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They say you should never mix business with pleasure.
An amicable split between Florida broker Alyssa Morgan and her ex-husband, John Jansheski, went awry after Morgan agreed to sell the dental goods exec’s multi-home estate in which she had lived with him while they were still married.
Now Morgan has sued Jansheski and his company that sold the property, Starboard Florida IV, in Miami-Dade Circuit Court for breach of written and oral contract, unjust enrichment and other counts, after Jansheski seemingly enabled another agent to sweep the listing out from Morgan’s feet, The Real Deal reported.
For a year-and-a-half, Morgan marketed the Star Island mansion in Miami Beach, and even coordinated showings and presented an offer from an individual who ultimately became the buyer of the property — but at a much lower sales price than the one Morgan had initially presented to her ex-husband.
“On its surface, this case involves a real estate sales commission dispute arising from for [sic] the sale of a home located at 27 Star Island Drive, Miami Beach, Florida,” the complaint states.
“At the same time, on a more profound level, this case involves more than an ordinary commission dispute between two corporate parties to an arms’-length listing contract. Rather, it involves broken promises made by a former husband, Mr. Jansheski (the managing member of Starboard) to his former wife, Ms. Morgan, who procured the buyer for the Inside Network and Starboard, who ultimately purchased the Property, the former marital home, to protect and take Ms. Morgan’s (and the Inside Network’s) interest in the commission on the Property.”
Morgan said the legal skirmish is about receiving credit for the work she put into marketing the property.
“[The lawsuit is] about maintaining high standards in our industry, giving credit where it’s due and all working together,” she told TRD in a statement.
The couple divorced in May 2020. In February 2022, Morgan, who was then affiliated with One Sotheby’s International Realty, presented a $70 million offer from CrossCountry Mortgage CEO Ron Leonhardt to Jansheski’s company, Starboard. According to the lawsuit, Jansheski did not approve of the offer, which he called a “bottom feeder number” and “refused to present any counteroffer.” At the time, the complaint states, Morgan let Jansheski know that the buyer remained interested in the property, despite the lack of any counteroffer.
Morgan continued to represent the property, and in August 2022, she launched the Side-backed Inside Network. Morgan and Jansheski then entered into an exclusive sales agreement in October 2022 and in December 2022, the Inside Network and Jansheski’s Starboard Florida IV amended the listing agreement to raise the total commission amount from 3 percent to 4.5 percent. The agreement stipulated that Inside Network would receive a 2 percent commission on the sale.
The property’s asking price was dropped from $77 million to about $74.7 million in January 2023. A month later, Jansheski’s Starboard ended the exclusive listing agreement with Morgan while allowing Inside Network to continue to market the property, the lawsuit states.
By May 2023, Morgan had arranged a walkthrough with the buyer, according to text messages cited in the lawsuit filing. By Aug. 1, however, Jansheski had handed the listing over to Dina Goldentayer at Douglas Elliman. Meanwhile, Morgan had scheduled a showing of the property for Aug. 6 and, according to the lawsuit, Jansheski had put in writing that “The Inside Network were protected for its showing” on that date, according to the suit.
“I told you you are protected on this deal are you concerned about this particular deal?” Jansheski texted Morgan on Aug. 5, 2023, an attachment to the complaint shows.
Two days later, the buyer submitted their final offer, which was accepted by Jansheski — and Morgan didn’t get a cent of the commission.
Morgan “worked really, really hard for a long time … and he paid her nothing,” the broker’s attorney, Alexander Almazan, said. “The contract even came to her, and the plaintiff had received from this same buyer an offer for over $10 million more than was rejected by the seller.”
The buyer was Equities Property Holdings, the lawsuit states. The LLC, whose owner was previously unknown, appears to be tied to Ron Leonhardt, as Leonhardt’s name is listed on a notice of commencement that was submitted earlier this year for a renovation of the pool, TRD reported.
The estate features a renovated 1924 guest house that was designed by Walter D. Garmo and a newer waterfront mansion designed by South African-based SAOTA. At one point the estate, which encompasses a total of about 23,000 square feet of living space, according to an old listing description, was asking $90 million.
Had Morgan been attributed as the listing agent on the $57 million sale, she would have received a commission of $1.14 million. Goldentayer is not mentioned as a defendant in the lawsuit. Chad Carroll of Compass represented the buyer.
Morgan first filed a complaint in November 2023, and the case was dismissed by Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Joseph Perkins in August 2024. This September, Morgan filed an amended complaint that added the allegation of breach of oral contract. On Oct. 3, 2024, Jansheski and Starboard filed a motion to dismiss that argued Morgan is barred from seeking out a commission from Jansheski and that there is no oral contract exception to Florida law.
Goldentayer was peripherally involved in another lawsuit involving a pricey transaction in Miami earlier this year, although she was not named as a defendant. A homeseller sued Douglas Elliman for misleading him about the identity of the buyer of his Indian Creek Village property, and ultimately conceding a $6 million discount on the sale. The buyer of the home ended up being Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Goldentayer and two other Elliman agents brokered the deal.
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Email Lillian Dickerson
