Attorneys for the owner of the Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota, and home builder Taylor Woodrow Inc. are asking a judge to toss out the $34 million in punitive damages the pair were hit with in November.
Capping an eight-hour hearing Tuesday, attorneys for C. Robert Buford and Taylor Woodrow requested that Circuit Court Judge Becky Titus nullify a jury’s award that ended a five-week trial last fall tied to the luxury resort.
“It was improper for the jury to be permitted to apply punitive damages to an issue in which reasonable people could disagree,” said Taylor Woodrow attorney Christopher Griffin.
Tuesday’s hearing marked the first time Ritz-Carlton co-owner and Core Development Inc. founder Kevin Daves had met his adversaries in court since Nov. 23, when jurors concluded Buford and Taylor Woodrow committed fraud and conspiracy and were liable for other actions associated with the 88-unit Beach Residences condos connected to the Ritz-Carlton Beach Club, on Lido Beach.