Partner, Russ Klemm, recently argued before the US Court of Appeals, for the 11th Circuit.  The case in question is Affordable Housing Group, Inc. v. Florida Housing Affordability, Inc.

CM’s client, Affordable Housing Group, is a monitoring agent for the FDIC, and they hired CM to file suit against Florida Housing Affordability, Inc. (the corporate owner of an apartment building in Kissimmee) to enforce their compliance with their Land Use Restriction Agreement (LURA) -  a contract to provide affordable housing, which the corporate owner entered into when they purchased the apartment building.

When CM filed suit against Florida Housing Affordability to enforce the LURA, they filed a countersuit claiming that the LURA could not be enforced due to the enactments of the Dodd-Frank Act.  At this point, the FDIC intervened and was added as a counterclaim defendant and the case was moved from Florida State Court to Federal Court.  CM’s client and the FDIC, as co-defendants, moved to dismiss the counterclaim which was granted.  Then, Florida Housing Affordability appealed this dismissal, which moved this case to the U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit, where the case was scheduled for in-person Oral Argument (which is routinely not granted), at the Elbert P. Tuttle United States Court of Appeals Building in Atlanta, GA.

To summarize: CM’s client is a corporation and monitoring agent for the FDIC, and is an Appellee, together with the FDIC, for a case argued at the U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit.  The case involved complex issues regarding contract law and the interpretation of certain provisions of the United States Code.   Participating in Oral Argument before the US Court of Appeals is quite prestigious and CM is proud of Russ Klemm.

If you would like to hear Russ’s argument, here is an audio link: https://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/oral-argument-recordings