Famed Trial Attorney Willie Gary appears before Miami-Dade committee to avoid filing Billion-Dollar Lawsuit against Miami-Dade Aviation Department
MIAMI – Famed Trial Attorney Willie Gary spoke to the Miami-Dade Airport and Seaport Committee on Thursday, April 16 in an attempt to avoid billion-dollar litigation against Miami-Dade County Aviation Department (“MDAD”) and AA Acquisitions, Inc. (“AA”) for their reckless and discriminatory treatment of Opa-locka Flightline, LLC (“OLF”).
His client, Opa-locka Flightline, is the only African-American-owned and operated FBO in the nation. Gary contends that amid his client’s negotiation for a new lease with MDAD, MDAD improperly assigned Opa-locka’s leasehold interest to AA.
“As soon as MDAD got in bed with AA, they colluded to destroy and put my client out of business. MDAD breached its promises and failed to live up to its contractual obligations. My client relied on the County’s representations to its detriment and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of its hard earned money,” said Gary.
Atty Willie Gary
At the Committee meeting earlier today, Gary implored the Commissioners to investigate the reckless and discriminatory conduct of MDAD and AA against his client. Other non-minority FBO received preferential treatment with the leases once the County assigned its interests to AA.
Instead, OLF is facing an illegal eviction proceeding from AA and other threats by MDAD.
Gary further contends that as a result of its illegal and discriminatory conduct against Opa-locka Flightline, MDAD has violated both state and federal laws that could seriously put all the federal funding for the Miami-Dade Airport and related entities in jeopardy. “We certainly do not want to sue the County because we believe that they should do the right thing and honor their commitment; but if we have no choice, we will do what we have to do to seek justice,” Gary reiterated.
Gary is no stranger to seeking justice. He is noted for winning a $240 million jury verdict in Orange County against the Walt Disney Corporation for his clients who alleged Disney stole their idea for a sports theme park.
In 2001, a jury awarded Gary a $139.6 million verdict for the Maris Distribution Company against Anheuser Busch. In addition, Gary was given a half-billion dollar verdict in Jackson, Mississippi against the Loewen Group, a large Canadian funeral home chain.
