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Robert B. Galt III
Mr. Galt recently became Of Counsel to Adams, Quinton & Paretti, P.A. He brings almost 30 years of commercial litigation experience involving a variety of industries to the firm. Mr. Galt is a native of Miami, Florida, and began his practice with a local civil trial law firm in 1979. He changed firms in 1985 and was a partner in the Miami office of a large international law firm for many years.
Mr. Galt holds an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory. He has authored numerous articles and been a speaker on various legal topics. Mr. Galt has been selected by his peers for inclusion under business litigation as a "Florida Super Lawyer" in the Law and Politics magazine, as a "Florida Legal Elite" in the Florida Trend's magazine and as a "Top Lawyer" in the South Florida Legal Guide.
PRACTICE AREAS
Mr. Galt has tried cases in federal and state courts to both juries and the bench. He has handled a wide range of business disputes for plaintiffs and defendants throughout Florida, including litigation related to real estate, construction, securities, distribution and manufacturing, products liability, personal injury and intellectual property. In addition, Mr. Galt has experience in class actions, arbitrations, mediations, proceedings for temporary and permanent injunctions, and litigation involving claims of business fraud, breach of contract (including covenants not to compete), breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, tortious interference, defamation, deceptive and unfair trade practices, misappropriation of trade secrets and securities fraud.
REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE
- Representation of owners, developers, sub-contractors, suppliers and materialmen in numerous construction cases throughout Florida involving disputes over design defects, project delays, contract standards, warranties, change orders, defective work, termination issues, insurance claims, bond claims, lien claims, and hurricane remediation issues. Projects which have been the subject of this litigation or arbitration have included luxury condominium buildings, single family homes, a hotel, a nursing home, fire stations, a school, an airport and a baseball stadium.
- Defense of a life insurance company in a federal lawsuit brought by a widow claiming death benefits under husband’s policy. Successfully obtained a defense verdict for client after a three-week jury trial based upon both the statutory defense that the widow and deceased had made material misrepresentations to the insurer and the defense that the wife had murdered her husband. (The wife had previously been found not guilty of murder in a Florida state court criminal prosecution.)
- Brought numerous successful foreclosure actions on behalf of a government-sponsored enterprise relating to multifamily properties throughout Florida. These cases often included obtaining the appointment of a receiver, enforcement of guarantees and/or defense of lender liability claims.
- Brought federal action and successfully obtained temporary restraining order and nationwide preliminary injunctive relief for national sports entertainment company against defendants who where expected to sell bootleg t-shirts and other counterfeit goods at stadium events throughout country.
- Defense of a former COO of a public company in a federal class action alleging securities law violations and various other claims for an alleged $200,000,000 in damages. Successfully obtained settlement without any finding of liability against client .
- Defense of lenders and a loan servicer in various putative class actions in Florida state courts against allegations of violations of Florida’s deceptive and unfair trade practices act and other claims. Also represented various lenders in numerous foreclosure cases involving lender liability claims, including for RESPA and TILA violations.
- Defense of a national securities brokerage firm in multi-million dollar putative nationwide class action claim in federal court alleging the failure to properly disclose interest rate terms regarding margin accounts in violation of securities laws (including Rules 10b-5 and 10b-16) and various common law claims. Successfully obtained denial of class certification and, thereafter, a settlement with the named plaintiffs only.
- Representation of owner of over 40 radio stations nationwide in various Florida state court actions to successfully enforce non-compete agreements with radio personalities, to prevent another station from allegedly engaging in unfair competition, and to successfully handle an appeal - obtaining a reversal of an agency determination that the client had violated a statute relating to game promotions.
- Brought federal declaratory judgment action against a national hospital chain on behalf of a medical diagnostic center which was a tenant under a very favorable long-term ground lease (multi-million dollar value to client) on a hospital campus. Successfully defeated the hospital’s motion to compel arbitration of the dispute in a prior pending arbitration brought by the hospital to void the ground lease. Thereafter, the case settled, and the client continued operation of its facilities on the ground lease property.
- Brought a federal action on behalf of a financial institution against certain former officers and directors based upon claims for breach of fiduciary duty and fraud relating to oil and gas investments. After extensive discovery and aggressive prosecution of claims, a multi-million dollar settlement was obtained for the client.
- Representation of various parties in disputes over real estate leases, commissions and property management for both residential and commercial properties.
- Representation of various plaintiffs in personal injury cases and both plaintiffs and defendants in products liability actions.
- Defense of a regional securities brokerage firm against allegations of securities fraud by its customer and pursued counterclaim on behalf of client. After a two-week jury trial in federal court, obtained judgement on counterclaim for approximately $1,500,000 (an amount well in excess of plaintiff's judgment on complaint).
BAR MEMBERSHIPS
- State of Florida
- United States District Court - Southern District of Florida
- United States District Court - Middle District of Florida
- United States Court of Appeals – Fifth Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals – Eleventh Circuit
- United States Supreme Court
PROFESSIONAL/CIVIC ACTIVITIES
- American Bar Association (Forum on Construction Industry)
- Florida Bar (former Vice-Chairman, 11th Circuit Grievance Committee)
- Dade County Bar Association (former Chairman, Construction Law Committee; formerly Board of Directors of Young Lawyers Section and Chairman of Publications Committee; and formerly Editor-in-Chief of Dade Bar Bulletin)
- Florida Bar Foundation, Fellow
- Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, Trustee Representative, 1994-2001 (Chairman, Youth Ethics Committee; Chairman, Educational Facilities Development Committee; Vice-Chairman, Ethics Curriculum in Education Committee)
- St. Francis Medical & Health Care Foundation, Inc., Board of Trustees, 1989-1996 (Chairman, 1993-1996)
- Barry University, Board of Trustees (Chairman of Audit and Compliance Committee; Executive Committee; Finance Committee; and Secretary of the Board)
PUBLICATIONS
- Little Setbacks on Mega Projects Can Turn Into a Big Deal for All, Daily Business Review, by Robert B. Galt III, George B. Foster, June 12, 2008.
- "Circuit Court Review: 11th Circuit Takes on Tough Cases -- No Blinking," National Law Journal, by Robert B. Galt III, Michael Moore, November 1, 2004.
- "Non-Competes in Employment Contracts" Hot Topics in Business Litigation, 2002.
- "Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices" Hot Topics in Business Litigation, 2002.
- "Equitable Liens in the Construction Context," Construction Law and Business, by Robert B. Galt III, Monica Ramello, July/August 2001.
- "Amendment 9: Doctors Attempt to Change Constitution," Dade Bar Bulletin, October 1984
- "Condominium Litigation," University of Miami Law Review, 1979.
- "Wellenkamp v. Bank of America: Exercise of Due-on-Sale Clauses as an Unreasonable Restraint Upon Alienation," University of Miami Law Review, 1979.
RECENT PRESENTATIONS
- "Florida Construction Law – 2008 In Review," presented at a seminar for the Dade County Bar Association, Construction Law Committee, December 19, 2008.
- "Florida Construction Law – 2007 In Review," presented at a seminar for the Dade County Bar Association, Construction Law Committee, January 11, 2008.
EDUCATION
J.D., University of Miami School of Law, 1979 (cum laude; Articles & Comments Editor, University of Miami Law Review; Society of Wig and Robe)
B.A., University of Virginia, 1976 (majors: Economics and History; President, Phi Kappa Psi)
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