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BIOGRAPHIES
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Practice Areas
Commercial and Business Litigation
Commercial Mortgage Foreclosures and Receiverships, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Bankruptcy and Reorganization, Class Action Litigation, Commercial Litigation, Distressed Property, Dealer Distribution and Inventory Finance Litigation
Additional Practice Areas
Financial Institutions Litigation and CMBS Foreclosures
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| Joseph ('Ed') Foster has been a commercial litigator in the state and federal courts of Florida for more than 30 years. He is licensed to practice in all Florida state courts, all Florida federal district courts, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and the U.S. Supreme Court. He has handled a wide variety of commercial litigation matters over the years, including a number of jury trials. Ed is a certified mediator, and always looks to resolve matters in the best interests of his clients, whether that be via a negotiated settlement or through trial.
Ed is known for his ability to assess a situation, focus on the result desired by the client, and then find the most direct path to that desired end. In reaching the desired result, Ed is known for his creative solutions to difficult problems.
Awards & Recognition | Chambers USA, Ranked since 2006 for Litigation: General Commercial in Florida |
| Best Lawyers in America 2008, 2009 and 2010, Listed for Commercial Litigation, Banking Law and Bankruptcy & Creditor's Rights Law |
| Orlando Magazine 2010, Named in "Best Lawyers" list |
| Super Lawyers 2007, 2008 and 2009, Listed in Florida for Bankruptcy and Creditors Rights |
| Certified Mediator, Florida Supreme Court |
| Certified Appellate Mediator, Florida 5th DCA |
| Martindale Hubbell, AV Rated |
Notable Client Work
Below are examples of experience in mortgage foreclosures, receiverships and financial institutions litigation in general.
Foreclosure Litigation experience:
| Extensive experience in litigating mortgage foreclosures and accompanying receiverships in a variety of state courts throughout Florida. Florida law does not provide for any type of non-judicial mortgage foreclosure process. Thus, all mortgage foreclosures in Florida are full-fledged lawsuits, usually brought in state court in the county or counties in which the subject real property is located. |
| Handled a variety of foreclosures of mortgages on various nursing homes, golf courses, shopping centers, office buildings, condominium projects, and residential developments. Several of these foreclosures involved the appointment of receivers. Several of these foreclosures involved condominiums under construction and residential developments under construction, with accompanying issues regarding pre-sale deposits, simultaneous breach of contract actions by contract purchasers, and defenses and counterclaims alleging various deficiencies in the lender's loan administration. |
| Handled a substantial number of CMBS foreclosures and receiverships, and works regularly with special servicers in such foreclosures. |
| Involved in a variety of distressed loan purchases and sales, foreclosure judgment purchases and sales, and foreclosure bid assignments. |
| Handled a variety of Revised Article IX sales, both judicial and non-judicial, as well as a variety of self-help repossessions and judicial replevins of personalty, including automobile dealerships, jet and other aircraft, furniture inventory, restaurant equipment, medical equipment, flight simulators, livestock, crops, furniture, fixtures, and heavy equipment.
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| Involved extensively in the drafting of portions of Section 702.10 Florida Statutes, the show cause foreclosure statute, and regularly uses this somewhat streamlined foreclosure procedure in commercial foreclosures. |
| Handled foreclosures and workouts on citrus processing facilities and citrus groves, and has foreclosed both traditional mortgages and an equitable lien on a horse farm and the horses thereon. |
| Consult regularly with the Florida Bankers Association on proposed legislation affecting the financial institutions industry, particularly as it relates to mortgage foreclosures, proceedings supplementary, and judgment enforcement.
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| Lecture regularly on mortgage foreclosure law. Most recently, a panelist on two panels at the Trigild Lenders Conference, an annual conference for CMBS special servicers in San Diego, and on a panel at the Florida Bankers Association's "Weathering the Storm" conference on distressed loans and the economy. |
| Employ receivers regularly in connection with commercial mortgage foreclosures and has, from time to time, represented receivers in commercial workout matters. |
| Represent a variety of financial institutions in the negotiation and enforcement of workouts, forbearance agreements, soft notes, and short sales.
