Filing # 105247129 E-Filed 03/20/2020 05:54:12 PM

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE

ELEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT
IN AND FOR MIAMI-DADE
COUNTY, FLORIDA

Case No. 2019-030366

STEVEN MIRO,

Plaintiff,

vs.

CITY OF MIAMI,

Defendant.
_______________________________________/

MOTION FOR SANCTIONS AGAINST CITY OF MIAMI AND ITS COUNSEL

DAVID WINKER, ESQ. respectfully requests this court enter an award of sanctions against the

City of Miami and the counsel for the City of Miami Victoria Mendez, Kevin Jones, and

Stephanie Parnoff, and states the following in support:

Summary of Argument

The City of Miami filed an utterly baseless Motion for Disqualification against undersigned

counsel in an effort to harass his client Tanjha Quintana (“Quintana”), a non-party witness in this

case, and delay her deposition. The City’s bad faith motion achieved the City’s goal of delaying

the deposition of Quintana. Accomplishing its goal, the City has now filed a Motion

1
“withdrawing” its motion but stating therein that “The City stands behind its previous motion on

this matter.”

The City’s conduct establishes a textbook case of the bad faith misuse of the disqualification

rules resulting in needless delay of the efficient administration of justice, expenditure of

unnecessary attorneys fees, and waste of this Honorable Court’s time and resources.

Underlying Facts

1. Undersigned counsel represents Quintana, a non-party witness who was scheduled to be

deposed in this case on Monday, March 8, 2020 at 2pm.

2. Quintana was subpoenaed for deposition in connection with this lawsuit concerning

widespread and blatant public corruption by two City of Miami Commissioners (Joe Carollo and

Alex Diaz de la Portilla).

3. Knowing that the testimony of Quintana, Commissioner Carollo’s former receptionist,

will be damaging to Commissioner Carollo, the City of Miami filed a last-minute, baseless and

unverified emergency motion to disqualify undersigned counsel the afternoon before her

scheduled deposition.

4. An emergency telephonic hearing was conducted by this Honorable Court immediately

prior to the scheduled deposition which resulted in the deposition being cancelled pending an

evidentiary hearing on the City’s emergency disqualification motion. The evidentiary hearing is

scheduled for April 8, 2020.

2
5. The "argument" made by the City is that undersigned counsel somehow has a conflict of

interest under Florida Rules of Professional Conduct RULE 4-1.7 by representing Quintana as a

non-party witness in a deposition because the undersigned is counsel of record in other lawsuits

against the City.

6. The City of Miami’s position is utterly devoid of legal merit, nonsensical and not

supported by Florida law.

7. The caselaw cited by the City (State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company v.

K.A.W., 575 So. 2d 630, 634 (Fla. 1991)), is inapposite to the matter at hand as it stands for the

concept that a lawyer may not represent parties with interests adverse to those of a former client

if the present and previous subjects of representation are substantially related.

8. Undersigned counsel, who does not and has never represented the City of Miami or

Steven Miro, does not have any conflict whatsoever in this matter.

9. The Rules of Professional Conduct make clear that using a baseless charge of a violation

of the Florida Bar’s Rules of Professional Conduct as a delay tactic is particularly odious and

expressly cautions that

Where the conflict is such as clearly to call in question the fair or efficient

administration of justice, opposing counsel may properly raise the question. Such

an objection should be viewed with caution, however, for it can be misused as a

technique of harassment.”1 (emphasis added).

1
https://www-media.floridabar.org/uploads/2019/09/Ch-4-from-2020_03-SEP-RRTFB-9-19-19-3.pdf at page 41.

3
10. The baseless suggestion by the City that Quintana’s counsel has a prohibited conflict of

interest was clearly a “technique of harassment” used by the City in bad faith to delay Quintana’s

deposition.

11. Undersigned counsel sent to the City’s counsel the email attached hereto as Exhibit A

explaining that the City’s argument was preposterous and offering them the opportunity to

withdraw their meritless Motion to Disqualify, but the City continued to push forward with their

meritless motion and was rewarded for their bad faith when the deposition was postponed. Once

their goal of delaying the deposition was accomplished, they withdrew their meritless motion.

12. Trial Courts in Florida have the inherent authority to impose sanctions for bad faith

conduct such as occurred here. Moakley v. Smallwood, 826 So.2d 221 (Fla.2002) (“a trial court

possesses the inherent authority to impose attorneys' fees against an attorney for bad faith

conduct”). Such a sanction is not a “taxable cost” to be assessed at the end of litigation, but is

rather due and payable immediately.

13. The City acted in bad faith and its meritless motion indisputably resulted in needless

delay, expenditure of unnecessary attorneys fees, and wasted this Honorable Court’s time and

resources.

Relief Requested

Undersigned counsel hereby requests entry of an award of sanctions against the City and its

counsel for acting in bad faith by making a baseless conflict of interest argument that they knew

or should have known was preposterous and not supported by any material facts nor supported

by applicable law.

4
Respectfully submitted this 20th day of March 2020.

David J. Winker, P.A.

2222 SW 17th St
Miami, Fl 33145
305-801-8700
By:____s./ DJW______________
Fla. Bar. No. 73148
David J. Winker, Esq. B.C.S.
dwinker@dwrlc.com

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I HEREBY CERTIFY that a true and correct copy of the foregoing was electronically filed

with the Florida Court’s E-Filing Portal, and that as a registered participant of the Portal, I have

effectuated service through the Portal in compliance with Fla. R. Jud. Admin. 2.516 on the

attorneys listed for services on this case at the associated emails registered through the portal this

20th day of March 2020. I also certify that I forwarded the filed copy directly to City Attorney

Victoria Mendez, Esq., who has not personally filed an appearance in this case.

David J. Winker, P.A.

By:____s./ DJW______________
David J. Winker, Esq. B.C.S.
Fla. Bar. No. 73148
dwinker@dwrlc.com
305-801-8700

5
 EXHIBIT A

Re: Demand to withdraw improper Motion in STEVEN MIRO vs CITY OF MIAMI

From: David Winker <dwinker@dwrlc.com> Fri, Mar 6,

2:37 PM

To: Victoria, krjones, Yillescas, skpanoff, SMFernandez

Victoria and Kevin:

I am in receipt of the attached Emergency Motion to disqualify me from representing Tanjha

Quintana.

I am putting all of you on notice that if this Motion is not withdrawn immediately I will be filing a
Motion to Strike and asking the court to impose sanctions for this improper and frivolous filing.

The "argument" that I have a conflict of interest is non-sensical and obviously intended for the
purpose of delay.

The City is not acting in good faith and wasting the court's time. This is nothing more than a disguised
Motion for Protective Order masquerading as a Motion to Disqualify in an attempt to prevent my
client from being represented by counsel of her choice.

David Winker, Esq.

305 801 8700