Fisher Island Club members sue the island's own association in federal court

Members say the island cannot bill them

Fisher Island Club members Steven D. Richman, Mark Lorberbaum and Stephen Courey sued the island's community association Oct. 22, saying it has no right to bill them a yearly fee. A stake in the island's private equity club costs $500,000, and the suit says the club could deduct disputed fees from a membership's value at resale. The fee is charged to members who own no home on the island. The Fisher Island Community Association says it provides the transportation, patrol and monitoring the fee pays for. The members went to federal court after the association sued two club members, Richman among them, in state court in January to collect the fee.

Why it matters: The suit says the association's yearly fee on members without a home rose from about $13,000 in 2022 to about $64,500 for 2026. By our arithmetic, that is nearly five times as much. The suit proposes a class action for every such member billed since Oct. 1, 2022. In the suit, those who paid seek refunds, and those who owe seek a ruling that the charges are unenforceable. The suit says more than $5 million is at stake. No judge has yet certified the class, meaning agreed to let the three sue for all those members, and no court has decided the claims.

Jim Ferraro, a board member of the association, told The Real Deal the members are "getting hammered in state court." He said they are trying to file "the same case in federal court, and that's a joke." The association says the club's bylaws require the fee.

The story so far: In January, the association sued two club members in Miami-Dade Circuit Court to collect last year's fee. In September, the judge let those cases go forward without deciding whether the fee is owed.

What's next: The federal case is in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Its public docket feed does not yet name the judge.

Who's who

The Fisher Island Community Association is the defendant. It says it provides the transportation, patrol and monitoring services the fee pays for. The Fisher Island Club is the island's private equity club, where a membership stake costs $500,000. The club is not a defendant. Jim Ferraro is an attorney and a board member of the association; WLRN and WPLG Local 10 called him its chairman in June. He is not a party. The plaintiffs are club members Steven D. Richman, Stephen Courey and Mark Lorberbaum. Their lawyers are at The Kon Firm, led by Joshua R. Kon.

What the suit says

The suit says the fee for members without a home was $13,079 in 2022, $24,524 in 2023 and $53,378 in 2024. The association charged $53,380 for 2025 and $64,495 for 2026, the suit says. By our arithmetic, the 2026 fee is about 4.9 times the 2022 fee. All of these figures are The Real Deal's reading of the complaint.

The members say the charges have no valid formula or limit. They say the club's membership plan set the fee at $500 a year in 1993, adjusted for inflation. They also say the association bills them without lowering what it already charges the homeowners for the same homes.

The suit proposes two classes of members without a home who were billed since Oct. 1, 2022. One is members with unpaid balances, who want the charges declared unenforceable. The other is members who paid, who want refunds. The members also want the court to stop the charges. They say more than $5 million is at stake.

Lorberbaum says he paid the fees for 2023, 2024 and 2025, a total of $131,283. Courey says his 2025 fee was paid on his behalf. Richman says he has not paid, and that the association sued him to collect the 2025 charge.

The suit says the association and club warned members that not paying could cost them their good standing and club privileges. It says the club could deduct disputed fees from a membership's value when the membership is resold.

The fight in state court

In January, the association sued club members Steven Neckman and Richman in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, The Real Deal reports. It sought more than $53,000 from each for the 2025 fee, claiming breach of contract and unjust enrichment. In those suits, the association said the club's bylaws require members who own no home on the island to pay a yearly fee for transportation, patrol and monitoring. It said the club collects the fee and passes it to the association. Neckman is not part of the federal suit.

At the end of August, Richman, Neckman, Courey and Lorberbaum each filed their own state complaints against the association. The association has not sued Courey or Lorberbaum. Neckman filed a counterclaim on Oct. 15 disputing the association's power to charge the fee.

In September, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Beatrice Butchko Sanchez reversed her earlier rulings that had let Richman and Neckman get the association's cases dismissed, so those cases can move forward. She also turned down the association's requests for penalties against the two members. The association had based those requests on AI-generated court citations in the members' earlier filings. The rulings did not decide whether the fees are owed or enforceable.

The island

Fisher Island Club opened in 1987 and became an equity club in 1993, The Real Deal reports, citing the club's website. A membership stake costs $500,000, with about $40,000 a year in dues, The Real Deal reports. Separate transportation, security and maintenance fees apply to owners and members without a home alike, Ferraro said.

About 800 residents from more than 40 countries live on the 216-acre island, which has no road or bridge to the mainland. Census figures show $316,420 in income per person, a $250,000 median household income and a $2 million median home value, The Real Deal reports. In January the outlet called Fisher Island "one of the country's priciest ZIP codes."

Their side

Ferraro, for the association, said the members are essentially filing the same case in federal court that they are losing in state court. The association's state complaints say the club's bylaws require the fee. We found no association statement on the federal complaint itself.

The members' lawyers, Joshua R. Kon, David Robbins and Zalman Margolin, say the association "is taking advantage of club members, compelling them to pay these unlawful fees." They say it "has publicly threatened club members with suspension and expulsion from the island." Kon said the plaintiffs "intend to see this to the end for the principle of the matter, making sure that their fellow club members are not further bilked."

Sources we read

The federal docket for Richman v. Fisher Island Community Association, Inc., Southern District of Florida, via CourtListener. The Real Deal, Oct. 27 and Jan. 23. WLRN, June 4. WPLG Local 10, June 7.