550.pdf

NOT A CERTIFIED COPY ' .. IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE 15TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA JEFFREY EPSTEIN, CASE NO. 502009CA040800XXXXMBAG Plaintiff, VS. SCOTT ROTHSTEIN, individually, BRADLEY J. EDWARDS, individually and L.M., individually, Defendant( s ). I ------------- '.'Q ~.? J>~ ~ r-► - n~::o .,_,. ~~~ ~ ""Tl c:>::o - =.£~ ~· ~ n·o m -"n -0 ·I•·, !!Eg?-:z O. r-z M- CtJ ... μ. 'ti =<M· (II. -.y::U. ~ " .,-:iii: NOTICE OF OBJECTION TO RESCHEDULING ED.WARDS' MOTION TO DISQUALIFY OPPOSING COUNSEL COMES NOW Jeffrey Epstein, through the undersigned counsel, and files this Notice of Objection to Rescheduling the Motion to Disqualify presently set for October 25, 2012 and would state as follows: 1. The Court, ex mero motu, set a hearing on the pending Motion to Disqualify the undersigned for 25 October at 1 :30pm. 2. After receiving notice of this hearing, the undersigned's secretary transmitted an email to Mary, attorney Scarola's secretary, on 11 October asking that they agree to request a reset of that date as the undersigned was already scheduled to leave town for a seminar with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in New Orleans [see email conversation, attached hereto as Exhibit A and confirmation ofits receipt]. Neither attorney Scarola nor his office dained to reply to that email. 3. The undersigned's assistant in fact called the Court's chambers to see if the hearing could be rescheduled to 22 October due to the above conflict as well as the fact that the undersigned was already scheduled to appear in West Palm Beach before Judge Colbath on certain felony matters. Further, since this date was convenient as all parties in this matter previously cleared their schedules to appear before this Court on 22 October for attorney Scarola's punitive damages Motion in this case, which was withdrawn and cancelled on almost even date the undersigned had hoped it could Page 1 of 4 CLERKS OFFICE NOT A CERTIFIED COPY ',· be heard then. However, the Court's Judicial Assistant advised such was not possible due to the length of time scheduled for the hearing. 4. About a week after the above referenced J 1 October email noticing Haddad's conflict and without the courtesy of being advised of attorney Scarola' s presently alleged conflict, his secretary sent an inquiry regarding whether the undersigned still had a conflict. 5. , The response, some 3.0 minutes later by the undersigned's secretary, was to advise that the undersigned's conflict, the previously mentioned seminar in New Orleans also included a conflicting conference at the saine time in New Orleans for his wife, a surgeon [ASPS annual convention], but she advised the secretary the undersigned was attempting to make later reservations [see email conversation attached hereto], since no response had been had to the earlier request. 6. Rather than acknowledge that attorney Scarola decided unilaterally to attempt to obtain a new date, and, advise that a call was placed to the "JA" [ see email conversation attached hereto]. It was stated that the next available date for hearing was in early December. 7. The undersigned's secretary was advised attorney Scarola now asserted a conflict on 25 October with a hearing before Judge Brown in Gauger v. Dougan, and hence was seeking a reset of the disqualification hearing. 8. Judge Brown's hearing was set by Court Order of 18 September 2012. 9. Thus, from the date of 11 October attorney Scarola's office, and ipso facto, the attorney was well aware of that conflict and obviously attempted to "leave·counsel hanging" until the last minute, despite being advised on 11 October of the undersigned's conflict with an out of state seminar. 10. Further, on 11 October, the undersigned, through his office, emailed attorney Scarola to see if he would accept service of process for Edwards for this hearing and he agreed [ see email conversation attached hereto], knowing, it is submitted, he had a conflict, and not bothering to extend the courtesy of advising the undersigned of the same. The undersigned also has another attorney/witness under subpoena. 11. Edwards, through counsel, has noticed this matter for trial, and Mr. Epstein wants the undersigned to try the case. The issue of disqualification needs to be resolved for discovery to be conducted in a manner the undersigned, if trial counsel, directs. Page 2 of 4 NOT A CERTIFIED COPY 12: Mr. Edwards moved to disqualify the undersigned; the undersigned filed a lengthy response with several exhibits refuting the allegations· and setting forth facts. and law that the undersigned submits was sufficient for outright denial of Edwards' barebones motion; at the very least an evidentiary hearing was mandated by the "response. 13. Rather than just acknowledge that, attorney Scarola caused_ the undersigned and other Broward· co-counsel, both of whom have children in second.gracie,_to make arrangements for their • I • ' • children so they could attend an 8:45am hearing just to hear attorney Sc~ola announce the ~bvious about the necessity of an evidentiary hearing. Realistically, this was not an unexpected move, but still inconvenient. 14. In thirty eight or more years of practice the undersigned cannot recall a single instance of not accommodating another lawyer, however attorney Scarola seems to think it proper to inconvenience other counsel without hesitation and not respond for almost a week when advised of conflicts by opposing counsel, thus the undersigned has no intention of accommodating such conduct, and objects to resetting the 25 October hearing. WHEREFORE Jeffrey Epstein opposes the Motion to reset the hearing. I HEREBY CERTIFY that a copy of the foregoing was furnished via Email to all counsel listed below, this 18TH day ofOctober, 2012. FRED HADDAD, P.A. One Financial ·plaza, Suite 2612 Fort Lauderdale, 33394 Tel· Florida Bar No. 180891. Dee@FredHaddadLaw.com Page 3 of 4 NOT A CERTIFIED COPY COUNSEL LIST Jack Scarola, Esq. E-mail: jsx@searcylaw.com & mep@searcylaw.com 2139 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd - West Palm Beach, Florida 33409 Jack Goldberger, Esq. E-mail: jgoldberger@agwpa.com & smahoney@agwpa.com 250 Australian A venue, South, Suite 1400 West Palm Beach, Florida 33401 Marc Nurik, Esq. E-mail: marc@nuriklaw.com One East Broward Blvd., Suite 700 Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301 Bradley J. Edwards, Esq. E-mail: bje.efile@pathtojustice.com & staff.efile@pathtojustice.com 425 N. Andrews A venue, Suite 2 Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301 • Tonja Haddad Coleman, Esq. E-mail: tonja@tonjahaddad.com & debbie@tonjahaddad.com 315 S.E. 7 th Street, Suite 301 • Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301 Lilly.Ann Sanchez, Esq. E-mail: lsanchez@thelsfirm.com 1441 Brickell A venue, 15 th Floor Miami, Florida 33131 Page 4 of 4 NOT A CERTIFIED COPY Dee Soli From: Sent: To: Mary E. Pirrotta <MEP@Searcylaw.com> Thursday; October 18, 2012 10:08 AM Dee Soli Subject: RE: Epstein v. Edwards Mr. Scarola asked me to inquire aQout getting a new date for the 10/25 hearing. I have a call into the JA but was only able to leave a message. The next available date on the onli.ne scheduling calendar is 12/3. Is your attorney available on 12/3 between 2-4 sometime for a 1 hr. hearing? I have not checked with any of the other opposing counsel yet. Please advise, thank you. From: Dee Soli [mailto:Dee@fredhaddadlaw.com] Sent: October 17, 2012 11:43 AM To: Mary E. Pirrotta Subject: RE: Epstein v. Edwards . Mr. Haddad's wife is a surgeon who has a conference in New Orleans and Mr. Haddad also has a conference in New Orleans. They are attempting to obtain other reservations for later flights at this juncture and I cannot reach either of them right now to see if they have been successful. Dee Soli, Florida Registered Paralegal FRED HADDAD, P.A. One Financial