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Filing # 140888016 E-Filed 12/23/2021 10:47:20 AM
IN THE COUNTY COURT OF THE NINETEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT
IN AND FOR INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, FLORIDA
LEAH M. BROOKS CASE NO.: 312019CA000232
fik/a LEAH M. HUBBARD
Plaintiff, (CONSOLIDATED WITH CASE NO.
312018CC001057)
LEAH M. BROOKS
fik/a LEAH M. HUBBARD
Counter-Claim Defendant
v.
THE YATES LAW FIRM
E. CLAYTON YATES, P.A.
Defendants.
E. CLAYTON YATES, P.A.
Counter-Claim Plaintiff
NOTICE OF FILING
COMES NOW the Plaintiff and Counter-Claim Defendant, LEAH M. BROOKS fik/a
LEAH M. HUBBARD and gives notice to the Court that LEAH M. BROOKS f/k/a LEAH M.
HUBBARD has filed the Transcript dated July 13, 2021.
IT HEREBY CERTIFY that a true and correct copy of the foregoing has been furnished by
eservice to E. Clayton Yates, P.A., a, this 23% day of December, 2021.
5820 33 Street
Vero Beach, FL 32966Indian River Court Reporting LLC ~ 772.564.6761
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE NINETEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT
IN AND FOR INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, FLORIDA
CASE NO.: 31-2019~CA-000232
LEAH M. BROOKS,
£/k/a LEAH M. HUBBARD,
Plaintiff,
LEAH M. BROOKS,
f/k/a LEAH M. HUBBARD,
Counter-Claim Defendant.
vs.
THE YATES LAW FIRM,
E. CLAYTON YATES, P.A.,
Defendants,
E. CLAYTON YATES, P.A.,
Counter-Claim Plaintiff,
VIDEOCONFERENCE HEARING BEFORE
THE HONORABLE
JUDGE JANET CARNEY CROOM
DATE TAKEN: July 13, 2021
TIME: 1:17 p.m.
PLACE TAKEN: All parties via Zoom
REPORTED BY: KAREN A. CHAMBERS
Court Reporter
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APPEARANCES
For the Plaintiff:
LEAH BROOKS, PRO SE
5820 33rd Street
Vero Beach, Florida 32966
For the Defendant:
E. CLAYTON YATES, ESQUIRE
E. Clayton Yates, P.A.
426 Avenue A
Fort Pierce, Florida 34950
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PROCEEDINGS
INDEX
CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER
EXHIBITS
* *% * * NONE * * * «x
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PROCEEDINGS
THE COURT: Good afternoon. I know we're
a few minutes early, but if y'all are ready to go
I'm happy to extend professional courtesy -~
(Audio failure.)
MS. BROOKS: I'm ready to go.
MR. YATES: Clayton Yates and I'm ready
also, Your Honor.
MS. BROOKS: I think my court reporter is
here, I see another person in the corner.
THE COURT: All right. Can anyone hear
me?
MS. BROOKS: Yes.
THE COURT: All right. Are y'all waiting
on anyone else or should would get moving?
MS. BROOKS: We can get moving, I'm not
waiting for anyone else.
THE COURT: Very gocd. I have your case
up and I'm ready when y'all are.
MS. BROOKS: I have a motion for leave to
amend to add punitive damages and to elaborate a
little more on the fraud charges, the causes of
action that I have. Basically, I'm sure you
probably remember, maybe not, I'll just run through
it quickly. I had a statement of claim against
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Mr. Yates, April 20, 2018. And he answered on May
23, 2018. When he answered, he counter-petitioned
with quantum merit and fees of a little more than
$9500 for criminal representation. So that was
moved to county civil.
When I filed my malpractice case he
motioned your court and asked for consolidation of
both cases, and you granted the consolidation.
When the malpractice case was disposed of, the
county civil case was not. So it's been left
hanging pretty much since 2018. And so through
that case new evidence was presented, things were
filed into the court record by Mr. Yates that has
not been consistent from the very beginning. And
misrepresentations were made to me, and to the
court. So I'd like to amend my fourth amendment
statement of claim complaint. That's what I'm
asking you to do.