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Financial Institutions Litigation experience:
| Represent a variety of financial institutions in various types of non-foreclosure litigation. Over the years, handled a wide variety of financial institutions litigation, including replevins, judgment collection matters, proceedings supplementary, lender liability defense, class action defense, Consumer Leasing Act litigation, safe deposit box litigation, breach of trust and breach of fiduciary duty litigation. |
| Represented what is now SunTrust Bank, in an action against E.F. Hutton & Company, Inc., alleging that Hutton had fraudulently misrepresented the creditworthiness of one of its clients, in consequence of which Sun Bank made a large business loan guaranteed by the Hutton client individually. In Sun Bank, N.A. v. E.F. Hutton & Company, Inc., after a five-day non-jury trial in federal court in Orlando, the Court entered judgment against Hutton for approximately $1 million, the full amount being sought by Sun Bank. The case was subsequently affirmed on appeal. The Eleventh Circuit's decision is reported at 926 F. 2d 1030 (11th Cir. 1991). (The Bank subsequently collected in full on the Judgment.) This case is still widely cited for its agency law analysis and rulings. |
| Represented a large bank as plaintiff in a state court action against a citrus grove borrower and two guarantors. After a hotly contested five-day jury trial, obtained a verdict for approximately $7 million against the borrower and guarantors. The defendants had raised a variety of defenses, including tortious interference with business relationships and bad faith dealing on the part of the bank. After obtaining the judgment, instituted a massive proceeding supplementary, which included, in part, dozens of garnishments, the imposition of an equitable lien against approximately 15 business entities, including a spendthrift trust, in which one or more of the defendants had various degrees of ownership, the appointment of receivers in two separate actions brought to foreclose a mortgage and a security interest on the citrus grove, and the inspection of the private residence of one of the guarantors. |
| Represented a financial institution in various breach of trust suits brought by disgruntled beneficiaries seeking to recover for the trustee's alleged breach of fiduciary duty in the administration of various large trusts. |
| Represented SunTrust Bank in A.C. Condominium Association, Inc. v. SunTrust Bank, 815 So. 2d 720 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002). In that case, a condominium association sought to recover from the Bank a special assessment for termite damage. The Bank had recently acquired its unit through a foreclosure. The association argued that the Bank was liable for the assessment because the assessment was essentially prospective in nature, and had not come due until after the Bank acquired title to its unit. The Bank argued, and the Fifth DCA agreed, that the assessment had come due in the past, even though payment of the entire assessment was to be made in future installments. |
| Handled a variety of automobile dealership-related litigation, including dealership status matters, lender liability defense, and several dealership repossessions.
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Commercial Litigation experience:
| Represented a Fortune 50 company to replace its prior counsel, and successfully resolved a case involving royalties allegedly due for sales of a turbine engine component. The case had been pending for eighteen (18) years. |
| In Lockheed Martin Corporation v. galaxis USA, Ltd., et. al, _______ F. Supp.2d _______, (M.D. Fla. 2002), 88 Fed. Appx. 389 (11th Cir. 2003), tried a 6 day federal non-jury trial involving breach of a commercial contract for the manufacture of a satellite TV reception device. The court awarded Lockheed approximately $6 million at the end of that trial. |
| Defended the Florida Democratic Party in a defamation action which had been brought in the Circuit Court in Polk County, Florida by the husband of a successful Republican candidate for the Florida House. The Plaintiff alleged that certain campaign materials distributed by the Florida Democratic Party during the campaign defamed him. We filed a Motion to Dismiss the Complaint shortly after the suit was filed. After a lengthy hearing over portions of two days, we convinced the Court to dismiss the Plaintiff's action with prejudice. The dismissal was subsequently reversed on appeal. We then obtained a partial summary judgment establishing that the plaintiff was a public figure. Armed with that ruling, we then obtained a summary judgment on all remaining issues. That final summary judgment was affirmed by the Second District Court of Appeals. The Second District's decision is reported at Dockery v. Florida Democratic Party, 799 So. 2d. 291 (Fla. 2d DCA, 2001). |
