Daily Record Financial News &
Monday, November 23, 2015
Vol. 103, No. 006 • Two Sections
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
John DeVault, managing director at the Bedell Firm, speaks with current and former employees of the law firm before the public anniversary celebration Thursday.
Photo by Thomas Hager
Texas impacts Stein Mart
150 years & counting By Mark Basch Contributing Writer
W
hen you enter the offices of Bedell, Dittmar, DeVault, Pillans & Coxe P.A., you immediately walk into history. The Jacksonville law firm’s Downtown building at 101 E. Adams St. is a city landmark, built in 1905 with a donation from Andrew Carnegie for the Jacksonville Free Public Library. However, the Bedell Firm’s history goes deeper than that. The firm lays claim as Florida’s oldest law firm, established by a former Union Army colonel in 1865. Last week, the Bedell Firm celebrated its 150th birthday. “Right after the Civil War, Horatio Bisbee, a carpetbagger from up north, moved to Jacksonville and set up a law firm,” said John DeVault, managing partner of the firm. Bisbee later partnered with George Bedell to form Bisbee & Bedell, and
the firm grew from there into one of Florida’s leading litigation firms. The firm’s reputation was stamped when George’s son, Chester, joined long after Bisbee was gone to form Bedell & Bedell in 1927. “Chester was regarded by many people as one of the great trial lawyers of Florida,” DeVault said. Chester Bedell joined the firm as a 21-year-old and actually was admitted to The Florida Bar without completing law school. Because of that, it has become a tradition for attorneys at the firm to not show off their law degrees, DeVault said. “Nobody hangs a diploma” in their offices, he said. There are no longer any Bedells at the firm but the tradition they started remains. “The practice then and the practice now is limited to trial work,” DeVault said. Bedell continued on Page A-8
Inside: Timeline of the firm and photos from celebration Public
legal notices begin on page
B-1
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When I came to the Bedell Firm, I was assigned to work with Nathan Bedell, who put me to work on a railroad crossing case. My first assignment was to research all the railroad crossing cases and summarize and categorize them. After about a week, I reported back to Mr. Bedell with my extensive memo. He thumbed through it and looked disappointed. When I asked if there was a problem, he looked at me with those warm, but piercing blue eyes and said: ‘I asked for ALL the railroad crossing cases, not just Florida. So, I went back to the library.
Downtown project needs more than $8M
By David Chapman Staff Writer
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Bedell firm started in 1865 by Union Army colonel
W.C. Gentry Former partner at the Bedell Firm
Published
for
Two weeks after reporting a sales decline for the third quarter, Stein Mart Inc. officials Thursday gave more insight into what caused the sales slump. You can blame Texas. The Jacksonville-based fashion retailer reported a net loss of 1 cent a share for the third quarter ended Oct. 31, which is not unusual because the third quarter is often a down quarter for Stein Mart before the holiday season rush. But after three straight years of strong sales growth, the comparable-store sales drop of 2.3 percent was notable. Comparable-store sales are sales at stores open for more than one year and are considered a key indicator of a retailer’s performance. During Stein Mart’s conference call with analysts Thursday, Chief Financial Officer Gregory Kleffner said the company’s 44 stores in Texas recorded comparable-store sales that were “several percentage points lower” than the rest of the chain, which has a total of 278 stores in operation across the country. Kleffner said the Texas economy has been hurt by the drop in oil prices and the strong dollar, but that may not be the only reason for the sales drop. “This is really the first quarter that we have seen weakness in Texas relative to the rest of our chain, so we’re analyzing Basch continued on Page A-7
The partnership pushing to redevelop the historic Laura Street Trio and Barnett Bank building has been asking for $8 million in grants from the city to make that happen. That’s not all they want. The developers actually are asking for two more financial components that could cost the city millions more. The additional money was first discussed at a Downtown Investment Authority workshop Friday. SouthEast Group and The Molasky Group of Cos. are requesting 300 parking spaces within a new parking structure and a Recapture Enhanced Value grant. Neither was part of pitch made about the $8 million in taxpayer funds needed to start the project. The parking structure and who would be responsible for building and owning it will be part of the next wave of discussions on the project.
26,796
Project
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Page A-11
consecutive weekdays