Evelyn Greenstone Kammet - Vernis & Bowling

Evelyn Greenstone Kammet, Esq.
Department Managing Attorney
Vernis & Bowling of Miami, P.A. 1680 N.E. 135th Street Miami, FL 33181
Phone: (305) 895-3035
Email: EGreenstone@Florida-Law.com
Fax: (305) 892-1260
Website: www.national-law.com
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Verdicts and Dispositions

Gratz v. 1750 James Condominium Association, Inc. et al.
Evelyn Greenstone Kammet and Mark Erdman (Miami, FL) (D&O) successfully defended a thirteen-count shareholder derivative lawsuit filed by a condominium unit owner against his condominium association and certain former and then-current board members by obtaining a Final Order of Dismissal with Prejudice from the trial court. Therein, the trial court found that maintaining the action was not in the best interest of the condominium association and its members because the Plaintiff was motivated by his own self-interest and the individually named board members were shielded from liability pursuant to Florida’s Business Judgment Rule. The trial court additionally found the Defendants entitled to their prevailing party attorney’s fees and costs by finding that the Plaintiff had no reasonable cause to commence the action. The Plaintiff appealed the trial court’s Final Order and by written opinion, the Third District Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s decision. The Third District additionally found Defendants entitled to reimbursement of their attorney’s fees and costs incurred on appeal. As such, not only was Ms. Greenstone Kammet successful in causing all claims raised by the Plaintiff to be dismissed with prejudice, but she was also found entitled to reimbursement of her attorney’s fees and costs at both the trial and appellate levels.
Derhem v. Bay House Miami Condominium Association, Inc. et al.
Evelyn Greenstone Kammet and Mark Erdman (Miami, FL) (D&O) successfully obtained a Final Judgment in favor of her clients (after four years of litigation) and against Plaintiff who had sued her condominium association, its board members, the members of its fining committee, its property managers, and its property management company in federal court alleging race-based and sex-based housing discrimination and harassment, violations of the Condominium Act, breach of fiduciary duty, and gross negligence. After obtaining Final Judgment on behalf of her clients, Ms. Greenstone Kammet sought reimbursement from plaintiff of her attorney’s fees and costs incurred defending the litigation, and she additionally sought sanctions pursuant to Federal Rule 11 due to the lack of evidentiary support and factual foundation for Plaintiff’s claims. The post-judgment relief is currently pending.
Melrose Parc at Eden Lakes Homeowners Association, Inc. v. Choice Property Management Group, Inc.
Evelyn Greenstone Kammet and Waynice Green-Musgrove (Miami, FL) (D&O) obtained Summary Judgment in this action, where a homeowners association sued its property management company for breach of contract stemming from the property manager’s alleged failure to hold elections, conduct annual meetings, obtain board authorization prior to making expenditures, timely make repairs to the common property, engage in proper collections efforts, and provide records to the board of directors. After two years of litigation, Ms. Greenstone Kammet obtained Summary Judgment in favor of her client due to a lack of evidence in the record establishing damages resulting from a material breach of the at-issue property management agreement. Ms. Kammet has since sought reimbursement from the Plaintiff of her attorney’s fees and costs incurred defending the action.
Marlin Electrical Contractors Corporation v. Horizons West Property Owners Association, Inc.
Evelyn Greenstone Kammet and Waynice Green-Musgrove (Miami, FL) (D&O) obtained a Dismissal. The claim involved an electrical company that filed a five-count complaint against a property owners’ association arising from alleged unpaid invoices for electrical services. Ms. Greenstone Kammet was successful in causing this action to be Dismissed resulting in sanctions to be entered against Plaintiff and Plaintiff’s lawyers pursuant to section 57.105, Florida Statutes, on the basis that the claims were neither supported in law or fact as they were time barred by the statute of limitations. The Court found that Plaintiff and its lawyers either knew that the claims were time barred or should have known they were time barred before filing suit and as a result of counsel’s failure to voluntarily dismiss the action within the statutory safe harbor period, sanctions were entered against Plaintiff and its lawyers.
700 Biltmore Group, LLC v. David William hotel Condominium Association, Inc. et al.
Evelyn Greenstone Kammet and Miguel Espinosa (Miami, FL) (D&O) successfully obtained a Final Order granting Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment on Plaintiff’s Complaint for Declaratory Relief. Plaintiff, the owner of two commercial units within the subject condominium, alleged that a recorded Amendment to the Declaration of Condominium was unclear, ambiguous, unreasonable, patently unfair, and created doubt regarding Plaintiff’s obligation to pay maintenance assessments because thereunder, Plaintiff was required to pay more than other, larger commercial units. Through the guise of declaratory relief, Plaintiff sought reformation of the Declaration regarding its proportionate share in the undivided common elements.

