VEIW PDF VERSION

STUART — Two well-to-do Stuart men facing serious illnesses and financial pressures were befriended by an ex-convict who is accused of swindling them out of more than $1.6 million, according to a lawsuit filed in Martin County Circuit Court.

The suit accuses Jeffrey Chandler of Stuart of using powers of attorney obtained when the victims were mentally vulnerable to take their money and hide it in a secret Dominican Republic bank account. The suit alleges Chandler then sought another $1.6 million from them for his services.

“He takes all their money and then tries to bill them for more,” said William Ponsoldt, attorney for former real estate agent David Idas of Stuart. Idas was in the midst of a divorce after suffering a series of disabling strokes when he met Chandler.

Palm City plastic surgeon Gregory Lovaas, who said Chandler made off with $145,000 of his money, told a similar story. In testimony last September in the Idas case, Lovaas claimed Chandler got a power of attorney from him while he was seeking bankruptcy protection and hospitalized with a possible stroke, blurred vision and uncontrolled high blood pressure, according to court records.

Later, Lovaas testified, Chandler falsified new documents giving himself practically unlimited authority to handle the doctor’s money and charge him fees. Last April, Chandler attorney Leif Grazi demanded payment of more than $122,000 from Lovaas for Chandler’s help, according to court records.

Chandler has not been charged with a crime in either case, although he has admitted to previous convictions for forgery and passing worthless checks. In addition, federal authorities barred him from securities dealing after a stock offering a decade ago allegedly bilked investors of $5 million.

In the stock case, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accused Chandler and another man of using the money to maintain a lavish lifestyle, including almost $1 million worth of cars, jewelry and entertainment.

Chandler has referred questions about the current cases to Grazi, who did not return calls for comment on Monday.

Chandler sued Idas in 2010 for $1.5 million, accusing him of breach of contract and unjust enrichment. Idas countersued Chandler and three associates for a like amount, alleging breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, fraud, civil theft, conspiracy and other charges, some involving a nonexistent real estate investment in Wyoming.

Ponsoldt said the Idas case will not go to trial for at least a year. Proceedings were delayed last year after Chandler persuaded a judge to remove Idas’ original lawyer, Mike Mortell, from the case.

The ruling came after Chandler testified under oath he had given Mortell $10,000 in cash to do “asset protection” and invoked an attorney-client privilege.

“I never received that money,” said Mortell, a former Stuart city commissioner and mayor. “It was a complete fabrication. I don’t even know what asset protection is.”

Mortell said he did represent Chandler’s wife in cases involving her previous divorce and her daughter.

The court files suggest, however, that both Idas and Lovaas wanted Chandler to protect their assets, in divorce and bankruptcy, respectively.

“They were mentally weak, and Chandler got them to do something they shouldn’t have,” Ponsoldt said.

STUART — A Martin county woman has taken her insurance company to court, alleging it failed to comply with the terms of her auto policy by not paying sales tax on her totaled vehicle.

In a suit filed Friday in Martin County Circuit Court, Marianise Pierre, of Stuart, is seeking damages and a class-action status against Sunrise-based Seminole Casualty Insurance Company.

In her complaint, Pierre alleges she is entitled to sales tax on the value of her vehicle at the time it was totaled in an August 2008 accident, and that the payment was due at the same time as payment for the totaled vehicle.

However, in a proof of loss form Seminole requires its insureds to complete when submitting a claim, the company says sales tax will be reimbursed upon notification that a replacement vehicle has been purchased, according to exhibits to the complaint.

Then the company pays the lesser of the two sales tax amounts – the sales tax on the replacement vehicle or the sales tax on the value of the wrecked vehicle at the time it was declared a total loss by the company, the complaint states.

“I would imagine they’re just trying to save some money,” said Pierre’s attorney, William R. Ponsoldt, Jr. “(Property damage) is usually not something attorneys get involved in, but I looked at the policy language and said, ‘well wait a minute.’ ”

Though Pierre’s claim for sales tax will only amount to approximately $400, Ponsoldt said it is significant for his client and could become significant for Seminole if the suit is certified as a class action.

“That might not be a big deal for someone who has lots of money,” Ponsoldt said. “But with claims that could number into the hundreds over the last five years, that’s probably a significant claim.”

Ponsoldt said the company would first have to answer his client’s complaint to frame the issues before the matter of determining class-action status could be brought before a judge.

A Seminole spokesman said Tuesday the company had yet to see the suit and could not comment on it.

STUART – Were those original designer sandals or “cheap knock-off” leather flipflops for sale at boutiques in downtown Stuart and Vero Beach?

Figuring out who’s selling real Stephen Bonanno sandals on the Treasure Coast could be up to a judge to decide after the owner of two shoe stores this week sued her former Stuart-based Bonanno Sandal supplier, claiming they manufacture shoes that are not original Bonanno’s, but ones made “with inferior materials and dyes.”

Bonanno sandals are handcrafted leather shoes made to order, boasting bright colors and decorative designs.

