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They are saying you must by no means combine enterprise with pleasure.
An amicable cut up between Florida dealer Alyssa Morgan and her ex-husband, John Jansheski, went awry after Morgan agreed to promote the dental items exec’s multi-home property by which she had lived with him whereas they have been nonetheless married.
Now Morgan has sued Jansheski and his firm that bought the property, Starboard Florida IV, in Miami-Dade Circuit Courtroom for breach of written and oral contract, unjust enrichment and different counts, after Jansheski seemingly enabled one other agent to brush the itemizing out from Morgan’s ft, The Actual Deal reported.
For a year-and-a-half, Morgan marketed the Star Island mansion in Miami Seaside, and even coordinated showings and introduced a suggestion from a person who finally turned the customer of the property — however at a a lot decrease gross sales worth than the one Morgan had initially introduced to her ex-husband.
“On its surface, this case involves a real estate sales commission dispute arising from for [sic] the sale of a home located at 27 Star Island Drive, Miami Beach, Florida,” the grievance states.
“At the same time, on a more profound level, this case involves more than an ordinary commission dispute between two corporate parties to an arms’-length listing contract. Rather, it involves broken promises made by a former husband, Mr. Jansheski (the managing member of Starboard) to his former wife, Ms. Morgan, who procured the buyer for the Inside Network and Starboard, who ultimately purchased the Property, the former marital home, to protect and take Ms. Morgan’s (and the Inside Network’s) interest in the commission on the Property.”
Morgan mentioned the authorized skirmish is about receiving credit score for the work she put into advertising and marketing the property.
“[The lawsuit is] about maintaining high standards in our industry, giving credit where it’s due and all working together,” she informed TRD in an announcement.
The couple divorced in Could 2020. In February 2022, Morgan, who was then affiliated with One Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty, introduced a $70 million provide from CrossCountry Mortgage CEO Ron Leonhardt to Jansheski’s firm, Starboard. In response to the lawsuit, Jansheski didn’t approve of the provide, which he known as a “bottom feeder number” and “refused to present any counteroffer.” On the time, the grievance states, Morgan let Jansheski know that the customer remained within the property, regardless of the shortage of any counteroffer.
Morgan continued to characterize the property, and in August 2022, she launched the Aspect-backed Inside Community. Morgan and Jansheski then entered into an unique gross sales settlement in October 2022 and in December 2022, the Inside Community and Jansheski’s Starboard Florida IV amended the itemizing settlement to boost the entire fee quantity from 3 % to 4.5 %. The settlement stipulated that Inside Community would obtain a 2 % fee on the sale.
The property’s asking worth was dropped from $77 million to about $74.7 million in January 2023. A month later, Jansheski’s Starboard ended the unique itemizing settlement with Morgan whereas permitting Inside Community to proceed to market the property, the lawsuit states.
By Could 2023, Morgan had organized a walkthrough with the customer, in accordance with textual content messages cited within the lawsuit submitting. By Aug. 1, nevertheless, Jansheski had handed the itemizing over to Dina Goldentayer at Douglas Elliman. In the meantime, Morgan had scheduled a displaying of the property for Aug. 6 and, in accordance with the lawsuit, Jansheski had put in writing that “The Inside Network were protected for its showing” on that date, in accordance with the go well with.
“I told you you are protected on this deal are you concerned about this particular deal?” Jansheski texted Morgan on Aug. 5, 2023, an attachment to the grievance exhibits.
Two days later, the customer submitted their remaining provide, which was accepted by Jansheski — and Morgan didn’t get a cent of the fee.
Morgan “worked really, really hard for a long time … and he paid her nothing,” the dealer’s legal professional, Alexander Almazan, mentioned. “The contract even came to her, and the plaintiff had received from this same buyer an offer for over $10 million more than was rejected by the seller.”
The customer was Equities Property Holdings, the lawsuit states. The LLC, whose proprietor was beforehand unknown, seems to be tied to Ron Leonhardt, as Leonhardt’s title is listed on a discover of graduation that was submitted earlier this yr for a renovation of the pool, TRD reported.
The property encompasses a renovated 1924 visitor home that was designed by Walter D. Garmo and a more recent waterfront mansion designed by South African-based SAOTA. At one level the property, which encompasses a complete of about 23,000 sq. ft of dwelling area, in accordance with an outdated itemizing description, was asking $90 million.
Had Morgan been attributed because the itemizing agent on the $57 million sale, she would have acquired a fee of $1.14 million. Goldentayer will not be talked about as a defendant within the lawsuit. Chad Carroll of Compass represented the customer.
Morgan first filed a grievance in November 2023, and the case was dismissed by Miami-Dade Circuit Courtroom Decide Joseph Perkins in August 2024. This September, Morgan filed an amended grievance that added the allegation of breach of oral contract. On Oct. 3, 2024, Jansheski and Starboard filed a movement to dismiss that argued Morgan is barred from searching for out a fee from Jansheski and that there isn’t any oral contract exception to Florida regulation.
Goldentayer was peripherally concerned in one other lawsuit involving an expensive transaction in Miami earlier this yr, though she was not named as a defendant. A homeseller sued Douglas Elliman for deceptive him in regards to the id of the customer of his Indian Creek Village property, and finally conceding a $6 million low cost on the sale. The customer of the house ended up being Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Goldentayer and two different Elliman brokers brokered the deal.
E mail Lillian Dickerson
