Dirk M. Smits - Vernis & Bowling

Dirk M. Smits, Esq.
Managing Attorney
Vernis & Bowling of the Florida Keys, P.A. Islamorada Professional Center - 3rd Floor 81990 Overseas Highway Islamorada, FL 33036
Phone: (305) 664-4675
Email: DSmits@Florida-Law.com
Fax: (305) 664-5414
Website: www.national-law.com
V-Card Email

Verdicts and Dispositions

Digennaro v. Malgrat, et. al.
Gaelan Jones and Dirk M. Smits (Islamorada, FL) (Governmental Law) with assistance from Hunter O’Conner, obtained a Dismissal Without Prejudice on behalf of all Monroe County School Board Defendants in the matter of Digennaro v. Malgrat, et. al. Bianca Digennaro sued the School Board, the City of Key West and several individual school officials and police officers, after Ms. Digennaro’s eight-year old son HMM was arrested at school following reports of him punching a teacher. Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump, representing Ms. Digennaro and her son, filed a federal lawsuit in the Southern District of Florida and circulated body worn camera footage of the student’s arrest on social media and causing the story to go viral nationally. Plaintiff’s counsel argued that the City of Key West and the defendant police officers violated HMM’s constitutional rights by attempting to use handcuffs during his arrest, and that the School Board defendants had violated HMM’s rights by contacting law enforcement. Specifically, Plaintiff’s counsel argued that school officials should not involve law enforcement in student disciplinary matters unless they believe an imminent threat to school safety exists. The School Defendants moved to dismiss the lawsuit on grounds of qualified immunity, arguing that school officials are compelled to involve law enforcement in response to reports of certain crimes by Florida law, particularly in the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting. In a seventeen page opinion, Judge K. Michael Moore cited arguments and case law from the School Defendants’ brief and ruled that the Defendants were entitled to qualified immunity.
Jane Doe No. 53 et. al. v. The School Board of Monroe County, Florida
Dirk M. Smits, Esq. and Scott C. Black, Esq. (Florida Keys) (Government/Education – Title IX) won summary judgment on behalf of The School Board of Monroe County, Florida in Federal District Court in the Southern District of Florida. This high-profile claim was reported and followed in local newspapers, concerned allegations by a former elementary school student that school officials did not adequately respond to her complaints that she was being sexually harassed by another student. The Complaint included counts for Violation of Title IX/Education Amendments of 1972, Negligence, and Loss of Consortium. The Title IX count presented substantial exposure resulting from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals position that Congress abrogated state sovereign immunity caps, exposing the School Board to potentially unlimited/non-capped damages. The Plaintiffs were seeking more than $1 million dollars in damages, but reduced their demand to $575,000. The case was aggressively litigated and vigorously defended with twenty-three (23) depositions and numerous motions and hearings necessitated by plaintiff’s demands and posturing. We successfully developed the defense to establish that Plaintiff’s claims were largely unsupported. For example, while Plaintiff testified in her deposition that she was harassed every day, her well-documented prior inconsistent statements proved this testimony to be inaccurate. Given the weight of unfavorable evidence, their attorneys, a well-known sexual harassment/Title IX plaintiff’s firm, withdrew from the litigation. The Plaintiffs eventually notified the Court that they would proceed pro se. Thereafter, a comprehensive motion for summary judgment was drafted seeking dismissal of all counts. Magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman wrote a 23-page R&R that recommended granting summary judgment on all counts, and it was adopted by Judge Jose Martinez. Vernis & Bowling successfully obtained summary judgment for The School Board of Monroe County.

Areas Of Practice

Administrative Law
Affordable Housing
Appellate Practice
Business and Real Estate Law
Code Enforcement
Commercial Litigation
Construction and Construction Defect Litigation
Contract Law (Drafting and Defense)
Cyber Security & Data Privacy
Education Law
Eminent Domain
Ethics
First and Third Party Property and Casualty Claims
Labor and Employment Law
Land Use and Zoning
Medical Malpractice
Municipal/Government Liability Defense
Public Finance
Public Procurement
Public Records Law
Public Sector Liability
Special Counsel/Conflict Counsel
Sunshine Law
Tax Referendum/Election Law

Bar & Court Admission

Florida Bar
All State Courts in Florida
U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Bar for the Southern District of Florida
Member of the Florida School Board Attorneys Association
Board Certified in City, County and Local Government Law

Education

Graduate:
- University of Miami Law School, Juris Doctor
Honors:
- Cum Laude
- Dean's List
Undergraduate:
- Tulane University, B.A. in Accounting
Honors:
- Beta Alpha Psi Accounting Honor Society

Publications

Smits, D. M. And E Fussell. 2004. Introduction to Florida Sunshine Law. In: Rutledge, C.R. (Ed.) Florida Mosquito Control Handbook, Third Edition. Florida Mosquito Control Association, Ft. Myers, FL. 7 pp.

Distinguised Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell

Florida Bar Certified in City, County and Local Government Law

Dirk M. Smits was born in Boca Raton, Florida. He attended and graduated from Tulane University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. During his years at Tulane, he was a member of Beta Alpha Psi Accounting Honor Society and on the Dean’s List three (3) semesters. Mr. Smits attended law school at the University of Miami and graduated Cum Laude. While in law school, he received honors including Dean’s List and an honors scholarship.

Mr. Smits’ practice is concentrated primarily in City, County and Local Government Law and he has been certified as an expert by the Florida Bar for those areas. He serves as a Monroe County School Board Attorney, City Attorney for the City of Layton, Board Attorney for the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District, and Board Attorney for Key Largo Fire & EMS District. Mr. Smits formerly served as City Attorney for the City of Marathon and as a special counsel for Monroe County.

In service of the numerous government clients, Mr. Smits has handled every aspect of the practice. Matters include a range of routine meeting issues to complicated land use, acquisition and even eminent domain questions. Mr. Smits regularly drafts legal documents, resolutions, ordinances, contracts and legal opinions for his government clients.

Additionally, Mr. Smits has extensive jury trial experience at both the Federal and State level. In addition, Mr. Smits has appellate experience in the Third, Fourth and Fifth State District Courts of Appeal, as well as the Supreme Court of Florida.

Mr. Smits serves on the board of Habitat for Humanity of the Upper Keys as Vice President. Dirk is also a lector, Eucharistic minister and member of his parish’s finance counsel. He founded Friends of San Pedro Catholic Church which is an endowment to provide for the capital needs of the church.

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