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Recent Cases:
Fitzmaurice v. Elephant Tract, Inc., Circuit Court, Palm Beach County, Florida Action No. 07 CA 021777

The Firm successfully defends securities fraud case.

In mid 2005, a group of investors pooled their money and invested a total of $1.2 million in four residential subdivisions that Cobblestone Builders claimed to be developing. Elephant Tract, Inc. was formed to collect the investor’s funds, and then forward the money to Cobblestone Builders. However, after receiving the funds, Cobblestone did not develop the subdivisions, as promised, and therefore, no profits were available to repay the investors. Elephant Tract filed suit against Cobblestone, the developer, to recoup the investors’ funds. But while that case was pending, Fitzmaurice, one of the investors, filed suit against Elephant Tract and its principal. Fitzmaurice claimed that Elephant Tract and its principal had “sold” the investment in Cobblestone to her. She sought damages for securities fraud and for the sale of unregistered securities. The Firm, while successfully pursuing Cobblestone on behalf of Elephant Tract to recover the monies, also successfully defended Elephant Tract against these charges. In January 2008, the Palm Beach, Florida jury found that Elephant Tract did not sell securities to Fitzmaurice and was not guilty of securities fraud.

The case was handled by Ed Dovin and Allison Ficken.