THE COURT: Okay.
(Audio distortion.)
Response.
MR. YATES: Your Honor, this is not the
fourth amended complaint which you're being asked
to consider here. I'll go through it briefly. In
April of 2018, Ms. Brooks filed her initial
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statement. It was amended on December 17, 2018.
Then a second amended complaint, after I filed a
motion to dismiss the first amended complaint, was
filed on February 21st of 2019. On March 25th of
‘19, she filed her third amended complaint. On
July lst of '19, she filed a fourth amended
complaint. On August 12th of '19, she filed a
motion for leave to amend her fourth amended
complaint. I filed a motion to strike, which was
never ruled on. And on April 26th of this year she
has filed the second motion to leave -- for leave
to amend her fourth amended complaint. This would
actually be her seventh amended complaint.
i think that Ms. Hubbard has had many,
many bites at the apple here and its -- you
shouldn't grant it.
THE COURT: All right. Response.
MS. BROOKS: We are dealing with the
fourth amended complaint. When the motion to
consolidate was brought before your court we were
dealing with the third amended complaint, and that
is the one they used as their evidence in order to
consolidate the cases. In the interim, before you
had the hearing and you ordered the consolidation,
Judge Menz ordered me to do a more definitive
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statement and amend the third to make it the fourth
so that Mr. Yates was able to respond
appropriately. Apparently he stated to the court
he was not able to respond based on the way my
complaint sat. So that was done on July lst. You
consolidated it, I believe, on July 9th. And on
July 22nd he filed a motion to dismiss the fourth
amended statement of claims, and in it he states
that there was no cause of action for civil theft,
breach of contract. At the end in the summary he
alleges that there was no contract between the two
of us whatsoever, and that my fourth amended
statement of claim was a word salad full of
potential fraud and theft allegations.
And so, yes, there have been plenty of
motions that have been filed on both sides since
then because the case was consolidated. A lot of
misrepresentations were made within both of the
cases and some of it has been entered into the
court record. And in my motion I did proffer some
other evidence. And this is why I'm asking the
court now for leave to amend for the punitive
damages and to be able to elaborate on the new
evidence that was presented.
THE COURT: All right. So you're seeking
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leave to amend to add punitive damages, correct?
MS. BROOKS: Correct. And there is fraud
allegations in the fourth amended statement of
claims complaint, but when I tailored this one it
was for the county civil court and not for your
court so I wanted permission to be able to tailor
it the way you would like it.
THE COURT: Okay. But I can't allow a
claim for punitive damages without hearing what the
basis is of that.
MS. BROOKS: Well, there were several
misrepresentations of material fact by Mr. Yates,
regarding his legal representation of me. And I
understand that this is not a malpractice case,
however this was intertwined with the malpractice
because Mr. Yates is the one who introduced the
legal representation into the county civil case.
So it's floating out there with his counterclaim so
I would like to address it. So there was quite a
few misrepresentations that were made to me
materially that caused me to enter into oral
contracts with him regarding representation of me.
There was also allegations by him in his
complaint that he represented me in my second
criminal case, in that I never asked him to
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represent me, he just unilaterally did it. And
he's asking me to pay $300 an hour for fees that I
didn't agree to.
Further, in multiple documents throughout
all of these proceedings he states in one that we
have a contract, he states in another we don't have
a contract. He states to the Florida Bar that he
never discussed fees with me and yet, in request
for admissions he states that he did request ~--
that he did discuss fees with me but he just didn't
put it down in a fee agreement. And so he has
misrepresented to the court, he misrepresented to
me. He induced me into entering into an oral
contract with him from the very beginning and I
would like the opportunity to be able to argue
this.
THE COURT: There are no grounds to
Support a claim for punitive damages, so under the
law I cannot grant that.
MS. BROOKS: Well, actually there are
because punitive damages and fraud are the same.
And if I can prove fraud then I can prove the
damages. I have severe damages. I need the
opportunity to be able to present this to the
court.
