Albert E. Dotson, Jr. Receives DBR's Most Effective Lawyer Award; Scott N. Wagner Named as Finalist

Miami, FL Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod LLP announced that Albert E. Dotson, Jr., Practice Group Leader and Partner in the Land Use & Government Relations Group, was selected as the Daily Business Review's Most Effective Lawyer in the Real Estate category. Additionally, Litigation Associate Scott N. Wagner was recognized as a finalist in the Class Action category.

Mr. Dotson won the award for his successful representation of GP, LP, a limited partnership, in defending a Leasehold Condemnation action filed by the federal government. The action was filed over the negotiation of a $21 million, three-year lease extension of property located in Doral, Florida, which includes a 150,000 square foot office building occupied as the headquarters of the U.S. Southern Command. The federal government claimed that it should only pay a portion of agreed-upon lease amount, as the agreement had not been finalized and the government officials who negotiated the agreement were not appropriately authority to carry out negotiations. Mr. Dotson and his team were able to successfully prove that there was in fact an enforceable lease agreement, that the condemnation action violated the terms of the newly-negotiated agreement and that the action was an attempt to annul an enforceable agreement.

Mr. Wagner was recognized as a finalist for his representation of Simplicity, Inc., a Pennsylvania-based crib manufacturer, in a class action lawsuit that was brought after Simplicity was named as a defendant in numerous wrongful death cases involving cribs with a "drop-side" feature. These cribs were the subject of a highly-publicized recall by the Consumer Products Safety Commission. Mr. Wagner was able reduce the case from a national class to a class of those who purchased Simplicity cribs in Minnesota, and successfully argued that the Plaintiff's case was brought based on the potential for malfunction. He also showed that the Plaintiffs were individuals who owned and used Simplicity cribs without incident or injury, in some cases for 10 years. In a reported opinion, the case was dismissed with prejudice with the conclusion that the Plaintiffs suffered no perceivable legal injury.

About Bilzin Sumberg

Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod LLP is a full-service commercial law firm, with extensive experience in the areas of capital markets, corporate and securities, environmental, distressed property, government relations, land use and zoning, litigation, real estate, restructuring and bankruptcy, technology and telecommunications, tax and wealth transfer. For more information, please visit our website at www.bilzin.com.