Condo Meltdown Extends to Courts

(This story, in slightly different form, originally appeared in Incisive Media’s Daily Business Review.)

MIAMI-Fighting developers over pre-construction condominium deposits in court can be a lengthy process, especially if the project in question was developed by the giant Related Group. The locally based company, headed by developer Jorge Perez, has been stalling litigation and unnecessarily dragging out cases while holding on to tens of million of dollars worth of deposits from buyers, plaintiff lawyers contend.

Related’s in-house counsel, Betsy McCoy, denies the allegations. She said Related has had to ask for extensions to respond to some cases because the company is facing lawsuits from more than 700 buyers who are trying to get their deposits back and cancel contracts.