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THE COURT: Again, there are no legal
grounds to support a claim for punitive damages.
I'm not going to allow an amendment for a claim for
punitive damages.
MS. BROOKS: Okay.
THE COURT: All right. Is there anything
else we have?
MS. BROOKS: No. But I will state on the
record that I'm either going to take this to the
Fourth DCA or I'm going to refile.
THE COURT: All right.
MS. BROOKS: So I may be dismissing this
action, voluntarily dismissing it and refiling.
THE COURT: Who is preparing the order
from today's hearing, please?
MS. BROOKS: I can do it or Mr. Yates can
do it.
MR. YATES: I'll do it, Your Honor, if
you'd like me to.
THE COURT: All right. And so I think
that concludes our business on this case today; is
that correct?
MR. YATES: Yes, ma'am.
THE COURT: Okay. Thank you very much.
(Thereupon, these proceedings were
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CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER
I, KAREN A. CHAMBERS, Court Reporter in and
for the County of Brevard, do hereby certify that I was
authorized to and did stenographically report the
foregoing proceedings, and that this transcript, pages 1
through 10, is a true and correct record of the
proceedings to the best of my ability.
DATED this 18th day of December, 2021 Brevard
County, Florida.
A mee, Crevende 2 Rew2
A. CHAMBERS, Court Reporté
Sn
KAREN
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Filing # 140888016 E-Filed 12/23/2021 10:47:20 AM IN THE COUNTY COURT OF THE NINETEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, FLORIDA LEAH M. BROOKS CASE NO.: 312019CA000232 fik/a LEAH M. HUBBARD Plaintiff, (CONSOLIDATED WITH CASE NO. 312018CC001057) LEAH M. BROOKS fik/a LEAH M. HUBBARD Counter-Claim Defendant v. THE YATES LAW FIRM E. CLAYTON YATES, P.A. Defendants. E. CLAYTON YATES, P.A. Counter-Claim Plaintiff NOTICE OF FILING COMES NOW the Plaintiff and Counter-Claim Defendant, LEAH M. BROOKS fik/a LEAH M. HUBBARD and gives notice to the Court that LEAH M. BROOKS f/k/a LEAH M. HUBBARD has filed the Transcript dated July 13, 2021. IT HEREBY CERTIFY that a true and correct copy of the foregoing has been furnished by eservice to E. Clayton Yates, P.A., a, this 23% day of December, 2021. 5820 33 Street Vero Beach, FL 32966Indian River Court Reporting LLC ~ 772.564.6761 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE NINETEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, FLORIDA CASE NO.: 31-2019~CA-000232 LEAH M. BROOKS, £/k/a LEAH M. HUBBARD, Plaintiff, LEAH M. BROOKS, f/k/a LEAH M. HUBBARD, Counter-Claim Defendant. vs. THE YATES LAW FIRM, E. CLAYTON YATES, P.A., Defendants, E. CLAYTON YATES, P.A., Counter-Claim Plaintiff, VIDEOCONFERENCE HEARING BEFORE THE HONORABLE JUDGE JANET CARNEY CROOM DATE TAKEN: July 13, 2021 TIME: 1:17 p.m. PLACE TAKEN: All parties via Zoom REPORTED BY: KAREN A. CHAMBERS Court Reporter Indian River Court Reporting LLC - 772.564.6761 info@ircourt reporting. comIndian River Court Reporting LLC - 772.564.6761 Ww 4 DR O & 10 iL 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 APPEARANCES For the Plaintiff: LEAH BROOKS, PRO SE 5820 33rd Street Vero Beach, Florida 32966 For the Defendant: E. CLAYTON YATES, ESQUIRE E. Clayton Yates, P.A. 426 Avenue A Fort Pierce, Florida 34950 Page 2 Indian River Court Reporting LLC ~ 772.564.6761 info@ircourtreporting.comIndian River Court Reporting LLC - 772.564.6761 oT DH UO eB WwW YH KB 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 PROCEEDINGS INDEX CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER EXHIBITS * *% * * NONE * * * «x Page 3 PAGE NO. 4 ee bea Indian River Court Reporting LLC - 772.564.6761 info@ircourtreporting.comIndian River Court Reporting LLC — 772.564.6761 Be oY KN Oo B&B WY HD 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Page 4 PROCEEDINGS THE COURT: Good afternoon. I know we're a few minutes early, but if y'all are ready to go I'm happy to extend professional courtesy -~ (Audio failure.) MS. BROOKS: I'm ready to go. MR. YATES: Clayton Yates and I'm ready also, Your Honor. MS. BROOKS: I think my court reporter is here, I see another person in the corner. THE COURT: All right. Can anyone hear me? MS. BROOKS: Yes. THE COURT: All right. Are y'all waiting on anyone else or should would get moving? MS. BROOKS: