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Soffer will no longer be required to defend the wrongful death lawsuit raised in the federal district court in Miami after the claimant voluntarily withdrew her claim.
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Jeffrey Soffer/ Getty
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Jeffrey Soffer, chairman and chief executive of Turnberry Associates, after surviving a fatal helicopter accident in the Bahamas on November 2012 has also been spared the trauma of appearing in court to defend himself in a $100 million lawsuit recently filed last month in federal district court in Miami by Daria Pastoukhova Gogoleva, the widow of the crash’s single fatality, Lance Valdez.
According to Ms. Gogoleva’s claim, Soffer was at the controls of the chopper without having a valid license when the accident occurred. Now, according to Robert Martinez, a lawyer acting for Mr Soffer, Daria Pastoukhova Gogoleva has voluntarily withdrawn her claim.
According to Mr. Martinez, the defendant was not surprised by the decision to withdraw this lawsuit, which was riddled with factual errors and unfounded accusations.
“The case collapsed just a few weeks after the lawsuit was filed and widely publicized by the other side and before we even had a chance to respond, confirming that it was a frivolous lawsuit.” Mr. Martinez summed up.
The lawsuit was filed months after Ms. Gogoleva resolved claims involving the accident in a settlement with Mr. Valdez’s insurance carrier. The settlement was agreed after it underwent substantial scrutiny by at least four highly experienced lawyers representing Ms. Gogoleva as well as a guardian ad litem for the Valdez children and was approved by a judge of the Florida Probate Court.
Soffer was left with a fractured vertebrae as well as a few other minor injuries as a result of the accident.
Jeffrey Soffer is an American real estate developer who with his partners has succeeded in developing 20 million square feet of retail space, 1.5 million square feet of office space, 2000 hotel rooms and more than 7000 condos, with the Turnberry company believed to be responsible for the development of more than $7 billion worth of property worldwide.
Soffer married international supermodel Elle Macpherson at the Laucala Resort in Fiji in July 2013.
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