By Al Messerschmidt,
Herald Staff Writer
The marriage was stormy. The divorce was bitterly contested.
But it was Miami divorce lawyer Stanley Bartel who was ordered to pay the damages when a Dade Circuit Court jury returned its verdict.
The six-member jury, after eight days of trial, late Wednesday ordered Bartel to pay $130,000 in damages for "intentional infliction of severe emotional distress" on William Planes, the husband of the women he represented in the divorce case.
"This is a first," said Andrew Hall, who represented William Planes. "I don't know of another case where the husband has collected damages for the misconduct of the wife's lawyer."
"Every litigant in a divorce case suffers mental distress," said Paul Levine, Bartel's attorney. "Isn't it ludicrous to suggest that an unhappy husband can sue his wife's lawyer for mental distress?"
Marianthi Planes hired Bartel in November 1979, according to court testimony. The Planes were married when she was 17 years old. The marriage was rocky, with claims of wife-beating and of husband-beating, but it lasted 13 years.
Marianthi Planes sued for separation in February 1980. William Planes agreed to move from the house. In April, the couple attempted reconciliation. In June, Marianthi Planes moved from the couple's $500,000 house to a motel room.
She left her jewelry on a vanity in the Pine Bay Estates house and her husband put it in a wall safe.
Two weeks after moving out, Marianthi Planes returned home to get her jewelry. She was accompanied by three private detectives, employees of Intercept Inc.
Hall told the jury that Bartel hired the three men. Bartel said they were hired by Marianthi Planes.
"They went into the house and laid siege to it…like being in a war," said Hall.
William Planes testified that the men pushed him into a wall, grabbed him from behind and took the jewelry from the safe. He later claimed that about $7,000 worth of men's jewelry was missing.
The Intercept Inc. employee remained in the house with Planes and his two children, for three days. The jewelry was carried to Bartel's house.
William Planes' lawsuit charged the detectives and Bartel with conversion of the jewelry, assault and battery causing the family emotional distress.
Unknown to the jury, Intercept Inc. settled Planes' claim for $30,000, Hall said Thursday.
After three hours of deliberation Wednesday, the jury returned different verdicts on each of the charges against Bartel.
The lawyer was cleared of the unlawful conversion charge.
Bartel was ordered to pay $10,000 as punishment, but no damages to compensate Planes for the alleged assault-and-battery. Levine said the $10,000 award will be reversed because Florida law requires the award of compensatory damages before setting punitive damages.
Compensatory damages are awarded in civil trials as compensation for injuries. Punitive damages are awarded as punishment.
And, Bartel was ordered to pay $20,000 in compensatory damages and $100,000 in punitive damages for causing the emotional distress.
Hall asked the jury to award the punitive damages "to send a message to all lawyers-if you've got a problem in a case, go to court. You have no right to take the law into your own hands."
Levine said he will ask Circuit Judge John Gale to overturn the verdict.
Source: The Miami Herald,
Friday, May 21, 1982
