Stumphauzer Kolaya Nadler & Sloman PLLC

Principle Partners: Ryan Stumphauzer, Timothy Kolaya, Michael Nadler, and Jeffrey Sloman

Number of lawyers: 8

Languages: English, Spanish

Firm Overview:

Stumphauzer Kolaya Nadler & Sloman, PLLC is a firm of aggressive and experienced advocates focusing on high-stakes litigation and investigations. Messrs. Stumphauzer, Nadler, and Sloman are former federal prosecutors with extensive experience in white-collar criminal defense, government regulatory enforcement matters, internal investigations, fraud-related civil litigation, receiverships, and corporate whistleblower representation. Whether defending a corporate executive accused of fraud, conducting an internal investigation of corporate misconduct, or advising a board of directors on compliance issues, they are retained to efficiently resolve complicated matters for their clients.

In March 2019, Mr. Kolaya joined the firm after practicing as a litigation partner at one of the largest international law firms in the world. He draws on his “Big Law” experience to effectively handle bet-the-company cases, but also takes immense pride in his ability to handle disputes of all sizes. Mr. Kolaya handles a broad array of complex commercial and business litigation, with a particular focus on real estate litigation and construction litigation matters.

Notable Engagements & Recent Results:

Most work is confidential in nature, but the firm’s recent public engagements include:

Health Care — Criminal & Civil Defense:

■ Defended a prominent South Florida medical practice against a False Claims Act lawsuit alleging $100m in damages to the Medicare program based on alleged upcoding and billing for improperly supervised medical services. The case involved substantial crisis management and litigation challenges because the case was widely reported in the Wall Street Journal and by several national television news programs. The case was settled for a fraction of the government’s alleged damages

■ Defended a senior executive of one of the country’s largest compounding pharmacies against a parallel criminal and civil investigation by the DOJ and Department of Defense alleging illegal kickbacks and billing for medically unnecessary prescription medications. The executive avoided criminal charges and settled the civil suit for a insubstantial monetary sum

■ Defended two North Florida compounding pharmacies in connection with a False Claims Act Investigations by the DOJ, Department of Defense, HHS-OIG and multiple other government agencies. Settled both cases civilly, under highly favorable terms, without criminal sanctions

■ Represented a division-level CEO of a publicly-traded hospital company in connection with a multi-year, parallel criminal and civil investigation by the DOJ and HHS-OIG of a scheme allegedly designed to promote billing for medically unnecessary services. The executive avoided criminal charges and civil sanctions

■ Defended the CEO of a large Southwest Florida hospital in connection with a criminal investigation by the DOJ into an alleged kickback scheme with local referring physicians and their practices

■ Represented several South Florida Management Services Organizations (MSO), and/or their senior executive officers, in a wide variety of government investigations involving manipulation of risk adjustment data, improper financial incentives for beneficiaries, and so-called beneficiary ‘cherry picking.’

Complex Commercial, Business,& Real Estate Litigation:

■ Representing several health care providers in a pair of bet-the-company lawsuits filed by large insurance companies alleging that the provider submitted fraudulent personal injury protection (PIP) charges, provided medically unnecessary health care services, and otherwise violated applicable laws and regulations

■ Obtained permanent injunction against investors seeking to pursue $100 million FINRA arbitration against broker dealer, affirmed by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Pictet Overseas Inc. v. Helvetia Trust, 905 F.3d 1183 (11th Cir. 2018)

■ Obtained judgment as a matter of law following plaintiff’s presentation of its case in a federal jury trial on behalf of television studio defending tortious interference claims for $50 million in damages

■ Obtained summary judgment in state securities and fraud action brought by former officer relating to purported misrepresentations and omissions regarding preliminary merger negotiations. See Pritchard v. Levin, No. 2015-020187, 2019 WL 1996252 (Fla. 11th Jud. Cir. Apr. 23, 2019)

■ First-chaired final hearing resulting in a favorable arbitral award for a global food processing and commodities trading corporation in an international arbitration against its former executives and consultants for breaching various confidentiality obligations

■ Represented public company, its former officers, and private equity company in state securities action brought by an investor relating to purported misrepresentations made in connection with a $25M private placement. See J.P. Morgan Securities, LLC v. Geveran Investments Limited, 224 So. 3d 316 (Fla. 5th DCA 2017)

■ Successfully resolved fraud-based and securities claims brought against a large financial institution accused of aiding and abetting a billion-dollar Ponzi scheme involving viaticated insurance policies, and administered the disbursement of tens of millions of dollars of escrowed funds on behalf of that financial institution in conjunction with an SEC Receivership

■ Obtained complete defense verdict for national engineering and construction services company on $14.5 million negligence claim following a four-week jury trial, which was affirmed on appeal

■ Defended developer in lawsuit challenging zoning approvals and constitutionality of notice requirements under City of Miami’s Zoning Code in connection with construction of municipal transportation facility; obtained final summary judgment in favor of developer

■ Defended developer in lawsuit with municipality seeking to avoid obligations under land swap agreement; resolved through settlement that granted developer increase in development rights for related condominium project

