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Federal judge dismisses Universal Express suit
South Florida Business Journal - April 8, 2005by John T. Fakler
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In a flurry of bicoastal rulings, a federal judge in New York granted a start date of 2006 for the SEC's case against Universal Express while another federal judge in Miami threw out the Boca Raton firm's countersuit against the agency.
U.S. District Court Judge Gerald E. Lynch has called for a non-jury trial sometime in the summer of 2006 for the SEC's civil case against Universal Express and CEO Richard Altomare.
Lynch signed an order for a case management plan March 25. Such plans are instituted to better manage time and expenses in cases involving complex litigation.
Five days later, Universal lost its bid against the SEC, after U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan granted an order to dismiss the case with prejudice.
In an April 4 press release, Altomare vowed to fight on, announcing his company was taking the case to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
"We enthusiastically welcome the high profile and more practical Court of Appeals," said Universal's attorney, Christopher Gunderson, who is also named in the SEC suit.
He went on to accuse the SEC of attempting to cover-up a nationwide naked short selling scandal.
The decisions are the latest rulings and verbal volleys in a saga that began in 2001 when the SEC charged Universal Express and its principals with engaging in securities fraud violations. Universal and Altomare filed a countersuit in 2004. A stay had been granted in the SEC case until March 4.
Parties have until July to join the SEC's lawsuit and amended pleadings are due by August. But motions, responses, replies and discovery are not due until next year.
Universal Express intends to file a motion to consolidate or transfer the matter, according to the case management plan.