The Court granted Summary Judgment in favor of the Condominium Association on the basis that Plaintiff failed to present record evidence that the Amendment was improperly enacted, rooted in bad faith, or in conflict with any express term of the Declaration. The Court further ruled that it was unauthorized to re-write the Declaration, and thus, the relief sought by Plaintiff for reformation failed as a matter of law.
Galindo v. The Ivy Condominium Association, Inc.
Evelyn Greenstone Kammet (Miami, FL) (D&O/Appeal) Evelyn Greenstone Kammet successfully defeated two appeals filed by a unit owner against his condominium association regarding an award of attorney’s fees (note, Ms. Greenstone Kammet also handled the evidentiary hearing regarding attorney’s fees at the trial court level). Specifically, the unit owner sought $189,900.00 in attorney’s fees, and when the trial court awarded fees in the amount of $39,960.50, the unit owner appealed. The appeal regarding the amount of fees awarded by the trial court was successfully defended by Ms. Greenstone Kammet on the basis that the unit owner’s oral contingency agreement with his counsel was void, the unit owner’s counsel failed to satisfy the requirements of a fee multiplier, and competent, substantial evidence supported the trial court’s application of the federal lodestar approach. The unit owner then filed a second appeal, which was again successfully defended by Ms. Greenstone Kammet, in which the unit owner claimed that the trial court committed reversible error by finding that the association’s tender of the judgment award suspended any accrual of interest. In the second appeal, like the first appeal, Ms. Greenstone Kammet obtained a per curiam affirmance of the trial court’s decision by arguing: (1) the association’s tender of the judgment award was unconditional, and thus it suspended any additional accrual of interest during the pendency of the first appeal; (2) the unit owner was precluded from rejecting the tender to later seek additional compounding interest; and (3) the unit owner’s own conduct, including his counsel’s violation of the Florida Bar Rules of Professional Conduct, prohibited him from collecting additional compounding interest.
Kapitanov v. Spinnaker Bay Townhomes Community Association, Inc.
Evelyn Greenstone Kammet and Miguel Espinosa (Miami, FL) (D&O/Appeal) Evelyn Greenstone Kammet and Miguel Espinosa successfully obtained a Dismissal with prejudice of unit owners’ derivative claims after all five iterations of their complaint were dismissed (over the course of two years) for failing to satisfy the particularity requirement of Fla. Stat. 617.07401(2), governing pre-suit requirements to maintaining a shareholder derivative action. The unit owners appealed the Dismissal, and Ms. Greenstone Kammet successfully obtained a per curiam affirmance by the Third District in addition to an award of appellate fees for her client. Ms. Greenstone Kammet then successfully defeated the unit owner’s attempt to appeal the Third District’s decision to Florida’s Supreme Court, and she obtained another order granting her client reimbursement for attorney’s fees incurred in connection therewith.
Roye v. Circle One Condominium, Inc.
Evelyn Greenstone Kammet (Miami, FL) (D&O) Evelyn Greenstone Kammet successfully obtained a Dismissal of a condominium unit owner’s claims against a condominium association for breach of contract, the unlawful filing of a false document in violation of Fla. Stat. § 817.535, and violation of the Florida Consumer Collections Practices Act, based on Florida’s absolute litigation privilege and failure to state a cause of action, among other grounds. The unit owner appealed the dismissal to Florida’s Fourth District, and Ms. Greenstone Kammet successfully defended the appeal, resulting in the Fourth District affirming the trial court’s dismissal and granting the association entitlement to its prevailing party attorney’s fees pursuant to Fla. Stat. §§ 817.535(8), 718.303(1) and 559.77.
Cornfeld v. Plaza of the Americas Club., Inc.
Evelyn Greenstone Kammet (Miami, FL) (D&O/Appeal) successfully defended a shareholder derivative action brought by a Sunny Isles Beach hotel owner who purchased a unit in a neighboring condominium simply to obtain standing to sue the condominium association derivatively. The derivative action named the condominium association and each of its board members individually, asserting claims for breach of fiduciary duty and injunctive relief. Both causes of action were based on allegations that the association wrongfully refused to accept an offer of $2.5 million to purchase association property and refused to assert a claimed legal right against RK Centers, LLC (“RK”) for an alleged failure by RK to repair damages to a sewer main servicing the condominium.

The trial court ordered an investigation into the allegations of the derivative complaint pursuant to Fla. Stat. 617.07401 to determine whether maintaining the action was in the association’s best interest. After an extensive months-long investigation, the investigation revealed that Plaintiff did not adequately represent the interests of the association’s members due his personal motivation in filing suit, that motivation being his desperate need for additional parking for his hotel, which is located across the street from the condominium. Plaintiff admitted during the investigation that he had been leasing association-owned property for hotel parking since 1999. The investigation revealed that Plaintiff purchased a unit within the condominium immediately after the association declined to renew his lease for a portion of the property on which he was parking 100 cars for his hotel. The non-renewal occurred just before Plaintiff signed a purchase and sales agreement with a developer for the sale of another 170-space parking lot which was used by the hotel, on which the developer planned to construct a mixed-use condo-hotel. Plaintiff filed the derivative action within weeks of the association’s decision not to sell him the property because the failed sale and the expiration/non-renewal of the lease agreement left him desperate for parking for his hotel.