■ Defended developer in multiple lawsuits involving challenges to ballot question in special election to authorize development of a $400 million project on city-owned waterfront property; obtained final judgment rejecting challenges to ballot question in all cases; decisions were affirmed on appeal before the Third District Court of Appeal; successfully defeated petition for review before the Florida Supreme Court

■ Defended developer in taxpayer lawsuit seeking to stop development of $600 million mega-yacht marina project and to invalidate lease agreement between city and developer for city-owned waterfront property; obtained dismissal with prejudice in favor of developer

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act:

■ Represented a Walmart de Mexico employee in connection with a cross-border investigation by the DOJ and SEC of alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in Mexico

■ Represented a South Florida company in evaluating and responding to contract proposals from African government agencies that implicated the FCPA

Regulatory Defense — Securities & Health Care:

■ Defended the chief financial officer of a chartered bank in connection with an SEC investigation into allegations that the value of certain fixed assets was improperly inflated and reported to shareholders and regulatory agencies

■ Defended a prominent South Florida cardiology practice that was the subject of a regulatory inquiry by HHS-OIG concerning alleged improper financial relationships with genetic testing laboratories and other diagnostic testing companies

Class Action, Mass Tort & Product Liability:

■ Recovered tens of millions of dollars in damages and successfully defended several national and regional homebuilders in multiple putative class actions and dozens of individual lawsuits involving allegedly defective Chinese-manufactured drywall and participated in leading the Homebuilders Steering Committee in the multi-district litigation styled In Re Chinese Manufactured Drywall Product Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2047

■ Defended investment fund and its managers in a putative class action from feeder fund investors, seeking more than $500 million in damages in connection with claims for breach of fiduciary duty and negligence; obtained an order of dismissal with prejudice at the pleading stage from the federal district court

■ Defeated class certification and successfully resolved putative nationwide class action lawsuits filed against an air conditioning manufacturer throughout the United States based on allegations that the subject air conditioning units contained defective copper evaporator coils. See Justice v. Rheem Mfg. Co., 318 F.R.D. 687 (S.D. Fla. 2016); Adelman v. Rheem Mfg. Co., 1:15-cv-00190 JWS, 2015 WL 4874412 (D. Ariz. Aug. 14, 2015)

■ Represented national companies in litigation arising out of federal and state consumer protection statutes, including the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, including successes on summary judgment, see Ramos v. Hopele of Fort Lauderdale, LLC, et al., 334 F. Supp. 3d 1262 (S.D. Fla. 2018), denial of class certification, see Powell v. YouFit Health Clubs, LLC, 2019 WL 926131 (S.D. Fla. Jan. 14, 2019), and compelling arbitration, see Greenberg v. Doctors Associates, Inc., 338 F. Supp. 3d 1280 (S.D. Fla. 2018)

■ Defended and obtained dismissal with prejudice of all claims against an HVAC manufacturer in a putative nationwide class action case based on allegations that the subject heating product is unreasonably dangerous, unfit for its intended use, and not compliant with applicable safety standards. See Koski v. Carrier Corp. et al., 347 F. Supp. 3d 1185 (S.D. Fla. 2017)

■ Obtained dismissal and ultimately favorably resolved claims against a building product manufacturer in a putative class action lawsuit brought by consumers and contractors involving, among others, claims of breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty of merchantability, breach of applicable state consumer protection statutes, and unjust enrichment. See Helping v. Rheem Mfg. Co., 15-cv-2247-WSD, 2016 WL 1222264 (N.D. Ga. 2016)

■ Represented pharmaceutical company in holding off four putative class actions challenging an announced merger valued at hundreds of millions of dollars and obtained disclosure-based settlement approved by shareholders

■ Defended a plumbing product marketer and distributor in putative class action lawsuits involving, among others, claims of breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty of merchantability, breach of state consumer protection laws, and unjust enrichment; negotiated class wide settlement

■ Defended global product testing and certification company in a putative nationwide class action challenging the certification of certain building products; obtained an order of dismissal with prejudice at the pleading stage from the federal district court

Internal Investigations, Due Diligence & Compliance:

■ Conducted an internal investigation on behalf of one of Florida’s largest health systems to detect, quarantine and quantify a procurement fraud scheme and to investigate allegations of public corruption

■ Advised the Compliance Committee of a large public hospital system that was confronted with alleged violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law in connection with the acquisition of physician practices and the retention of highly-profitable employed physicians

■ Represented a large, multi-state MSO that wished to audit and evaluate the integrity of the risk adjustment data that it submitted to its Medicare Advantage insurance partners in support of capitation payments

■ Assisted a subsidiary of a Fortune 100 company with a comprehensive risk assessment and compliance program in connection with its international business

Expert Witness & Court — Appointments:

■ Court-approved retention of Jeffrey Sloman to serve as an expert witness relating to fraud, money laundering and other criminal activities involving the remnants of a $3.6 billion Ponzi scheme orchestrated in Minnesota and which was litigated in an adversary proceeding in bankruptcy court in the Southern District of Florida

■ Court appointment of Ryan Stumphauzer to serve as the Special Master overseeing discovery-related disputes and other matters in a massive, multi-district litigation in the case captioned In re: Takata Airbag Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2599