Lawyer of the Year: King of Domain

Lawyer of the Year: King of Domain

By Kat Wingert

Special to the Review

Before one note is taken or a strategy devised, before research is done or old cases dug up, Bill Moore listens - sometimes for hours.

He listens to why a business is being unfairly limited, or why a property has been condemned.

His ability to listen serves as the foundation of a man who relies on substance rather than style in the courtroom, and it is the calling card of an attorney who is enthralled with a 217-year-old document.

It's the philosophical cornerstone of a firm, Brigham Moore LLP, that spans the state and sets precedents rapidly in an area of law that encompasses the most controversial and passionate of issues - a person's right to own property.

Moore has defeated efforts by Sarasota Memorial Hospital to acquire land occupied by doctors' private offices, he has defended property rights for major corporations such as McDonald's and the St. Joe Cos., and in a case that resulted in the largest jury verdict to date in a condemnation trial on the West Coast of Florida, Moore represented Atlantic Utilities in its defeat of Sarasota County.

Throughout 27 years of working with eminent domain law from his firm's Sarasota office, Moore has represented an array of clients, from individuals trying to save their homes to businesses fighting condemnation.

But no matter how large or small, complex or simple a case, Moore has an almost surprising style for a lawyer, which includes an understated trial persona and a marked empathy for his clients, even when it means that fulfilling their wishes requires more work and less pay.

When a South Florida developer bought land with plans to raze an abandoned grocery store and put up a residential high-rise, the city of Fort Lauderdale tried to use its condemnation powers to stop him, even though the property was properly zoned for the high-rise.

Although it might have been easier to settle for the money, Moore understood that his client wanted the land for his project, and after three years of litigation he successfully defeated the city.

In Bradenton, a woman owned a large strip of residential property where Manatee County wanted to widen an existing road. The property contained century-old oaks that the county planned to remove to widen the road.

Moore worked with the county to par down the plans to save the oaks.

"Monetarily it wasn't a big deal," Moore says. "It would have been easier to take the county's settlement, but it meant a lot to her to save her trees."

So why does a lawyer spend so much valuable time listening to a client?

"It's important to know what clients feel." Moore says. "I don't always have to agree with them, but I certainly have to listen to them. It's like visiting a doctor that doesn't have the time to listen to you; it's frustrating. Sure, I could get some things done faster, but I think it's important to take the time to listen."

No ranting

In the courtroom, Moore doesn't put on a passionate performance. Colleagues, who have sat across from him in the courtroom, say he's professional and courteous - an intellectual, an academic and a scholar of the law.

Dan Bailey Jr., who has known Moore since his days at the Florida Department of Transportation, says Moore is always prepared.

"In the days before things were done electronically, (Moore) needed a moving van to move all his exhibits," Bailey says. "He needed a whole camp following just to bring them into the courtroom."

Moore coerces with courtesy, persuades with politeness and argues with reason rather than intimidation.

When Moore needs emphasis, he raises his face rather than his voice.

"He has kind of a high forehead," says Toby Prince Brigham, one of Moore's law partners. "So when he raises his eyebrows, it acts like an exclamation point on whatever he's just said."

Although Moore receives satisfaction through helping individuals fight "a very powerful government," he derives much of his unending energy from the challenge of finding creative ways to resolve cases, and he says he genuinely enjoys taking part in an area of law that shapes the application of the document this country was founded on.

"Property law is such a broad topic, you have to be fairly inventive in your approach to each case," Moore says. "I look at the way civil rights have been improved through the fight to end segregation and freedom-of-expression cases and I think, 'Why can't that thinking of basic rights be applied to property?' Owning property historically was a very important right that distinguished individuals from their king. I think property ownership should be treated with every bit of reverence that is given to civil rights."

Swapping sides

Prior to practicing eminent domain law, Moore was the chief felony attorney for Manatee County in 1972, the year he graduated from the Florida State University College of Law.

His time prosecuting gave him invaluable courtroom experience, he says, but he became disillusioned with the legal system and human nature in a short period of time.

"It was hard because it was like a revolving door of criminals," Moore says. "They'd be in one day and out the next. I have enormous respect for the people who can do that job, but it was like you never made a difference."

