Judge dismisses lawsuit against Fisher Island luxury brokers

Palazzo Della Luna and (from left) Mayi de la Vega, Dora Puig and Rose Bauer
Luxury broker Rose Bauer will not receive a check for half a million dollars as part of the $ 10.4 million sale of a condominium in Fisher Island.
Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Mark Blumstein recently dismissed a lawsuit, filed by Bauer and his company Rivero Real Estate, against brokers Dora Puig, Mayi de la Vega, their brokerage houses and buyers Dennis Lehman and Kelley Kosow. In his lawsuit, filed in October, Bauer alleged that Puig and de a Vega went behind his back to strike a deal in 2019 with Lehman and Kosow for a four-bedroom unit at Palazzo Della Luna. As a result, Bauer claimed that she and Rivero Real Estate missed a 5% commission, or about $ 520,000, even though she was the primary broker representing the buyers.
“We are disappointed with the outcome of this case, but respect the court ruling nonetheless,” said David Haft, lawyer for Bauer and Rivero Real Estate.
Puig, de la Vega and their lawyers did not respond to requests for comment. Paul Breitner, lawyer for Lehman and Kosow, declined to comment.
Lehman, founder and president of Lehman Plumbing Supply, and Kosow, his wife, initially hired Bauer to help them find a new marital home. All three signed a registration agreement with Fisher Island Real Estate on June 2, 2018, according to court documents. As part of his lawsuit, Bauer included a copy of the agreement stating that she and Rivero were the couple’s sole agents for the purchase of a unit at the Palazzo Del Sol, which at the time had just been completed, or at Palazzo Della Luna, which was under construction at the time.
But Lehman and Kosow, with help from Puig, replaced Bauer and Rivero with de la Vega, making her and her brokerage One Sotheby’s International Realty the exclusive agents for a purchase at Palazzo della Luna, according to the trial.
In a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, Puig argued that Bauer and Rivero Real Estate had failed to fulfill the co-broker’s registration contract in order to receive a commission and that she was only representing Lehman and Kosow in connection with the ‘a sale at Palazzo Del Sol. . The couple signed a purchase contract for their unit on October 31, 2018, two months after Bauer’s registration contract expired, which is another reason she is not entitled to a commission, according to Puig’s motion to reject.
Additionally, Bauer and Rivero Real Estate signed another agreement in which they specifically acknowledged that de la Vega and One Sotheby’s represented the couple in the sale of a purchase at Palazzo Della Luna, Puig’s motion noted.
âThe plaintiffs agreed that a commission on the sale of a condominium unit to Mr. Lehman in Della Luna would be properly paid to Mayi de la Vega, while a commission on the sale of a condominium unit to Mr. Lehman in del Sol would be properly paid to them, âthe motion states. “The agreement was requested by Mr. Lehman to clarify exactly who represented him for each separate building.”