northwest Second Avenue in Wynwood, and Thor Equities owns 663 Lincoln Road.

Tarpley alleged his agreement with Moon gave him a 50-50 split for deals that did not involve Moon or his contacts, and if Moon was involved, Tarpley would receive 25 percent of the commission.

Last year, Bank OZK sued Edelstein to foreclose on the Lincoln Road property, but that lawsuit was dismissed.