2006-040 Legal Rep. in FL Blacktop LawsuitRESOLUTION 2006-40
A RESOLUTION OF THE VILLAGE COUNCIL OF THE VILLAGE OF NORTH PALM
BEACH, FLORIDA, AUTHORIZING AND DIRECTING THE MAYOR AND VILLAGE
CLERK TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH BOOSE CASEY CIKLIN MARTENS
MCBANE & O'CONNELL LAW FIRM ATTACHED AS EXHIBIT "A", WHICH
AGREEMENT PROVIDES THE VILLAGE WITH LEGAL REPRESENTATION BY SUCH
LAW FIRM FOR THE LAWSUIT FILED BY FLORIDA BLACKTOP, INC. AGAINST THE
VILLAGE; AND, PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE VILLAGE COUNCIL OF NORTH PALM BEACH, FLORIDA:
Section 1. The Village Council of the Village of North Palm Beach, Florida, does
hereby approve the Agreement with Boose Casey Ciklin Martens Mcbane & O'Connell Law
Firm attached as Exhibit "A", which Agreement provides the Village with legal representation
by such Law Firm for the lawsuit filed by Florida Blacktop, Inc. against the Village.
Section 2. The Mayor and Village Clerk are hereby authorized and directed to
execute the Agreement with Boose Casey Ciklin Martens Mcbane & O'Connell Law Firm set
forth in Exhibit "A" for and on behalf of the Village of North Palm Beach.
Section 3. This resolution shall take effect immediately upon its adoption.
PASSED AND ADOPTED THIS 8th DAY OF JUN
(Village Seal)
ATTEUT~
VILLAGE CLERK
REPRESENTATION AGREEMENT
~ -i-!'~ ~ ~~~.~ t7
1. THIS AGREEMENT, made this ~ _.__ day of-P4ay-, 2006, by and between the
undersigned, THE VILLAGE OF NORTH PALM BEACH, (hereinafter called "CLIENT') and GOOSE
CASEY CIKLIN MARTENS MCBANE & O'CONNELL, (hereinafter called "FIRM").
2. The CLIENT employs and retains the FIRM to perform the following described legal
services, commencing on the date of full execution of this fee agreement:
Representation of CLIENT in a construction dispute with Florida Blacktop,
Inc., and general representation in connection therewith.
The FIRM shall accept such employment subject to review of its files for possible conflicts of
interest and agrees to render and perform such legal services as are necessary and proper in
connection with this Agreement.
3. The CLIENT hereby agrees to pay to the FIRM, as compensation for the services to
be performed by it, a reasonable fee, based upon a combination of facts, including, but not limited
ta, the following:
a. The time required, the novelty and difficulty of the legal services involved,
and the requisite skill to perform the required legal services properly;
b. The fee customarily charged in this County for similar legal services;
c. The amount in controversy and the ultimate result obtained;
d. The experience, reputation and ability of the members of the FIRM involved
in the representation in this matter;
e. The likelihood that the FIRM's acceptance of employment in this matter will
preclude other employment by the FIRM in the area services requested;
f. The time limitation which the CLIENT may request be observed or which may
be required by the circumstances in the matter;
g. The nature and length of the FIRM's relationship with the CLIENT as
attorneys; and
h. The hourly rates of members and associates of the FIRM which, at the
present time, range from $200 to $325 per hour for attorneys and from $100
to $320.00 per hour for legal assistants. The attorneys primarily responsible
for this case will be BRUCE G. ALEXANDER, whose normal hourly rate is
$325.00, and RICHARD R. CHAVES, ESQ., whose normal hourly rate is
$290.00. The hourly rates stated above shall not be increased or exceed
those specified without a written amendment signed and approved by both
the Firm and the potentia{ Client. The hourly rate shall include time spent for
conferences, on the telephone,' in pre-trial discovery of data, research, trial
preparation, and drafting documents, in negotiations, in evaluation of ail the
legal issues affecting your matter, court time and travel to and from locations
away from our office. To the extent that associate lawyers or paralegal
personnel time is utilized, your overall minimum periodic billing will be lower.