| Handled a variety of litigation matters arising in the agribusiness sector; handled foreclosures and receiverships on a variety of citrus grove properties; represented creditors in connection with foreclosures and workouts on citrus processing facilities; tried to conclusion a jury trial involving the allegedly defective painting of a juice extractor room at a citrus processing plant; has foreclosed both traditional mortgages and an equitable lien on a horse farm and the horses thereon; has also handled, and successfully settled, a major litigation matter involving the interstate shipment of diseased cattle, which litigation involved counterfeit branding issues; handled an appellate matter involving a challenge to Florida's regulations on Equine Infectious Anemia, also known as Swamp Fever; and also handled a variety of partition suits involving agricultural property. |
| Represented a New York-based business whose trusted bookkeeper had embezzled over $3 million, retired, and then used the money to purchase a quarter horse farm in Florida; obtained an equitable lien on the horse farm and the horses, as well as an injunction to prevent the sale or transfer of the farm and the horses. |
| Represented a private school from which the principal was accused of embezzling more than $3 million and obtained a judgment against the principal awarding damages for the full amount stolen and imposing an equitable lien on the principal's homestead. |
| Handled various product liability matters over the years, including a defective riding lawnmower design case, a defective airport people mover case, a defective elevator case, a defective residential electric meter case and a defective hotel electrical switchbox case. Also represented a major tire manufacturer in a tire-rim mismatch case in which the Plaintiff had been severely injured when the bead on the tire broke during mounting. Prior to the trial, the firm was able to prevail on the trial judge to award partial summary judgment in favor of the manufacturer, finding that said manufacturer did not have a duty to warn this particular Plaintiff of the dangers of tire-rim mismatches because this particular Plaintiff was functionally illiterate. This ruling was instrumental in enabling us to obtain a directed verdict for the manufacturer at the close of the Plaintiff's case-in-chief. |
| Obtained a temporary injunction in Volusia County, Florida Circuit Court to prevent the distribution of autopsy photos of the late Dale Earnhardt.
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e-Discovery:
| Ed is a member and former co-chair of Akerman's e-Discovery practice. E-Discovery is such a newly emerging practice area that virtually no one yet has any real depth of experience in litigating complex e-discovery issues. Ed is a member of The Sedona Conference, the world's premier think-tank on all things e-discovery, and has long had an interest in computer-related topics, having received his undergraduate degree in mathematics, and having been an inaugural member of the Florida Bar's Computer Law Committee. He was the first, and second, person to file suit electronically in the Florida 9th Circuit's Business Court. He has been lecturing on e-discovery since 2003, and has spoken recently on the topic at three national level seminars, and several local seminars. |
Published Work and Lectures | Frequently writes and lectures on all aspects of Florida foreclosure law,
Florida judgment collection law, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and locally and nationally on e-discovery issues. |
| Commercial Lending Review, Co-Author, "Commercial Loan Recovery 101: How to Obtain Maximum Returns," May-June 2009
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| Trigild Deskbook Guide, Co-Author, Florida-specific portions of "Deskbook Guide to Receivership & Foreclosure," 2009
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Bar Admissions
Florida
Court Admissions
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida
U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida
U.S. Court of Federal Claims
All Florida State Courts
Professional Memberships and Activities | The Florida Bar, Business Law Committee, Member; Trial Lawyers Section; Member
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| Orlando Science Center, Board of Trustees, 1993-Present; Chairman of the Board, 2006-2007 |
| Central Florida Inns of Court, Master Member
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| Florida Bar, Computer Law Committee, Inaugural Member |
| Orange County Bar Association, Chairman, CLE Committee, 1992-1997
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Professional Experience | Ford Motor Credit Company, Regional Counsel for North Florida |
| Intercollegiate Debate, 4 years |
| Florida 9th Circuit Business Court, First and second person to file a case electronically |
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Education
1979: J.D., University of Florida College of Law, with honors
1976: B.S., University of Central Florida, Major(s): Mathematics
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