In her lawsuit, Cathy Riggs, as Car-Rob’s Angel LLC, which paid licensing fees to operate two shops formerly named Stephen Bonanno Sandals and Resort Wear, accused Vivian Benvenuto, her husband Domenick Benvenuto and their business Trips To Win Inc. of breach of a licensing agreement, fraud in the inducement, conversion and defamation.

Riggs is renaming her shops Footprints, after the Benvenutos “forced” her company to stop using the Bonanno name before their contract expired, the lawsuit alleged.

Records show Vivian Benvenuto is the sister to Stephen Bonanno, who in 2008 relocated to Stuart from West Palm Beach to open a sandal-making factory after divorcing Monica Bonanno, who for decades had helped him run their sandal factory in West Palm Beach.

“The ex-wife got the original factory with the original dyes,” noted Riggs, “and Stephen moved up here and went into business with his sister.”

That’s when the ongoing sandal saga started, both sides say, because in the Bonanno divorce, Monica Bonanno was granted the Stephen Bonanno Sandal
designs, dyes and materials and the West Palm Beach factory.

That’s where the Bonanno family has handcrafted shoes, bags and belts since the early 1960s, worn by socialites such as Jackie Kennedy Onasis and Lillie Pulitzer.

Riggs said for months she believed the Benvenutos were supplying her with real Bonanno Sandals until complaints about the shoes led her to Monica Bonanno, who now supplies Riggs with all the Bonanno Sandals she currently sells.

Monica Bonanno distributes “Bonanno Sandals,” according to her website. Her exhusband produces “Stephen Bonanno Sandals” at a Stuart factory run by the
Benvenutos.

Riggs’ Stuart lawyer Bill Ponsoldt said in 2009 the couple breached their contract by producing inferior sandals after the Benvenutos signed a licensing agreement with Riggs to take over their Stephen Bonanno store in Stuart. They also directly competed against Riggs, he said, with their own line of Stephen Bonanno sandals. The couple also owes Riggs $5,500 for 95 pairs of sandals that were never delivered.

“What they are saying is that the Stephen Bonannoʼs are the originals,” Ponsoldt said. “The originals are made by Monica … in her factory in West Palm Beach.”

Not so, insisted the Benvenuto’s Stuart attorney John Madden.

Reached Thursday, Madden said he hadn’t seen the lawsuit but he’d already levied similar complaints against Riggs in a cease-and-desist letter he mailed last week.

“I said they were selling knock-offs by not selling ours that are manufactured in Stuart,” Madden said.

The key issue, he said, is “who’s sandals are you selling?”

“What are you selling them as, what name,” he said, “and whatʼs the quality of the sandal you are selling?”

He described Monica Bonanno’s sandals as “inferior.”

“They are sandals that Monica is attempting to manufacture,” he said, “without the expertise my clients have.”

The Bonanno divorce, Madden said, complicated the family’s long-standing sandalmaking tradition.

“Unfortunately, because of the Bonanno dissolution of marriage, there’s a mess; there’ a bit of a mess,” he said.

STUART – Ocean Gate General Contractors of Stuart is appealing the disqualification of its low bid for the installation of safety pads on a runway at Witham Field.

Ocean Gate asked Martin County to award it a $1,425,305 contract to install Engineered Materials Arresting System on both sides of Runway 12-30 at the county-owned airport.

“It is Ocean Gate’s hope that after the appeal process is completed, we will continue to save our county money,” the company said in a prepared statement. Ocean Gate’s appeal asserts there were no grounds to disqualify the firm from the bidding on the contract.

County commissioners are slated to vote whether to award a $1,533,782 contract to Dickerson Florida of Fort Pierce on Tuesday, said county Administrative Services Administrator Garry Gierlicz.

The appeal Ocean Gate filed Friday freezes the contract award until the appeal is decided, Gierlicz said.

Gierlicz disqualified Ocean Gate from the safety pad project on April 15 for contacting Airport Director Mike Moon on March 1 and discussing the project, which violated the county’s “cone of silence” rule.

The “cone of silence” rule bars bidders from any communications concerning a bid with a county commissioner, the county administrator or county staff or members of the selection committee, other than the purchasing administrator, until the bid is awarded, county records show.

“The county adopted this (rule) to promote an open, fair and competitive procurement process ensuring that all participants have the same information and to eliminate even the appearance of impropriety during the competitive bidding process,” Gierlicz wrote in a letter to Ocean Gate.

Ocean Gate’s appeal argues the company complied with the spirit of the rule because it was declared the lowest bidder on the contract on Feb. 17, well before Ocean Gate President Mark MacDonald contacted Moon to ask about the status of the federal funding for the project.

“At that point, Ocean Gate could not obtain any information that would allow it a competitive advantage,” said William Ponsoldt Jr., a lawyer representing Ocean Gate. “Since Ocean Gate was the low bidder, it had no incentive or desire to influence, in any way, the bid as it had already won.”

