Condo suit award grows by $23M

Lender must pay Dan Marino and partners interest on losses

An errant email blast that led to the collapse of a Plantation condo project backed by former Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino just got more expensive for the project’s former lender.

The mortgage lending arm of Wells Fargo has been ordered to pay $23.2 million in interest on top of $43.9 million in damages granted by a Broward County Circuit Court jury in March.

That brings the total damage award to $67 million in a lawsuit by an investor group that included Marino, Huizenga Holdings and the Maroone family.

Their company, called West City Realty Advisors, had taken deposits on about 95 percent of a 200-unit luxury housing project in Plantation called Veranda Condominium in October 2007 when the expensive error was committed, the jury found.

An employee of the lender, then known as Wachovia Mortgage Corporation, emailed a reminder to one of the purchasers about an upcoming closing date. In the “carbon copy” field of the email, the sender included the email addresses of 100 other purchasers.

That breached a confidentiality clause and occurred as South Florida real estate prices were in decline. The mistake enabled the email recipient to contact fellow buyers and invite them to reconsider finalizing their purchases.

Facing a united front, the developers returned deposits to buyers contracted to buy more than 80 units for about $32.5 million, pushing the second phase of the project into foreclosure.

Circuit Judge John Bowman’s ruling set Feb. 4, 2009 — the date of the foreclosure judgment — as the date interest calculated at a rate of 8 percent began accruing on $42.7 million of the plaintiffs’ lost investment.

But the investors have yet to receive any of the awarded money, according to Fort Lauderdale attorney William Scherer. A final order of judgment has not yet been filed with the court, and after it is filed, Wells Fargo has 30 days to file an appeal.

Tom Goyda, Wells Fargo senior vice president, consumer lending communications, in March said the bank believes it has “strong grounds” for appeal.

On Thursday, Goyda said the bank is waiting for the final order of judgment before “any further consideration of the potential for an appeal” takes place.