We can get moving, I'm not waiting for anyone else. THE COURT: Very gocd. I have your case up and I'm ready when y'all are. MS. BROOKS: I have a motion for leave to amend to add punitive damages and to elaborate a little more on the fraud charges, the causes of action that I have. Basically, I'm sure you probably remember, maybe not, I'll just run through it quickly. I had a statement of claim against Indian River Court Reporting LLC - 772.564.6761 info@ircourtreporting.comIndian River Court Reporting LLC - 772.564.6761 oa TD VY B WH 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Mr. Yates, April 20, 2018. And he answered on May 23, 2018. When he answered, he counter-petitioned with quantum merit and fees of a little more than $9500 for criminal representation. So that was moved to county civil. When I filed my malpractice case he motioned your court and asked for consolidation of both cases, and you granted the consolidation. When the malpractice case was disposed of, the county civil case was not. So it's been left hanging pretty much since 2018. And so through that case new evidence was presented, things were filed into the court record by Mr. Yates that has not been consistent from the very beginning. And misrepresentations were made to me, and to the court. So I'd like to amend my fourth amendment statement of claim complaint. That's what I'm asking you to do. THE COURT: Okay. (Audio distortion.) Response. MR. YATES: Your Honor, this is not the fourth amended complaint which you're being asked to consider here. I'll go through it briefly. In April of 2018, Ms. Brooks filed her initial Page 5 Indian River Court Reporting LLC ~ 772.564.6761 info@ircourtreporting.comIndian River Court Reporting LLC - 772.564.6761 oO © OB NY DH HH B&B WwW NM 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Page 6 | statement. It was amended on December 17, 2018. Then a second amended complaint, after I filed a motion to dismiss the first amended complaint, was filed on February 21st of 2019. On March 25th of ‘19, she filed her third amended complaint. On July lst of '19, she filed a fourth amended complaint. On August 12th of '19, she filed a motion for leave to amend her fourth amended complaint. I filed a motion to strike, which was never ruled on. And on April 26th of this year she has filed the second motion to leave -- for leave to amend her fourth amended complaint. This would actually be her seventh amended complaint. i think that Ms. Hubbard has had many, many bites at the apple here and its -- you shouldn't grant it. THE COURT: All right. Response. MS. BROOKS: We are dealing with the fourth amended complaint. When the motion to consolidate was brought before your court we were dealing with the third amended complaint, and that is the one they used as their evidence in order to consolidate the cases. In the interim, before you had the hearing and you ordered the consolidation, Judge Menz ordered me to do a more definitive Indian River Court Reporting LLC - 772.564.6761 info@ircourtreporting.comIndian River Court Reporting LLC ~ 772.564.6761 Ook oO 4 HD OF BB WwW 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 1? 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Page 7 statement and amend the third to make it the fourth so that Mr. Yates was able to respond appropriately. Apparently he stated to the court he was not able to respond based on the way my complaint sat. So that was done on July lst. You consolidated it, I believe, on July 9th. And on July 22nd he filed a motion to dismiss the fourth amended statement of claims, and in it he states that there was no cause of action for civil theft, breach of contract. At the end in the summary he alleges that there was no contract between the two of us whatsoever, and that my fourth amended statement of claim was a word salad full of potential fraud and theft allegations. And so, yes, there have been plenty of motions that have been filed on both sides since then because the case was consolidated. A lot of misrepresentations were made within both of the cases and some of it has been entered into the court record. And in my motion I did proffer some other evidence. And this is why I'm asking the court now for leave to amend for the punitive damages and to be able to elaborate on the new evidence that was