It also seemed like Moon had been acting as a county purchasing official on the project because “he was the only one who had knowledge related to the funding and purchasing necessary for the project,” Ponsoldt said.

In addition, the county’s “cone of silence” rule is “unconstitutionally overbroad,” Ponsoldt said.

STUART – When Clarence H. Smith Jr. sued Bank of America in 2007 over its refusal to honor the power of attorney his now-deceased father had enacted years before, he called it as a case of David against Goliath.

And like David, Smith on Friday walked out of court a winner, armed with a jury award worth $64,142.

“I’m glad we won, but I think it’s a victory for more than just us,” said Smith, 67, of Stuart. “It’s a victory for anyone who gets a rough deal from a big bank – that a little person can prevail against a huge international bank.”

After a week-long trial, it took a one-man, five-women jury 15 minutes to determine Bank of America had not acted reasonable in September 2007 when it denied Smith Jr.’s request to transfer $65,000 his father, Clarence H. Smith Sr, then held in a joint account with a female friend he knew from living at Ocean Palms Retirement Center.

Smith said his ordeal with the bank began when he became suspicious money may be missing from his father’s bank accounts.

He presented to former Stuart branch manager Victoria Carscadden the durable power of attorney he’d had on behalf of his father with a request to transfer money from the elder Smith’s jointly held accounts into a new account only the father and son could access.

But instead of honoring the request, Carscadden testified that she consulted bank policies and called the woman on the account with Clarence Smith Sr., and she accused the son of trying to steal his father’s money.

Carscadden said she refused Smith’s request because bank rules governing jointly held accounts require that all signatures on an account must agree to any transfers or changes.

The woman sharing Clarence Smith Sr.’s account, she said, had refused to allow any money to be moved.

At trial, Smith’s Stuart attorney William R. Ponsoldt Jr. showed that despite Carscadden visiting Clarence Smith Sr. to see he was competent and that he wanted his son to manage his affairs, she still refused to recognize Clarence Smith Jr.’s power of attorney. Shortly afterward, Ponsoldt told jurors, the woman sharing Clarence Smith Sr.’s account moved all the money into an account only she could access. Clarence Smith Sr. died about three weeks later, Ponsoldt said.

He argued that the bank’s refusal to honor Smith’s power of attorney went against state law.

During his closing argument, Bank of America attorney J. Randolph Liebler of Miami, said based on bank policies, “it would be absolutely inappropriate to have honored the power of attorney where there was some allegation of abuse – rightly or wrongly.”

After court, Bank of America spokeswoman Shirley Norton said they were disappointed in the jury’s verdict.

“We believe that neither the facts nor the law support the verdict,” she said, “and we plan to appeal.”

Smith meanwhile, said he’ll use the money to pay bills from his father’s estate.

“I feel fortunate we were able to take on Bank of America,” he said. “Think of all the people who can’t.”

For two years, Mark Kirk and his 2002 Cadillac Escalade EXT lived the perfect suburban life. Kirk swung the luxury sport utility truck in and out of his driveway in his gated community with little more than compliments from neighbors and friends.

But in 2005, on the heels of a leadership change in his community’s homeowners association, Kirk and another Escalade owner received messages from community leaders. Because the cargo areas on their $60,000 trucks made them look like pickups, association leaders said, they would be able to keep their vehicles only if they stashed them as far out of public view as possible. “My question to them is, ‘Does it lower the value of the neighborhood?’ ” Kirk said. “I could understand if it was a truck with Joe’s Plumbing or something written on it, but that’s not what it is.”
Association leaders took their battle against the Escalade owners to court, asking a judge in September to grant an injunction forcing Kirk and another homeowner, Darrell Willson, either to shove their 19-foot trucks into their 20-foot garages or get rid of them.
The dispute culminated in a weeklong trial before Circuit Judge Robert Makemson last year. An attorney for the Preserve at Hammock Creek homeowners association argued that the Escalade owners violated association rules against “boats, trailers … motor homes, golf carts, motorcycles, pickup trucks or recreational or commercial vehicles” in any area visible to passersby outside the home.
Stuart attorney Bill Ponsoldt, representing Kirk and Willson, brought in documents from General Motors and local dealers who classified the vehicles as either a sport utility vehicle or a sport utility truck.
On Friday, Makemson issued ruling in chambers siding with Ponsoldt and the Escalade owners, saying that if the makers of the EXTs don’t classify the cars as pickups, neither should the homeowners association.
Makemson isn’t the first judge who has sided with a pickup owner. In 2001, a Broward County judge ruled that a Sunrise homeowners association rule prohibiting pickups was unfair.
In a 1999 case, Gary and Linda Bach settled a dispute with their Palm City homeowners association over their Dodge Ram after a judge ordered the truck to be weighed and ruled the Bachs should be able to park it outside if it weighed less than 6,400 pounds. The association gave the Bachs and another truck owner parking stickers before a hearing was set to announce the weigh-in results.
Ponsoldt, who received Makemson’s ruling Monday, said homeowners associations