Houri v. Boaziz

196 So. 3d 383, 2016 Fla. App. LEXIS 3561, 2016 WL 937675
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMarch 9, 2016
Docket14-1836 & 14-1512
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 196 So. 3d 383 (Houri v. Boaziz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Houri v. Boaziz, 196 So. 3d 383, 2016 Fla. App. LEXIS 3561, 2016 WL 937675 (Fla. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

WELLS, Judge.

Plaintiff, Mordechai Boaziz, sued Defendants, Yizhak Toledano and David Houri, as well as a number of entities owned either individuálly or jointly by these two, 1 seeking to recover millions of dollars in damages for their alleged breach of fiduciary duties, fraud, and civil conspiracy in connection with three real estate projects: The Residence Las Vegas condominium conversion'; the Villag'gio on the Lakes condominium' conversion; and a transaction involving real property’in Golden Isles (the Golden Isles project). Boaziz also claimed violations of Florida’s Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act with respect to The Residence Las Vegas and Villaggio projects.

The crux of Boaziz’s action, as set out in his Third Amended Complaint, was that *386 he, Toledano, and Houri were engaged in a joint venture and while he was distracted by the worsening health of his elderly parents, Toledano and Houri had deliberately set out to take advantage of the trust and confidence reposed in them, and had devised and carried out an elaborate scheme by which they fraudulently transferred and concealed millions of dollars generated in connection with these projects.

The following facts relating to the three projects at issue are relatively uncontested and straight forward.

The Residence Las Vegas Condominium Conversion Project

This project commenced on November 1, 2004, when Boaziz, an experienced developer with dozens of condominium conversions under his belt, personally executed a $55,000,000 contract to purchase a 504 unit apartment complex in Las Vegas, Nevada. The following March, Boaziz assigned this contract to a Nevada limited liability company, The Residence Las Vegas, LLC — an entity in which Skyrise Development Group, Inc. was to hold an 83.34% interest and in which Boaziz was to hold a 16.66% interest.

Six weeks after the contract was assigned to The Residence Las Vegas, LLC, its members, Skyrise and Boaziz, executed an operating agreement to govern “the purchase, development, operation, management, marketing and resale” of this project. This operating agreement, accorded management oversight and control of the Las Vegas project to Skyrise, the LLC’s majority member, and clearly stated that the parties understood and agreed that all prior representations and understandings by and between the parties were encompassed within the operating agreement and that the operating agreement encompassed the entire agreement between the parties with regard to this project:

Section 14,8 Integration. This Operating Agreement sets forth all (and is intended by all parties herein to be an integration of all) of the promises, agreements, conditions, understandings, warranties and representations among the parties hereto with respect to the Company, the Company business and the property of the Company, and there are no promises, agreements, conditions, understanding, warranties, or representations, oral or written, express or implied, among them other than as set forth herein.
Section 14.8 Entire Agreement, Etc. This agreement (together with the Exhibits hereto, or agreements provided for herein, which constitute a part hereof, and the other documents delivered pursuant hereto) constitutes the entire agreement of the parties hereto with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes all prior agreements and understandings of the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof.

Approximately one month after signing this operating agreement, Skyrise and Golan Equity Management, LLC, an entity owned by Boaziz, executed another operating agreement relating to this project. The stated purpose of this agreement was to form and operate a Florida limited liability company, The Residence Florida, LLC, to either develop, operate, manage, market, and resell real property or to acquire an interest in other entities which were engaged in such activities, more specifically the Nevada limited liability company’s interest in the Las Vegas condominium conversion project.

This operating agreement, like the operating agreement governing the Nevada limited liability company, identified the same two members: Skyrise (an entity owned by Houri and Toledano) with an 83.34% interest and Golan (an entity *387 owned by Boaziz) with a 16.66% interest. And like the operating agreement governing the Nevada limited liability company, this agreement represented that it encompassed the entire agreement between the parties and that all prior representations and understandings between the parties were encompassed within the agreement.

After this agreement was executed, the parties amended the operating agreement for the Nevada limited liability company, The Residence Las Vegas, LLC, to reflect that Skyrise and Boaziz no longer were members but that now the sole member of the Nevada company was The Residence Florida, LLC (an entity whose members were Skyrise and Golan). The amended operating agreement, like the two operating agreements' before it, included the same integration clause and a clause regarding the entirety of the parties’ understanding.

Purchase of the Las Vegas apartment complex was closed on June 25, 2005.

Villaggio on the Lakes Condominium Conversion Project

This project commenced in January 2005, when Houri and Toledano identified a potential condominium conversion project in Florida, the Villaggio on the Lakes project. In March 2005, Villaggio on the Lakes Development, LLC was formed to purchase the Villaggio Lakes property. The sole member of this company is Vil-laggio Holdings, LLC, an entity owned equally by Boaziz, Houri, and Toledano individually. The operating agreements for both Villaggio on the Lakes Development, LLC and Villaggio Holdings, LLC expressly state their purpose as the purchase and development of the Villaggio Lakes condominium conversion project, and like the agreements made with regard to The Residence Las Vegas conversion, include identical or virtually identical integration clauses and provisions regarding the entirety of the understanding between the parties.

The Golden Isles Project

The Golden Isles project involved the purchase of property in Hallandale Beach, Florida. Boaziz located the property and invited Houri and Toledano to be equal partners with him in the purchase and resale of the property. In October 2004, Boaziz, Houri, and Toledano purchased the property in Golden Isles 'for $3,500,000. Unlike the Residence Las Vegas project or the Villaggio on the Lakes project, no operating or other written agreements were ever executed by the parties with regard tó this project.

The Claims Made Below

Claiming the existence of an overarching joint venture agreement, Boaziz alleged, with regard to The Residence Las Vegas project, that Toledano and Houri breached fiduciary duties owed to him, conspired to commit fraud, and defrauded him first by getting him to. agree to take less than a one third interest in this venture and then later by diverting funds from the project to themselves or entities controlled by them.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
196 So. 3d 383, 2016 Fla. App. LEXIS 3561, 2016 WL 937675, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/houri-v-boaziz-fladistctapp-2016.