Jury awards $43.9M over email blast

Wells Fargo hints it plans to appeal

Here’s a reminder of why you should always pause and think a moment before hitting that email “send” button.

A Broward Circuit Court jury on Thursday awarded $43.9 million in damages to a South Florida condominium development group that included Dan Marino, Huizenga Holdings and the Maroone family in a lawsuit that started with a so-called email blast.

The investors were part of a company called West City Realty Advisors when it contracted Wachovia Mortgage Corp. in 2006 to become the preferred lender for a Plantation luxury project called Veranda Condominium, according to a civil complaint.

By that time, about 95 percent of the project’s 200 units had been presold and were under contract for a total of $79.5 million, the complaint says.

Meanwhile, the housing market had begun its infamous descent, making comparable condo units less expensive.

In October 2007, a Wachovia employee emailed one of the purchasers a reminder about an upcoming closing date, thus violating a confidentiality clause, the complaint states.

In the “carbon copy” or “CC” field of the email were the email addresses of more than 100 other project purchasers, the suit says.

According to the complaint, “Almost immediately after the blast email was transmitted, the recipient of the blast email replied to every buyer … and invited the buyers to reconsider their decision of whether to close on their purchase contracts, emphasizing that the purchase prices for their condominium units were ‘overpriced’ in the current market.”

Soon, the buyers created a united front against Veranda to get their deposits back, the suit says, and devise a strategy for reducing the purchase prices of their preconstruction contracts.

Lawsuits started flying, and ultimately Veranda returned about $1.6 million in deposits to buyers contracted to buy more than 80 units for a sum of about $32.5 million, the complaint states.

Phase One was finished in 2008, with just 71 of the original purchasers paying their full contracted price, said Fort Lauderdale lawyer William Scherer, who represents West City Realty Advisors.

Phase Two was taken over by construction lender Regent Bank and recently completed by investors who purchased it out of foreclosure, Scherer said.

He said the $43.9 million