Exile Gravy Train: Firm Wants Insurers To Cover Deal With (Cuban) Spy's Wife.

[Mika]

Firm Wants Insurers To Cover Deal With Spy's Wife
http://blogs.forbes.com/docket/2010/07/29/firm-wants-insurers-to-cover-deal-with-spys-wife/

Firm Wants Insurers To Cover Deal With Spy's Wife

The Cochran Firm has sued two of its insurers for refusing to cover a settlement it reached with a former client who claimed the firm didn't help her recoup a multimillion-dollar judgment from a suit she launched against the Cuban government after learning her professed anti-Communist husband was actually a Cuban spy.

The firm's Miami office and one of its attorneys sued First Mercury Insurance Co. and State National Insurance Co. on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, accusing them of not making good on a claims-made lawyers professional liability policy they had extended to the firm.

The firm represented Ana Margarita Martinez in her lawsuit against Cuba, which concluded with a $27.1 million judgment in her favor after a judge found that the Cuban government had committed acts of sexual battery, terrorism and torture by facilitating spy Juan Pablo Roque's sham marriage to Martinez for the purpose of him acting as a double agent within the Cuban exile community in Florida.

In late 2008 Martinez sued Cochran and attorney Scott Leeds, alleging they had failed to properly represent her interests in collecting the judgment.

In 2001, when Martinez won her judgment against Cuba, Leeds told the Miami Herald that it could take years to unlock blocked Cuban assets to pass on to his client.

Leeds was not available for comment Thursday.

Martinez received $200,000 from frozen Cuban accounts in 2005 and has seized aircraft flown into the U.S. by Cuban refugees in additional attempts for restitution. In February, Martinez filed court motions to garnish fares from eight charter companies that do business in Cuba.

To resolve Martinez's claims against the firm, Cochran entered into mediation with the insurers' authorization to settle the claim, according to the instant complaint. Martinez eventually agreed to a $287,000 deal, a small price compared to the firm's potential liability, the suit says.

“Based on the insurers’ actions, including the explicit and/or implicit grant of settlement authority, the policyholders attended mediation and settled Martinez’s claim for less than 15 percent of the policy’s liability limits and for a fraction of the policyholders’ potential liability,” the suit said.

The insurers denied coverage under the policy, claiming that the settlement had not occurred with their consent and that they were not properly given notice of the mediation proceeding, according to the firm.

Allowing the insurers to assert any limitations on the coverage now would constitute a fraud against the firm, because the policyholders relied on and have been prejudiced by the insurers' conduct and representations, the suit says.

Martinez's story hit the headlines in 1996, after her husband showed up in Cuba after Cuban fighter planes shot down two civilian aircraft that were operating a search-and-rescue mission for Cuban refugees.

Roque, who had worked for the FBI during his time in the U.S., announced his loyalty to Cuba after the shootings, and decried the downed pilots as having operated a terrorist cell.

The Cochran Firm is represented in this matter by Ver Ploeg & Lumpkin PA.

Counsel information for the defendants was not immediately available Thursday.

The case is Leeds et al. v. First Mercury Insurance Co. et al., case number 10-cv-22729, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

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[Mika]

1. Like the AIG re-re-reinsurance scams, her lawsuit was insured.

A win/win for cretins. America! Its all good.

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[Judi Lynn]

2. Mo' money, mo' money, mo' money! Go for it, Anna Margarita.

Git it while the gittin's good.

http://miamiherald.typepad.com.nyud.net:8090/cuban_colada/images/2008/07/03/martinez.jpeg http://www.socialmiami.com.nyud.net:8090/socialeyes/ACOP-Mingle-Under-the-Stars/02.jpg http://vvoice.vo.llnwd.net.nyud.net:8090/e9/cuban-spy-juan-pablo-roque-s-jilted-ex-wife-won-27-million-for-his-deception.4616854.40.jpg

Why not git some lyposuction while you're whoopin' it up?

That's hilarious Forbes writes Juan Pablo was working for the F.B.I. That's what Juan Pablo TOLD this idiot he did, so he could explain why he was spying on the Brothers to the Rescue led by Cuban "exile" terrorist José Basulto. Good grief!

"The Stupid" is contageous, isn't it? Oh, jeez. I've got to get some rest after that one, just rest until I'm not so queasy.

[Billy Burnett]

3. WHAT? Roque, worked for the FBI during his time in the U.S.?

The Cuban Five got busted after sharing their information on exile terra ops with the FBI, right? That was the purpose of their mission.

Remember that Basulto had rented a twin turbo prop for the fatal mission - a plane that was MUCH faster than the usual BttR planes the others were shot down in. Basulto was in constant communications with special ops officers at Pensacola the whole time - in fact they warned Basulto that the Cuban AF had launched interceptors. He turned tail and fled Cuban airspace leaving the others unaware of their looming fate.

Thanks for posting this. It solidifies my long standing opinion on the BttR shoot down. It was a setup. Murder (collateral damage) is nothing new to Basulto, Posada, Bosch, etc and their ilk (their employers - the US gov).

The dead BttR pilots and passengers (referred to as martyrs in Miami) all have streets named after them in Little Havana (Martyrs Row).