The Florida Bar has filed its fourth complaint against Miami-Dade County attorney Scot Strems, alleging that Strems and the Strems Law Firm (SLF) engaged in a pattern of duplicitous behavior and subterfuge to enroll property owners into legal services.
In October, a court referee appointed by the state Supreme Court recommended that Strems be suspended from the practice of law for two years, as well as a one-year probationary period, over the filing of multiple property owner claims that critics say drive up premium costs for all the state’s homeowners.
The latest complaint, which was filed with the Florida Supreme Court on Nov. 24, alleges that Strems and his firm engaged in a series of actions involving deceit and solicitation through third parties, whom the Florida Bar refers to as “Strems Consultants.” Strems’ actions violated eight of the bar’s ethics rules, according to the complaint.
“Under this scheme, these Strems Consultants presented themselves to homeowners as public adjusters or some other manner of insurance professional, when in fact they were (the) respondent’s agents whose purpose was to conscript business into this firm,” the bar said in the latest case.
The third parties enrolled property owners in legal services without their full consent, according to the complaint. These homeowners had been seeking timely home repairs through insurance claims, the bar alleges.
“Such solicitation was achieved by an industrious variety of deceptions,” the bar said in the latest brief. “For example, Strems Consultants would often solicit a signature from a homeowner (usually on a cell phone or electronic tablet) without advising them that they were signing a retainer agreement with SLF.”
The review of the allegations in the latest complaint is expected to be expedited by the high court. Chief Justice Charles Canady on Nov. 30 directed 11th Circuit Judge Bertila Soto to appoint a referee to investigate the changes.
“On a procedural level (such cases) are automatically given a high priority by the bar rules, especially in cases involving emergency suspensions from the practice of law,” Craig Waters, spokesman for the state Supreme Court, told the Record in an email.
Such a suspension was granted in a previous Strems complaint back in June.
In the current case, acts of deception were employed to rope homeowners into attorney-client relationships without proper notification, the complaint says. The profit motive encouraged such acts to be repeated, the bar alleges.
“SLF and the Strems Consultants compensated themselves by fees levied against the homeowners’ gross settlement proceeds from their home insurer,” the complaint states. “The full extent of (the) respondent’s unethical solicitation scheme is not known at this time.”