{"id":157983,"date":"2026-07-23T14:02:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T22:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/07\/23\/biglaw-firm-facing-1-2-billion-malpractice-lawsuit-over-the-business-model-it-allegedly-built\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T14:02:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T22:02:48","slug":"biglaw-firm-facing-1-2-billion-malpractice-lawsuit-over-the-business-model-it-allegedly-built","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/07\/23\/biglaw-firm-facing-1-2-billion-malpractice-lawsuit-over-the-business-model-it-allegedly-built\/","title":{"rendered":"Biglaw Firm Facing $1.2 Billion Malpractice Lawsuit Over The Business Model It Allegedly Built"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to a recently filed lawsuit, Biglaw firm Holland & Knight helped build its client a product. And then 16 state attorneys general took issue with the specifics \u2014 with fun words like \u201cpredatory<\/a>.\u201d And now said client would like $1.2 billion from H&K.<\/p>\n

MV Realty sued Holland & Knight<\/a> on Tuesday in the 11th Judicial Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, alleging malpractice and pegging its damages somewhere between $400 million and $1.2 billion. Partners Jesus Cuza, Rebecca Canamero, and Raul Cosio are named alongside the firm. At issue is the company\u2019s Homeowner Benefit Agreement. According to reports<\/a>, the HBA was a 40-year arrangement under which MV Realty paid homeowners a modest sum up front in exchange for the exclusive right to broker their home whenever they eventually sold it. States that went after the company characterized the agreements rather differently \u2014 as liens that saddled homeowners with an early termination fee equal to three percent of the property\u2019s value on sale or transfer.<\/p>\n

According to MV Realty\u2019s complaint, more than 30 states opened investigations into the HBA program and 16 of them sued. State courts have terminated the agreements and held the termination fee unenforceable. Attorneys general called the HBA \u201cunconscionable\u201d and \u201cunfair\u201d in litigation, which are not adjectives a transactional practice typically aims for. Massachusetts settled for $22.5 million<\/a>. California secured a preliminary injunction<\/a> ordering the liens stripped statewide. New Jersey took $2.8 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n

MV Realty\u2019s position in the complaint is that it did what its lawyers advised. The company says it sank $156 million into the venture on the strength of Holland & Knight\u2019s work, and that the firm had exactly two acceptable options: design a lawful, enforceable version of the product, or say plainly that no such version existed. The complaint alleges the firm did neither, then declined to stand behind the advice once the enforcement wave hit that Holland & Knight has \u201cavoided public responsibility while more than 600 negative news articles and television reports have destroyed the personal and professional reputations of MV\u2019s officers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The firm has not yet offered a comment on the litigation. <\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Biglaw Firm Facing $1.2 Billion Malpractice Lawsuit Over The Business Model It Allegedly Built<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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According to a recently filed lawsuit, Biglaw firm Holland & Knight helped build its client a product. And then 16 state attorneys general took issue with the specifics \u2014 with fun words like \u201cpredatory<\/a>.\u201d And now said client would like $1.2 billion from H&K.<\/p>\n

MV Realty sued Holland & Knight<\/a> on Tuesday in the 11th Judicial Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, alleging malpractice and pegging its damages somewhere between $400 million and $1.2 billion. Partners Jesus Cuza, Rebecca Canamero, and Raul Cosio are named alongside the firm. At issue is the company\u2019s Homeowner Benefit Agreement. According to reports<\/a>, the HBA was a 40-year arrangement under which MV Realty paid homeowners a modest sum up front in exchange for the exclusive right to broker their home whenever they eventually sold it. States that went after the company characterized the agreements rather differently \u2014 as liens that saddled homeowners with an early termination fee equal to three percent of the property\u2019s value on sale or transfer.<\/p>\n

According to MV Realty\u2019s complaint, more than 30 states opened investigations into the HBA program and 16 of them sued. State courts have terminated the agreements and held the termination fee unenforceable. Attorneys general called the HBA \u201cunconscionable\u201d and \u201cunfair\u201d in litigation, which are not adjectives a transactional practice typically aims for. Massachusetts settled for $22.5 million<\/a>. California secured a preliminary injunction<\/a> ordering the liens stripped statewide. New Jersey took $2.8 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n

MV Realty\u2019s position in the complaint is that it did what its lawyers advised. The company says it sank $156 million into the venture on the strength of Holland & Knight\u2019s work, and that the firm had exactly two acceptable options: design a lawful, enforceable version of the product, or say plainly that no such version existed. The complaint alleges the firm did neither, then declined to stand behind the advice once the enforcement wave hit that Holland & Knight has \u201cavoided public responsibility while more than 600 negative news articles and television reports have destroyed the personal and professional reputations of MV\u2019s officers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The firm has not yet offered a comment on the litigation. <\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to a recently filed lawsuit, Biglaw firm Holland & Knight helped build its client a product. And then 16 state attorneys general took issue with the specifics \u2014 with fun words like \u201cpredatory.\u201d And now said client would like $1.2 billion from H&K. MV Realty sued Holland & Knight on Tuesday in the 11th […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":157956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-Lt4Xiu.jpg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}