You will not be billed for clerical or secretarial time.
i. The fees and charges billed to you are your responsibility whether or not a
court awards attorneys' fees against an opposing party. Courts may award
attorneys' fees which they consider reasonable under the applicable statutes,
but which may be less than the amounts billed to you. Additionaily, attorneys'
fees are not usually awarded absent a contractual or statutory basis for an
award. In such cases, you continue to be obligated to pay us for our actual
fees and charges even though the court awards less. The parties to a
dispute may agree, or a court may order, that another party is to pay some
or all of our fees or charges. This will not affect your obligation to pay our
fees and charges, and we will not be obligated to enforce any such
agreement or order. Any amounts actually received by us from another party
wilt, of course, be credited against the fees and charges for which you are
otherwise obligated to us.
4. The CLIENT agrees to pay within thirty (30) days after submission of each monthly
statement, all fees earned plus all costs and expenses of this matter, including, but not limited to
travel, long-distance telephone calls, document reproduction {faxes at $1.00 per page; copies at
$0.30 per page), postage, court costs, filing fees, witness fees, messenger service, secretarial
overtime and other similar expenses incurred in this matter; otherwise the FIRM shall have the
right to withdraw from employment and representation of the CLIENT, and CLIENT consents to
such a withdrawal. You agree to carefully read all billing statements and promptly notify us, in
writing, of any claimed errors or discrepancies, within fifteen (15) days from date of statement. If
we do not hear from you in writing, it is presumed that you agree with the correctness, accuracy
and fairness of the billing statement.
S. FIRM shall have the right to withdraw from representation of CLIENT in this matter
if CLIENT fails to mafce payments required by this Agreement, if CLIENT has misrepresented or
failed to disclose material facts to FIRM, or if CLIENT faits to follow FIRM's advice. If any of these
events occur and upon request by FIRM, CLIENT will execute such necessary documents as will
permit FIRM to withdraw from representation. Additionaily, the CLIENT shall be allowed to
terminate FIRM with or without cause upon written notice, provided that CLIENT execute such
In order to account for the various unreturned and unanswered telephone calls with clients and opposing attameys, it is
the practice of FIRM to compute not less than two-tenths (2/'i0) of an hour for each actual telephone conversation and
such additional time as may actually be expended, whether the telephone cans are from or to CLIENT or others
concerning this matter. We therefore encourage written communication.
necessary documents as are required to permit FIRM to withdraw from representation and makes
timely payment of all costs and fees incurred through the date of termination of representation.
5. The FIRM shall have a general and specific lien, which shall continue in the event
the firm is discharged by the CLIENT, upon the subject matter, the working papers and the files
created in representing the CLIENT, and on any recovery, whether obtained through trial or
settlement.
7. As a retainer to commence services under this agreement, the CLIENT
hereby deposits $1,000.00 with the FIRM, as an advance payment against costs and
fees to be incurred in this matter. This amount will be held in our general trust account
and may be applied by us to any amount that has been billed and is not promptly paid.
Typically, the security is not applied to any bills, but is returned to the client at the
conclusion of the representation if all prior bills have been fully paid.
8. The CLIENT and the FIRM recognize that during the course of this representation,
the CLIENT may ask the FIRM to give estimates or projected fees and costs that may be incurred
in any future stage of the representation or litigation, should the later result. The CLIENT and
FIRM acw~owledge and agree that these requests for predictions from the FIRM of projected fees
and costs that may be incurred in the future are only good faith estimates and not commitments
by the FIRM to those figures nor amendments to this agreement. Any agreements between the
CLIENT and the FIRM, where the FIRM agrees to perform requested services and incur costs
based on a fixed amount of fees and costs, as opposed to the amounts of fees and costs actually
incurred, must be agreed to by the CLIENT and the FIRM in a writing executed by both the CLIENT
and the FIRM.
