DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Legal Newsline) - A Florida judge will review the records of a roofing company caught up elsewhere in allegations it conspired with lawyers while purporting to be representing customers.
Apex Roofing and Restoration performed repair work by obtaining an Assignment of Benefits with homeowners whose property had been damaged. The AOB allowed Apex to negotiate with insurers on behalf of their clients.
The company is named in an alleged scheme with the Houston law firm McClenny, Mosely & Associates. It is claimed Apex would obtain AOBs then hire those lawyers without their customers' knowledge, thus entitling the lawyers to a percentage of what was recovered from insurers.
Customers of Apex claim they had no idea they were represented by counsel. It has led to disciplinary action against lawyers at MMA and a class action lawsuit.
In Florida, Apex sued Security First Insurance Company in 2022 over work done on Nancy Forde's Apopka home. Apex claimed Security did not pay enough to cover the costs of repair.
In response, Security First asked to see Apex's correspondence with subcontractors; all bids, proposals and related materials; and all estimates. Apex argued these were protected trade secrets, but a Seminole County judge disagreed.
That judge also saw no reason to inspect them first in chambers before submitting them to open court. On May 31, the state's Fifth District Court of Appeal found error with that part of Judge Carsandra Buie's ruling, finding she should have conducted an evidentiary hearing or in chambers inspection.
"We agree with our sister courts that when confronted with an assertion of trade-secret privilege, 'the court must first determine whether the requested production constitutes a trade secret; if so, the court must require the party seeking production to show reasonable necessity for the requested materials; if production is then ordered, the court must set forth in its findings," the ruling says.
Security First seems to be on the lookout for fraud in the repair of Forde's home, possibly through increased billings by subcontractors preferred by Apex. In its 2023 motion, it said the trade-secrets privilege only applies "If the allowance of the privilege will not conceal fraud or otherwise work injustice."