January 29, 2015
FIU College of Business's Real Estate Alumni Affinity Council (REAAC)
Overview
Our clients include developers and project sponsors, railroads, air carriers, aviation entrepreneurs, aircraft dealers, aviation repair stations, airport tenants, pilot training academies, fixed-based operators, ports, marinas, municipalities, businesses involved in inter-modal transportation and other concerns related to transportation and infrastructure development.
Range of Services
Aviation & Maritime Issues
- Assist clients navigate the Motor Carrier Act/Carmack Amendment, Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (COGSA), and Air Shipments/Warsaw Convention
- Represent clients in the purchase, sale and financing of aircraft and vessels
Mapping, GIS & Data Analysis
- Utilize 3-D technology for analysis and visualization for land use restrictions based on airport flight paths
Land Development & Environmental
- Assist land developers and infrastructure and utility providers in undertaking Public-Private Partnerships (P3) that provide the public with benefits that governments alone would not be able to provide
- Assist with regional, state, and federal environmental permitting, including defending permit challenges
- Special use planning for airports, ports and marinas
Labor & Employment
- Represent clients before the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and in both federal and state courts on many types of employment-related claims, such as wage and hour issues, employment discrimination and non-compete agreements
- Counsel and represent airline carriers in connection with their rights and responsibilities under the Railway Labor Act, including: (a) challenges to carriers’ rights to change or interpret the “status quo” with respect to rates of pay, rules and working conditions; and (b) National Mediation Board proceedings, including adjudication of “carrier” status and representation issues
Litigation & Dispute Resolution
- Dispute resolution, including administrative proceedings and litigation
Notable Experience
- Represented All Aboard Florida, an express passenger rail system which connects the four largest urban population centers in Southern and Central Florida, namely, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Orlando in several matters, including:
- State administrative proceeding challenging an Environmental Resource Permit Modification issued by the South Florida Water Management District. Following a lengthy proceeding, including a two-week hearing, the presiding Administrative Law Judge issued a Recommended Order which found for All Aboard Florida on all issues and endorsed the permit under review. That Recommended Order, which was adopted by the South Florida Water Management District in its Final Order, contains the most thorough analysis to date as of 2024 on the issue of whether the first element of the public interest test permits consideration of non-environmental factors and provides more predictability and clarity as to the application of the public interest criteria.
- Series of actions brought by Indian River and Martin Counties challenging the U.S. Department of Transportation’s allocation of tax-exempt private activity bond authority to the All Aboard Florida Project and the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Project. Following extensive briefing and oral argument, the presiding U.S. District Court entered a lengthy Memorandum Opinion and Order granting summary judgment in favor of DOT and All Aboard Florida on all claims asserted. Members of our team were the principal drafters of All Aboard Florida’s briefs in the District Court and the subsequent appeal to the D.C. Circuit, which resulted in a unanimous opinion affirming the grant of summary judgment in all respects. The U.S. Supreme Court denied Indian River County’s Petition for Writ of Certiorari, bringing to an end the six-year effort to derail the passenger rail service from West Palm Beach to Orlando.
- Represented the developer of a large marina including 147 ultra and mega-yachts, 125 dry storage slips, and a large boatyard facility in Palm Beach County, Florida.
- Represented an international airport in the assessment, planning and implementation of environmental cost recovery program, including cost recovery litigation.