Based on these findings, and others, the trial court entered a final order of dismissal with prejudice. Plaintiff then appealed the trial court’s order. Ms. Kammet successfully defended the appeal, resulting in a published opinion of Florida’s Third District Court of Appeals. See Cornfeld v. Plaza of the Americas Club., Inc., 273 So.3d 1096 (Fla. 3d DCA 2019). Not only did the appellate court affirm the trial court’s dismissal, but it awarded Defendants’ their appellate attorneys’ fees, remanding the matter to the trial court to determine the amount to be awarded. On remand, and as a result of a previously filed motion for prevailing parties’ attorneys’ fees and costs (for the fees and costs incurred at the trial court level), the trial court granted entitlement to Defendants for reimbursement of their fees and costs as prevailing party pursuant to Fla. Stat. 718.303, awarding one-hundred percent of the fees and costs sought. This resulted in the entry of a Final Judgment of Fees and Costs on September 17, 2019 in the amount of $268,266.96 in favor of Defendants.
Koppelman v. Galt Ocean Manor Condo. Assn., Inc. et al.,
Evelyn Greenstone Kammet (Miami, FL) (Condominium D&O) This federal action centered on unit owner allegations that the condominium’s Board Members engaged in a pattern of racketeering including the laundering of money through the Association’s commercial units (i.e. tiki bar, restaurant, beach club and hotel operation), embezzlement, and misappropriation of Association funds and insurance proceeds. Plaintiffs also alleged the Defendant Board Members diverted Association funds to their own personal business entities, improperly expanded privately run commercial operations onto the common areas (i.e. enlarged outdoor facilities, concession rentals of beach umbrellas and lounge chairs), and improperly assumed control of the valet operation and parking areas for commercial unit use, among other allegations.

After the filing of Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint, Ms. Greenstone Kammet obtained a Final Order of Dismissal with Prejudice on the basis that Plaintiffs’ claims were barred by the execution of a prior settlement agreement between the parties and the pendency of two state court actions to enforce said settlement agreement. Because the specific claims asserted by Plaintiff were the subject of the settlement agreement and previous lawsuits, the federal court agreed that Plaintiffs’ claims were barred by the doctrine of collateral estoppel and claim preclusion, and thus dismissed the action with prejudice.

Areas Of Practice

Appellate Practice
Business and Real Estate Law
Civil Litigation
Condominium and Homeowners' Association Litigation
Director & Officer Liability (D&O)
Employment Law/Employment Litigation
Errors & Omissions Liability (E&O)
General Civil Litigation
Mediation and Alternative Dispute Resolution
Medical Malpractice
Professional Liability/E & O

Bar & Court Admission

Florida Bar
United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida
United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida

Education

Graduate:
Stetson University, College of Law, Juris Doctor
Honors:
National Dean’s List, Psi Chi, Pi Gamma Mu
Undergraduate:
Trinity College, Bachelor of Science in Psychology, with a Minor in Legal Studies

Memberships

Young Lawyers
Real Property and Probate Sections of the Florida Bar

Evelyn Greenstone Kammet graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, CT in 2004, with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Legal Studies minor. At Trinity College, Ms. Greenstone Kammet was a member of the National Dean’s list. She was also recognized as a distinguished scholar, having been inducted into Pi Gamma Mu (the International Honor Society for Social Sciences) and Psi Chi (the National Honor Society for Psychology). Ms. Greenstone Kammet continued her education at Stetson University, College of Law, where she received her Juris Doctorate in 2007.

Upon graduating from law school, Ms. Greenstone Kammet became an Assistant State Attorney for the 17th Judicial Circuit, in and for Broward County. As an Assistant State Attorney, Ms. Greenstone Kammet gained valuable jury trial experience as a prosecutor in the Misdemeanor and Felony Trial Units. After leaving the Office of the State Attorney, Ms. Greenstone Kammet transitioned to civil litigation, handling matters including property damage claims and consumer collections claims. Ms. Greenstone Kammet then focused her area of practice on Condominium and Homeowners’ Association Litigation where she litigated declaratory and injunctive relief matters, contract disputes, quiet title actions, election disputes and administrative agency enforcement actions.

Evelyn Greenstone Kammet has successfully represented her clients at both the trial court level and on appeal. In a recent matter, the Third District, by published opinion, affirmed a Miami-Dade Circuit Court’s dismissal with prejudice of a shareholder derivative action, holding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in adopting the factual findings and legal conclusions of an independent panel appointed pursuant to Fla. Stat. 617.07401, which concluded that maintaining the derivative action was not in the best interest of the corporation. See Cornfeld v. Plaza of the Americas Club., Inc., 273 So.3d 1096 (Fla. 3d DCA 2019).

Ms. Greenstone Kammet manages the Directors and Officers, Errors and Omissions, and Employment Labor Department of the Firm’s Miami office. In her spare time, Evelyn enjoys traveling, live music, and the arts, and she enjoys volunteering with Kids in Distress, Inc.

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