He moved to the Florida Department of Transportation in 1974, where he was the chief trial attorney in the litigation section for two years and then ironically he worked in the condemnation section for an additional year until 1978.

He loved working in Tallahassee, but he knew he had reached a ceiling and wanted to move on. Around this time, Moore tried a case against Brigham, who had a successful eminent domain firm based in Miami.

"He beat the tar out of me when he was the chief domain lawyer at the Department of Transportation," Brigham says. "So I figured I'd better join him."

Brigham courted Moore for the firm, but Moore didn't want to live in Miami. They decided Moore could set up shop in Sarasota, expanding the firm's statewide practice to the Gulf Coast.

In 1982, Moore helped draft the charter for the partnership, and since then has been involved in the architecture of the firm, which now has 17 lawyers who work out of five Florida offices.

In addition to increasing the firm's reach, Moore has built up the firm by taking on multimillion-dollar, precedent-setting cases to working for individuals whose case's only importance is saving where they sleep.

In 1990, Moore worked on a case for the St. Joe Paper Co., in which the government offered to pay the company $25 million for its property. Moore fought and won in court. The state eventually settled for $84 million, and the firm received $12 million.

Locally, he represented owners in an inverse condemnation case against the South Florida Water Management District, and proved the water district's liability for flooding and damages.

He also successfully sued Lee County and the Lee County Port Authority on behalf of an owner whose 2,500 acres were labeled with a "no residential use" noise zone.

Upon hearing Moore's arguments, the judge ruled the ordinance unconstitutional.

Currently, Moore is working through the appellate courts to fight a taking in Murdock Village in Charlotte County, a 1,100-acre area in the West Murdock section that the county is trying to buy or use eminent domain to condemn and redevelop into a large-scale mixed-use development constructed by a private developer.

Moore is appealing the order of the taking, using three different points to reverse the government's actions.

Bob Gill, Charlotte County's eminent domain attorney who opposes Moore in the Murdock Village case, can attest to the importance of Moore's work in determining precedents for future redevelopment cases.

"You'd be hard-pressed to find a better eminent domain lawyer in Florida," Gill says. "Over the years (Moore) and his firm and lawyers that have worked under him have worked hard in the appellate courts to persuade them to interpret the Florida eminent domain statute in a way that benefits property owners. I think they've done an excellent job at that."

With Florida's increasing land values, Moore contends that Community Redevelopment Agencies, known as CRAs, are condemning property to take the land for more profitable ventures, most of which are private.

Aside from the constitutional questions this practice poses for what definition of public use makes the taking of private land justifiable, Moore also scrutinizes the standards the government must adhere to in order to condemn a property or declare it "blighted," and therefore in need of redevelopment.

The government has to satisfy only two (and sometimes only one) of 14 conditions to declare an area blighted, he says. Moore contends the conditions are subjectively phrased and too obscure.

"Right now there are no guidelines," Moore says. "They (CRAs) can say, 'We don't like your street design or your subdivision, therefore it's blighted. We find it inadequate.' There are no guidelines or standards, and I think it's pretty clear to us that under constitutional law in Florida that is unconstitutional. It's too vague."

Moore has declared Florida's current redevelopment law blighted, and, after 27 years in the business, he is pushing for the statute's redevelopment.

To protect landowners, Moore is working with state Sen. Mike Bennett, a Republican from Bradenton, to clarify the language in the standards of the law in a way that would objectively set out specific criteria the government has to document before declaring an area blighted or attempting to condemn it.

"If the area is truly blighted, it shouldn't affect anything," Moore says.

For Moore, the issue is larger than a subdivision being redeveloped or an unfair ordinance that makes someone's property virtually unusable.

It's the question of the balance of power between the legislative and judicial branches of government, and the protection the constitution gives individuals against a government that oversteps its bounds.

Moore treats each case as another opportunity to challenge the law's validity in a way that impacts not only his clients, but could change the way redevelopment is handled in the future.

As a protector of the rights of property owners, Moore strives to make their voices heard. He just hopes the other side is listening.

"It's important to know both sides and to be aware of the implications of each," Moore says. "After all, we all really work for the constitution."