presented. THE COURT: All right. So you're seeking Indian River Court Reporting LLC - 772.564.6761 info@ircourtreporting.comIndian River Court Reporting LLC - 772.564.6761 WwW NH oO YD HN Fw 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Page 8 leave to amend to add punitive damages, correct? MS. BROOKS: Correct. And there is fraud allegations in the fourth amended statement of claims complaint, but when I tailored this one it was for the county civil court and not for your court so I wanted permission to be able to tailor it the way you would like it. THE COURT: Okay. But I can't allow a claim for punitive damages without hearing what the basis is of that. MS. BROOKS: Well, there were several misrepresentations of material fact by Mr. Yates, regarding his legal representation of me. And I understand that this is not a malpractice case, however this was intertwined with the malpractice because Mr. Yates is the one who introduced the legal representation into the county civil case. So it's floating out there with his counterclaim so I would like to address it. So there was quite a few misrepresentations that were made to me materially that caused me to enter into oral contracts with him regarding representation of me. There was also allegations by him in his complaint that he represented me in my second criminal case, in that I never asked him to Indian River Court Reporting LLC ~ 772.564.6761 info@ircourtreporting.comIndian River Court Reporting LLC - 772.564.6761 oO 4 DD HO BF WHY 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Page 9 represent me, he just unilaterally did it. And he's asking me to pay $300 an hour for fees that I didn't agree to. Further, in multiple documents throughout all of these proceedings he states in one that we have a contract, he states in another we don't have a contract. He states to the Florida Bar that he never discussed fees with me and yet, in request for admissions he states that he did request ~-- that he did discuss fees with me but he just didn't put it down in a fee agreement. And so he has misrepresented to the court, he misrepresented to me. He induced me into entering into an oral contract with him from the very beginning and I would like the opportunity to be able to argue this. THE COURT: There are no grounds to Support a claim for punitive damages, so under the law I cannot grant that. MS. BROOKS: Well, actually there are because punitive damages and fraud are the same. And if I can prove fraud then I can prove the damages. I have severe damages. I need the opportunity to be able to present this to the court. Indian River Court Reporting LLC - 772.564.6761 info@ircourtreporting.comIndian River Court Reporting LLC - 772.564.6761 oO 7D HD OO B&B WY HY KR 10 il 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Page 10 THE COURT: Again, there are no legal grounds to support a claim for punitive damages. I'm not going to allow an amendment for a claim for punitive damages. MS. BROOKS: Okay. THE COURT: All right. Is there anything else we have? MS. BROOKS: No. But I will state on the record that I'm either going to take this to the Fourth DCA or I'm going to refile. THE COURT: All right. MS. BROOKS: So I may be dismissing this action, voluntarily dismissing it and refiling. THE COURT: Who is preparing the order from today's hearing, please? MS. BROOKS: I can do it or Mr. Yates can do it. MR. YATES: I'll do it, Your Honor, if you'd like me to. THE COURT: All right. And so I think that concludes our business on this case today; is that correct? MR. YATES: Yes, ma'am. THE COURT: Okay. Thank you very much. (Thereupon, these proceedings were Indian River Court Reporting LLC - 772.564.6761 info@ircourtreporting.comIndian River Court Reporting LLC ~- 772.564.6761 on D UF & WY NH 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Page 11 CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER I, KAREN A. CHAMBERS, Court Reporter in and for the County of Brevard, do hereby certify that I was authorized to and did stenographically report the foregoing proceedings, and that this transcript, pages 1 through 10, is a true and correct record of the proceedings to the best of my ability. DATED this 18th day of December, 2021 Brevard County, Florida. A mee, Crevende 2 Rew2 A. 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