Opinion ID: 1912557
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: counts iv, v, and vi

Text: These counts asserted that from 1995 through 1998, the Ganz firm represented several individuals in a series of discrimination complaints based on race and disability against the Broward County Clerk of Court. Once again, Neiman was the main contact in the firm for these claimants. He met with them on a number of occasions, often at his own home. As a consequence, several claimants believed Neiman was an attorney. He ran the meetings, explained the fee agreements, discussed the courses the case could take, signed the claimants up with the firm, and assured them that they had a good case. When explaining actions taken in the case, Neiman spoke in the first person by saying, I did this or I did that. One claimant clearly believed that Neiman was making decisions on the case without consulting any other attorney. Neiman also wrote and signed Ganz's name on correspondence on the case that Ganz never reviewed. Opposing counsel were also led to believe that Neiman was an attorney. Neiman spoke with them dozens of times and acted as if he was providing legal representation for the plaintiffs. He discussed both substantive legal and settlement matters, and argued the claimants' positions, applicable law, potential liabilities, and possible damages. Neiman suggested specific language for various agreements and talked about the deposition questions he planned to draft. When some opposing counsel realized that Neiman was not an attorney, they insisted that a Ganz law firm attorney take part in the telephone conferences. Instead, the Ganz attorneys continually referred opposing counsel back to Neiman. Further, in July 1995, Neiman appeared at a settlement conference and advocated the settlement amounts sought by the claimants, and no Ganz attorney even attended this conference. By November 1995, opposing counsel had warned the Ganz firm that Neiman was improperly discussing substantive legal issues, and the firm then brought in an attorney to assist with the case. However, in March 1997, Neiman contacted opposing counsel to inform them that the Ganz firm had fired the attorney, and he took credit for the firing. Notwithstanding previous warnings from opposing counsel, Neiman continued to discuss substantive legal issues with them. During one telephone conference, Neiman had a Ganz attorney join the call so Neiman could engage in extensive settlement discussions with opposing counsel. Although the Ganz attorney spoke occasionally, it was usually to ask Neiman whether a particular provision was satisfactory, rather than vice versa. Drafts of a settlement agreement were sent back and forth, and Neiman faxed opposing counsel revisions to the agreement, which Neiman admitted he had never shown to Ganz. Opposing counsel repeatedly objected to dealing with Neiman, but felt they were forced to deal with him in order to protect their client's interests. As the case progressed, some claimants developed conflicts of interest, but Neiman made no attempt to resolve the conflicts. Instead, he exacerbated the conflicts by recruiting third parties, including a political acquaintance, to pressure claimants into accepting the terms he dictated. For example, the political acquaintance called a claimant and threatened that Neiman would place a lien on her property if she refused to settle. Neiman also discussed claimants' cases and their legal positions with other clients, as well as with outsiders, in an effort to intimidate the claimants into settlement so he could increase his personal share of any recovery. In March 1998, a settlement conference took place, and Neiman and an out-of-state attorney attended the conference claiming to represent all of the plaintiffs. Neiman argued legal points for several hours during this eight-hour settlement conference. During these talks it was Neiman who proposed the settlement amounts on behalf of the claimants. He never paused to contact a Ganz attorney for advice or approval on any issues. Eventually, the Clerk of Court agreed to a settlement in excess of one million dollars. Neiman insisted to opposing counsel that he did not want the agreement to specify how much each claimant would receive and that he wanted a lump sum for the claimants to divide among themselves. Neiman then deceived the Ganz firm's clients about the amount of the settlement and the amount of the distribution to them. He manipulated the distribution of the settlement funds so that he and his affiliated attorneys received over fifty percent of the funds, while some claimants received as little as $10,000 or $20,000. Although some claimants requested a complete breakdown of all sums received, they were never given a final breakdown of the total settlement amount. Each claimant was advised only of his or her allotted portion of the settlement proceeds.