GUNTHER v. MORGAN LEWIS BOCKIUS LLP BDO LLP BDO USA LLP AIG (2022)

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

Robert C. GUNTHER, Jayne C. Gunther, and Highpoint Tower Technology, Inc., Appellants, v. MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS LLP, a Pennsylvania limited liability partnership; BDO Seidman, LLP, n/k/a BDO USA LLP, a New York limited liability partnership; and AIG International Inc., a Delaware corporation, Appellees.

No. 2D21-341

Decided: October 21, 2022

Adam P. Merrill of Watershed Law LLC, Chicago, Illinois; Scott F. Hessell of Sterling & Slater, P.C., Chicago, Illinois, and Scott C. Ilgenfritz of Johnson, Pope, Bokor, Ruppel & Burns, LLP, Tampa, for Appellants. Ceci C. Berman of Brannock Humphries & Berman, Tampa; James P. Fogelman and Shannon Mader of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Los Angeles, California; and Jennifer K. Bracht of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Denver, Colorado, for Appellee Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. No appearance for remaining Appellees.

Robert C. Gunther, Jayne C. Gunther, and Highpoint Tower Technology, Inc. (collectively, “Gunther”), appeal the circuit court's dismissal with prejudice of Gunther's claims against Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP.

This opinion issues contemporaneously with the opinion in Logan v. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP, case number 2D21-337. While the plaintiffs in the two cases differ, their complaints against Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP for allegedly aiding and abetting fraud and breach of fiduciary duty and for civil conspiracy are materially similar. The cases have traveled together in this court, and they were presented contemporaneously at oral argument by the same attorneys. Any factual differences between the cases, while potentially important to the ultimate outcomes of the proceedings below, are inconsequential to this court's review of the orders dismissing the actions.

Therefore, for the reasons stated in this court's opinion in case number 2D21-337, in which we reversed the dismissal of Logan's claims, we likewise reverse the dismissal of Gunther's claims and remand for further proceedings consistent with the Logan opinion.

Reversed and remanded for further proceedings.

PER CURIAM.

NORTHCUTT, CASANUEVA, and ROTHSTEIN-YOUAKIM, JJ., Concur.

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