Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (October 1, 2025) - Fort Lauderdale Managing Partner Cheryl Wilke and Partner Alexander Harne secured an appellate victory from the Fifth District Court of Appeal affirming a complete defense verdict for their clients, civil engineering firm Gulfstream Design Group and its owner, Matthew Lahti, in a high-stakes professional negligence case in which the plaintiff had sought more than $20 million.
The case involved a 100-acre tract of land in St. Johns County, Florida, owned by the plaintiff. The land was zoned for rural farming, and she wished to sell the property for development. She entered into a contract with Southeast Georgia Acquisitions (“SGA”) to sell the property with the goal of creating a 200-home subdivision. SGA hired Doug Burnett as land use counsel and our client, Gulfstream Design Group, as the civil engineer to design the project.
The defenses presented were clear: there was no duty of any kind owed by Gulfstream and its sole responsibility was to create a PUD plan consistent with the then-existing zoning and related requirements of the County. Gulfstream did so, and the PUD was approved. The subsequent change in flood zones was solely related to FEMA requirements and did not result from any negligence on the part of Gulfstream or Lahti.
The plaintiff asserted that her damages were over $20 million as a result of the “burden” of the PUD and the professional negligence of the defendants.
In May 2024, after nine days of jury trial and six and a half hours of deliberations, the jury found no fiduciary duty on the part of Gulfstream and no professional negligence.
The plaintiff appealed to the Fifth District Court of Appeal. As to Gulfstream and Lahti, she argued that the trial court had erred in denying her motion for a directed verdict on the issue of whether those defendants owed her a fiduciary duty. In addition, the appellant argued that the trial court abused its discretion by rejecting the inclusion of her special agency instruction to the standard jury instruction on fiduciary duty.
On September 19, 2025, during live oral arguments in Daytona Beach, Florida, the Fifth DCA panel heavily questioned counsel for the plaintiff on the foundations for each of those arguments and his responses did not pass muster. Conversely, the appellate panel appeared to be satisfied by the arguments set forth by the Lewis Brisbois team in favor of Gulfstream and Lahti's position that the trial court committed neither reversible error nor abused its discretion.
By per curiam opinion, the Fifth DCA affirmed the defense verdict in this complex matter stemming from a land sale, including its finding that Gulfstream and Lahti owed no fiduciary duty to the plaintiff and had not engaged in professional negligence.