When Bobbie and Terry Downs hired Coral Gables attorney Jay Farrow last fall, they thought they were getting a bulldog who would finally put an end to their lengthy dispute with the landlord of their St. Petersburg go-kart racing track.
The couple took out a second mortgage on their St. Petersburg home to pay Farrow an $80,000 retainer to file a lawsuit against their landlord, money they felt would be well worth it to put an end to a conflict that stretched back four years.
One year later, the couple now say they have been abandoned by Farrow, whom they haven’t been able to reach in months. They have since filed a complaint with the Florida Bar in which they wrote that Farrow never filed the promised lawsuit against their landlord. With their lease set to expire with no resolution to the conflict, they worry they will have to shut down their business altogether.
The Miami Herald spoke to more than a dozen former clients who say they were similarly deserted by Farrow after paying him thousands of dollars to take on their cases. Many of them have also filed complaints against Farrow with the Florida Bar.