Article

Insurer wins reversal of seven-figure judgment in surety bond case

Lexon Insurance Company appealed a trial court decision and got it overturned

An insurance company won a reversal of a court decision that the company breached about $7.7 million of surety bond contracts in connection with a residential development in Cape Coral.

In 2005, Lexon Insurance Company issued two surety bonds of about $7.7 million to ensure the completion city-ordered site improvements at the Village at Entrada residential development in Cape Coral in case the developer failed to do so.

The project’s original developer stopped paying a general contractor in 2007, putting Village at Entrada in limbo until 2012, when a company called Coco of Cape Coral LLC bought the project for $6.2 million.

About seven months after Coco bought the project, the city filed a lawsuit against Lexon for breach of contract and subsequently assigned its claims to Coco. The court sided with Coco entered a judgment against Lexon in March 2016.

On appeal, however, attorneys with law firm Greenspoon Marder successfully argued that the claim by Coco came after the expiration of a five-year statute of limitations that began in 2007 when the original developer abandoned the Village at Entrada project.

The Second District Court of Appeal of Florida on Nov. 29 agreed with that argument and reversed the trial court’s judgment against Lexon.

The Greenspoon Marder team that represented Lexon included shareholders John H. Pelzer and Victor Kline with the assistance of Bruce L. Maas of Harris Beach, PLLC, in Pitsford, New York. – Mike Seemuth

https://therealdeal.com/miami/2017/12/10/insurer-wins-reversal-of-seven-figure-judgment-in-surety-bond-case/