Miami Jury Awards $982K for Civil Theft and Conversion Case
Table of Contents
Case Background
Christian Angarita and his company, Level One Construction LLC, filed a lawsuit in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court against Pedro M. Menichetti, Pablo A. Menichetti, and their company, Meni Tech LLC. The lawsuit centered on claims that the Menichetti family and their firm improperly took and kept funds belonging to Mr. Angarita and Level One Construction. The original complaint, filed in December 2022, officially started the legal battle. The case proceeded to a jury trial, with the final verdict handed down in March 2025.
Cause
The Plaintiffs leveled serious accusations, claiming the Defendants illegally withheld and misused funds. They asserted three core legal arguments to recover their money.
Unjust Enrichment
The Plaintiffs argued that the Defendants received financial benefits money belonging to the Plaintiffs under circumstances that made it morally and legally wrong to keep the funds. The Plaintiffs claimed the Menichettis were unfairly richer at the Plaintiffs’ expense.
Conversion
The complaint charged the Defendants with conversion, which is the legal term for wrongfully taking or controlling someone else's property, in this case, money. The Plaintiffs argued the Defendants had exercised unauthorized control over their funds.
Civil Theft
The most severe claim was Civil Theft under Florida Statute § 772.11. This claim required the Plaintiffs to prove the Defendants intentionally took their funds with the intent to permanently deprive the Plaintiffs of the use of that money.
Injury
The Plaintiffs suffered direct financial loss, alleging the Defendants’ actions deprived them of a significant amount of money that they had a right to possess. The initial claim stated the damages exceeded $30,000, which is the minimum threshold for this level of Court jurisdiction.
Damages Sought
While the complaint only specified that the damages exceeded $30,000, the Plaintiffs ultimately pursued the full recovery of their allegedly converted funds, plus additional multiple (or punitive) damages allowed under Florida law, especially for the Civil Theft claim.
Key Arguments and Proceedings
The lawsuit moved through the Court system, culminating in a trial where both sides presented their evidence and arguments to the jury.
Legal Representation
Plaintiff(s): Christian Angarita | Level One Construction LLC
· Counsel for Plaintiff: Richard Siegmeister
Defendant(s): Pedro M. Menichetti | Pablo A. Menichetti | Meni Tech LLC
· Counsel for Defendant: Ricardo A. Rodriguez
The Court documents provided names for some of the legal counsel involved, with Richard Siegmeister representing the Plaintiffs and Ricardo A. Rodriguez representing the Defendants during the filing of the initial Answer and Defenses. Details regarding experts were not available in the public documents reviewed for this report.
Key Arguments or Remarks by Counsel
Throughout the proceedings, the two sides presented starkly different versions of events.
Claims
Counsel for the Plaintiffs centered their argument on the Defendants’ deliberate actions. They showed the jury evidence to prove that Christian Angarita and Level One Construction had provided funds, and the Menichettis and Meni Tech then improperly diverted or kept that money for their own use. They successfully argued that the Defendants’ actions met the legal standards for conversion and unjust enrichment, and more critically, that they qualified as criminal-level Civil Theft under Florida law.
Defense
The Defendants strongly denied all allegations of wrongdoing. In their official Answer and Defenses, the Defendants maintained that they did not owe the Plaintiffs any money and specifically countered the theft and conversion narrative. They stated that the relationship between the Plaintiffs and Meni Tech LLC was simply a verbal business agreement where the Plaintiffs had invested in the company. This argument suggested that the funds were not stolen or converted, but rather were lost as part of a failed or unsuccessful business venture where investment risk was involved. They also took the legal step of requesting attorney's fees should the jury find the Plaintiffs' claims lacked factual or legal merit.
Jury Verdict
The jury ultimately sided with the Plaintiffs, rejecting the Defendants’ argument that the money constituted a business investment. The jury found that the Defendants Pedro M. Menichetti, Pablo A. Menichetti, and Meni Tech LLC were all liable for Unjust Enrichment, Conversion, and Civil Theft. The jury awarded the Plaintiffs a substantial total amount to cover their losses and punish the Defendants for their actions.
On March 24, 2025, the jury returned a verdict awarding the Plaintiffs nearly one million dollars.
The total award broke down as follows:
Compensatory Damages for Unjust Enrichment, Conversion, and Civil Theft
The jury awarded the Plaintiffs $233,000.00 in compensatory damages. This amount represented the direct financial loss the jury determined the Plaintiffs had suffered as a result of the Defendants’ actions. This finding affirmed the Plaintiffs’ core assertion that the Menichettis had wrongfully taken their money.
Multiple Damages for Unjust Enrichment and Conversion
In addition to the compensatory amount, the jury awarded the Plaintiffs an extra $50,000.00 in multiple damages against the Defendants, based on the findings of Unjust Enrichment and Conversion.
Multiple Damages for Civil Theft
The most significant part of the award came from the finding of Civil Theft. Under Florida law, a successful Civil Theft claim allows the Court to automatically triple (treble) the amount of compensatory damages. The jury awarded the Plaintiffs $699,000.00 in multiple damages specifically because of the Civil Theft finding, calculated as three times the compensatory damages of $233,000.
The final, combined judgment against the Defendants totaled $982,000.00. The jury delivered a clear message, holding the Menichettis and their company accountable for the financial losses suffered by Christian Angarita and Level One Construction LLC.