Ex-Palm Coast Doctor Doesn’t Contest Civil Suit Alleging Grave Claims; Judge Sets Trial for Damages

The civil suit is seeking damages of more than $30,000. Abate, 67 when the suit was filed, never contested it in court. Her attorney, Michael Dolce of Palm Beach Gardens, filed a motion for a final judgment, finding Abate liable by default. In September, Circuit Judge Terence Perkins granted the order.

The order set up a rare trial phase ahead. On Jan. 23, the case–M.D. v. Gerard Abate, the initials referring to the woman–is set for a jury trial before Perkins, to determine what financial damages the woman may be entitled to. A jury will be selected. Dolce will be representing his client. Perkins will preside. But the defendant’s table may be empty.

Just because he did not contest the case until now doesn’t preclude Abate from presenting a defense during the damage phase. But there are still no indication that Abate intends to contest the proceedings. He no longer owns the Cinnamon Beach Way property. He owns a home on Winthrop Circle in Williamsburg, Va., and is listed as having a “consultancy in medical affairs” there on his LinkedIn page.




FlaglerLive contacted the number listed for his consultancy. Abate did not return a voice mail. But Eric Montalvo, a lawyer and founding partner at Washington, D.C.-based Federal Practice Group, did. Montalvo said he would not just then speak on the record, only intimating that the case was not over. He was not listed as an attorney of record for Abate, at least not in the M.D. case. Weeks passed. After several attempts to speak with Montalvo, the attorney, through his assistant, said he would “not be able to provide a statement as of this time.”

“The fact that somebody gets sued for something and fails to defend themselves after receiving notice of the lawsuit doesn’t mean that there’s any legal confession, if you will, for lack of a better term to responsibility outside of that suit.,” Dolce said. “So it doesn’t work to establish criminal culpability.” What it does mean, Dolce continued, is that “he has confessed to liability in the eyes of the law for the allegations of the complaint.”

One of the allegations is that Abate deceived the woman into thinking he was single, when he was, in fact, married. She had stayed in contact with him after the alleged assault, finding out he was married more than a year later. His then-spouse filed for divorced in July 2021, less than a month after the civil lawsuit was filed. The marriage was dissolved last January, with Abate ceding ownership of the Cinnamon Beach Way condo to his spouse, among other financial arrangements.




To secure the default judgment, Dolce had to prove that the lawsuit had been served by a process server in person. It was served in New Jersey. ” We had found a vehicle in the driveway to match a registration of his, and a knock on the door and he answered,” he said.

“He had the ability to defend himself because at the same time, shortly after my lawsuit was filed,” Dolce said, “his wife filed for divorce in the same courthouse, and he hired a lawyer. He hired a lawyer to represent him in that case.” Abate hired Flagler Beach lawyer William White in that case. “So obviously he’s got the capacity to hire a lawyer, he’s a doctor and he makes money so he can afford a lawyer, but for whatever reason, he chose not to defend this case.” Dolce also wrote Abate before the lawsuit was filed, then gave him extra time after it was filed. He added: “I’ve not heard from a living suit.”

It’s still legally possible to have the order  vacated, if Abate chose to go that route, but he would have a high burden to meet to convince the judge to do so.

Witness lists Dolce submitted include the alleged victim herself, a psychologist, a counselor, a financial advisor, several people in health care and a rape crisis center, records custodians and others. Abate is also listed on Dolce’s witness list. The lists trace the outlines of Dolce’s plan: to tell the woman’s story in part through her medical and psychological records. The exhibit list will include texts and emails Abate exchanged with the woman, cancelled checks from Abate to the woman–he had paid her several thousand dollars in the aftermath of their relationship–and “photographs of damage to the Plaintiff’s car on the night of the assault.”




Should damages be awarded, the judgment would be strictly civil. In such cases the defendant could then be compelled by the court to provide financial documents. If the defendant ignores the court, only then can a contempt motion be filed, resulting in a bench warrant that could lead to arrest.

A survivor himself, Dolce specializes in representing survivors of sex crimes. In this case, he was struck by the way the alleged victim met Abate on a dating website, then was in  his analysis unnecessarily subjected to deceptive, predatory behavior in a society where anyone wishing to have an affair can do so–without deception.

“We’ve got emails back and forth between my client and Dr. Abate before any assault occurred, where it’s like, ‘probably the only thing missing in my life is somebody to walk on the beach with and enjoy seafood dinners and stuff,'” Dolce said. “That painted the picture that he was what my client was looking for, someone for a committed relationship. That wasn’t a trip. So why would somebody behave like that? You have to ask yourself, why would somebody behave like that in this day and age? Well, because they’re getting some charge. It seems to me some emotional charge or something that excites them about getting somebody into bed. Right? That’s what it seems like the goal is, it seems to me, because he had alternatives, didn’t he?”