Florida Dealer Sues Ex Over Snubbed $1M+ Fee
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They are saying you must by no means combine enterprise with pleasure.
An amicable break 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 during which she had lived with him whereas they have been nonetheless married.
Now Morgan has sued Jansheski and his firm that offered the property, Starboard Florida IV, in Miami-Dade Circuit Court docket for breach of written and oral contract, unjust enrichment and different counts, after Jansheski seemingly enabled one other agent to comb the itemizing out from Morgan’s toes, The Real Deal reported.
For a year-and-a-half, Morgan marketed the Star Island mansion in Miami Seashore, and even coordinated showings and offered a suggestion from a person who finally grew to become the customer of the property — however at a a lot decrease gross sales worth than the one Morgan had initially offered to her ex-husband.
“On its floor, this case entails an actual property gross sales fee dispute arising from for [sic] the sale of a house situated at 27 Star Island Drive, Miami Seashore, Florida,” the complaint states.
“On the identical time, on a extra profound stage, this case entails greater than an atypical fee dispute between two company events to an arms’-length itemizing contract. Fairly, it entails damaged guarantees made by a former husband, Mr. Jansheski (the managing member of Starboard) to his former spouse, Ms. Morgan, who procured the customer for the Inside Community and Starboard, who finally bought the Property, the previous marital house, to guard and take Ms. Morgan’s (and the Inside Community’s) curiosity within the fee on the Property.”
Morgan stated the authorized skirmish is about receiving credit score for the work she put into advertising the property.
“[The lawsuit is] about sustaining excessive requirements in our trade, giving credit score the place it’s due and all working collectively,” she instructed TRD in a press release.
The couple divorced in Could 2020. In February 2022, Morgan, who was then affiliated with One Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty, offered a $70 million provide from CrossCountry Mortgage CEO Ron Leonhardt to Jansheski’s firm, Starboard. In line with the lawsuit, Jansheski didn’t approve of the provide, which he known as a “backside feeder quantity” and “refused to current 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 symbolize the property, and in August 2022, she launched the Facet-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 overall 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 keeping 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 exhibiting of the property for Aug. 6 and, in keeping with the lawsuit, Jansheski had put in writing that “The Inside Community have been protected for its exhibiting” on that date, in keeping with the swimsuit.
“I instructed you you’re protected on this deal are you involved about this specific deal?” Jansheski texted Morgan on Aug. 5, 2023, an attachment to the grievance reveals.
Two days later, the customer submitted their last provide, which was accepted by Jansheski — and Morgan didn’t get a cent of the fee.
Morgan “labored actually, actually arduous for a very long time … and he paid her nothing,” the dealer’s lawyer, Alexander Almazan, stated. “The contract even got here to her, and the plaintiff had obtained from this identical purchaser a suggestion for over $10 million greater than was rejected by the vendor.”
The client was Equities Property Holdings, the lawsuit states. The LLC, whose proprietor was beforehand unknown, seems to be tied to Ron Leonhardt, as Leonhardt’s identify is listed on a discover of graduation that was submitted earlier this yr for a renovation of the pool, TRD reported.
The property includes a renovated 1924 visitor home that was designed by Walter D. Garmo and a more moderen waterfront mansion designed by South African-based SAOTA. At one level the property, which encompasses a complete of about 23,000 sq. toes of residing house, in keeping with an previous itemizing description, was asking $90 million.
Had Morgan been attributed because the itemizing agent on the $57 million sale, she would have obtained 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 Court docket Choose 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 looking 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 a dear 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 identification of the customer of his Indian Creek Village property, and finally conceding a $6 million low cost on the sale. The client of the house ended up being Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Goldentayer and two different Elliman brokers brokered the deal.
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