Businessman, Former Federal Insurance Co. Attorney Hit With $50M Florida Verdict

In a lawsuit begun more than a decade ago and which led to counter-suits, appeals to the Florida Supreme Court and attention from national tort-reform groups, a Palm Beach County jury has awarded more than $50 million to the former head of Marvel Entertainment and his wife, who said a neighbor and an attorney for a Chubb subsidiary had stolen DNA samples and defamed them.

The sensational litigation, which began over who would manage a tennis program at a gated community in Palm Beach County, pitted Marvel Chairman Isaac Perlmutter and wife Laura against neighbor Harold Peerenboom and insurance attorney William Douberley.

Peerenboom, a wealthy Toronto businessmen, reportedly held a policy with Federal Insurance Co., a Chubb subsidiary. Federal asked Douberley to handle the case. Under the policy, the lawyer was authorized to gather evidence that may be used in litigation, according to court records and news reports.

The initial lawsuit by the Perlmutters argued that Peerenboom, Douberley and Peerenboom’s insurance carrier had engaged in a defamation mail campaign and later held a deposition of Laura Perlmutter in order to glean her DNA from water bottles she sipped from at the deposition. The DNA was used in an attempt to show that the Perlmutters had waged their own anonymous hate mail effort against Peerendboom, and that Laura’s DNA was found on an unopened letter that Peerenboom had obtained, court documents contend.

When asked on the verdict form if Peerenboom engaged in a civil conspiracy with Douberley to damage the Perlmutters and to publish false and defamatory statements, the jury answered, “yes.”

The jury awarded $16,011 in total damages to Isaac Perlmutter and another $50 million to his wife. The verdict form can be seen here.

Douberley, now retired from the law firm that once carried his name and which remains the staff counsel for Chubb, could not be reached for comment Tuesday morning, nor could his former law partner. Chubb representatives also could not be immediately reached Tuesday.

Douberley and Peerenboom have not indicated if they plan to ask a Florida appeals court to review the verdict. Before the case went to the jury, though, parties in the case and national tort-reform groups had asked an appeals acourt and the state Supreme Court to limit the Perlmutters’ apparent demand for punitive damages.

An amicus brief filed by the Florida Justice Reform Institute, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the American Tort Reform Association asks the high court to amend the rules of civil procedure and codify an appeals court ruling so that “any record evidence identified by the parties, including evidence submitted by the defendant, must be considered by the trial court as it decides whether to permit amendment of a complaint to include a request for punitive damages.”

That question is still pending before the state Supreme Court.

Top photo: Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter, an Israeli-American billionaire, and the former head of Marvel, walks down the steps of Air Force One in 2017. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Topics Florida