9. In the event the CLIENT shall fail to pay any sum due hereunder within thirty (30)
days after submission of a statement, and the FIRM must file suit to collect same, then in that
event, the CLIENT agrees to pay all costs of collection, including reasonable attorneys' fees, to the
FIRM.
1d. NO GUARANTEE: Payment of fees and costs incurred does not depend on the
achievement of any specific result, nor is it represented that any specific result will be achieved.
By CLIENT's signature below, CLIENT acknowledges that no guarantees or assurances of any kind
have been made by Attorney as to the disposition of any phase of this matter.
11. CLIENT SATISFACTION; FIRM wants CLIENT to be satisfied with the services
performed. To promote full and open communication, CLIENT agrees to let FIRM know, in writing,
immediately of any concerns CLIENT may have shout the way CLIENT'S matter is being handled.
This will be more effective than hearing from CLIENT at a later time when it may not be possible
to take meaningful corrective steps.
12. WAIVER OF CERTAIN CONFLICTS: You have agreed that, subject to certain
conditions described below, we may represent, now and in the future, other persons and entities.
In particular, you have agreed that while we are representing you in active, pending matters, we
may represent other clients in any matters adverse to you {or any of your affiliates), provided that
the matters (a) are not substantially related to active matters we are working on for you, {b} do
not involve situations where we have obtained confidential information from you that is material to
the new matter{s) and (c) do not involve litigation against you. In addition, if our representation
of you is terminated, we may thereafter represent other clients with interests adverse to yours
(even in litigation), provided that the representation does not involve confidential information that
we have obtained from you that it is material to those matters. By executing this Agreement you
are confirming the above and agreeing to waive any conflict of interest that arises in such
situations.
13. WAIVER OF JURY TRIAL AND DISPUTES BETWEEN CLIENT AND FIRM: ATTORNEY
AND FIRM AGREE TO WAIVE THEIR RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL IN THE EVENT OF A DISPUTE
BETWEEN THEM. All litigation involving any dispute between CLIENT and FIRM shall be brought in
the County or Grcuit Court in and for Palm Beach County, Florida having the appropriate
jurisdiction.
14. FIRM MAY SEEK AWARD OF ATTORNEY'S FEES AT HIGHER RATE THAN BEING
CHARGED CLIENT. Pursuant to the decision in Wolfe v. Nazaire, 713 So.2d 1108 (Fla. 4"' DCA
1998), in any litigation, including post-judgment collection efforts, FIRM shall have the right to
apply to the court for an award of attorney's fees from the nan-prevailing party higher than the
fees being charged CLIENT.
I5. MISCELLANEOUS: No attorney-client relationship shad be established until this
Agreement has been signed by bath parties. This Representation Agreement may only be
modified in writing, and shall continue to be binding upon the parties for any subsequent matters
which Attorney handles for CLIENT at the then current hourly rates of Attorney.
16. RETENTION OF FILE PAPERS, DOCUMENTS, AND THINGS: CLIENT understands
that upon conclusion of the matter and payment in full of fees and costs due FIRM, the CLIENT,
upon request, is entitled to all original documents, papers and things that CLIENT has provided to
the rIRi~t. Additionally, CLIENT acknowledges that because of space limitations and the cost of
storage, FIRM retains the file, the documents, papers and things, whether originals or copies, in
said file or associated therewith for a period of two (2) years from the conclusion of the matter.
The file wilt be placed in off-site storage. CLIENT acknowledges and agrees that said file including
the documents, papers, and things therein or associated therewith, both originals and copies, can
be destroyed by FIRM following the expiration of 2 years from the conclusion of the matter.
CLIENT further acknowledges and agrees that it is the responsibility of the CLIENT to request that
said documents, papers or things be returned to CLIENT.
FIRM:
BOOSE CASEY CIKLIN LUBITZ
MARTENS BANE & O' NELL
By:
and R. Chaves, P.A.
CLIENT:
THE VILLA7110
ALM BEACH
By: ~ .
avid Norris, as Mayor of The Vill
of North ~Pa~lm Beach -~-~
Attest : i~G'/,~~~~ /..-~~
~~T~ge C er c