legal fees - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-28T12:42:16Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/legal+feesLantana: Town agrees to reimburse former mayor for legal feeshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/lantana-town-agrees-to-reimburse-former-mayor-for-legal-fees2021-04-28T16:02:10.000Z2021-04-28T16:02:10.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><strong>By Mary Thurwachter</strong><br /> <br />After an hourlong discussion with robust input from residents, the Lantana Town Council unanimously agreed on April 12 to reimburse former Mayor Dave Stewart for legal expenses he incurred defending an ethics charge.<br /><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8862445488,RESIZE_180x180{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8862445488,RESIZE_180x180{{/staticFileLink}}" width="103" alt="8862445488?profile=RESIZE_180x180" /></a>The charge stemmed from a sexual harassment allegation made by Catherine Phillips Padilla, who accused the former mayor of asking for sex in exchange for his approving speed bumps on her street six years ago. Stewart was exonerated by the Florida Commission on Ethics in 2019.<br />Stewart’s legal expenses included $41,699 for attorney’s costs and $5,302 for private investigation charges, for a total of about $47,000.<br /> Finance director Stephen Kaplan said attorneys from the town’s insurance pool (Public Risk Management) said that Stewart’s court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees are to be reimbursed under Section 111.07 of the state law. Investigative fees, on the other hand, are at the council’s choice.<br /> Most residents who spoke on the matter favored paying Stewart for both attorney and investigative costs.<br /> “I do believe the investigative fees are a part of the lawsuit,” said Hypoluxo Island resident Media Beverly. “The attorney’s fees and the costs should be reimbursed. The investigative fees are clearly part of that. And, because Mr. Stewart as mayor was exonerated during the ethics proceedings, I believe there should be full reimbursement for both.”<br /> Another island resident, retired lawyer Erica Wold, agreed. “There’s clearly precedent for this. And basically, legal representation is very impossible without incurring the costs of an investigation. You have to put this in perspective. Stewart was mayor for over 20 years. He took us from debt to $9 million in reserves. He had an average salary of $500 a month, which for over 20 years, is about $6,000 a year. That’s about $120,000.<br /> “Now he just incurred $47,000 in connection with being a mayor. Over 20 years and this complaint comes and he was clearly cleared of it. Frankly, common decency dictates that you reimburse him.”<br /> Chamber of Commerce President Dave Arm said the private investigator was needed and should be paid by the town.<br /> “This all happened because Dave Stewart was mayor and somebody decided they didn’t want him to be mayor anymore,” Arm said. “It could happen to any one of you. And as people have said, you’ve got to make sure that the town has his back. He did a great job.” <br /> Hypoluxo Island resident Bob Fritts said that failure to approve the legal expenses would discourage people from running for political office. “If the town doesn’t have your back when you’re exonerated, who is going to want to take the chance again?” Fritts asked council members. “In today’s political environment, this could be one of you six months from now.”<br /> Two residents asked that the council delay action on paying the expenses because they wanted more detailed explanation of the attorney fees.<br /> Jennifer Wink, who said she represented the residents of James Place at 1206 S. Lake Drive, wanted more transparency in the attorney fees. “They would like to know if it could be tabled and they can do more research, because while this may have been going on for a long time, many people were unaware that this was an option.” <br /> But the Town Council said it was ready to act and followed the advice of Town Attorney Max Lohman. <br /> “But for former Mayor Stewart’s position as being mayor, such a complaint could not have been levied against him and the costs were necessary and incurred in the course of the defense of the matter,” Lohman said. “For that reason, I offered you the opinion that, while I believe it is still up to your discretion, I encourage you to reimburse the costs.<br /> “I believe there is very solid case law that supports the claim for reimbursement of those fees. It would seem manifestly unjust to require the mayor to litigate the town to recoup fees that he only incurred because he was the mayor. The investigative costs were part of that.”<br /> As to what Wink referred to as “a vagueness” in attorney fee charges provided in the agenda packet, Lohman said that a detailed synopsis under the circumstances would be voluminous.<br /> “When you have a case that goes on this long, the bills end up being quite detailed and long and so he did a synopsis,” Lohman said of Stewart’s attorney. “Knowing it was going to be submitted for an agenda item, I suspect that one of the reasons the attorney just did the synopsis was not only to keep the amount of paperwork brief, but also when you do billing and you are representing a private client, those bills are attorney-client privilege due to the content of the bills. It is not uncommon for an attorney to redact portions of the bills quite extensively.”<br /> Lohman added: “For the amount of time this case went on and the amount of hourly rate that was being charged, $40,000 is not a lot of money.”</p></div>Gulf Stream: Sidelined by stroke, Ganger asks for help with legal feeshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/gulf-stream-sidelined-by-stroke-ganger-asks-for-help-with-legal-f2016-11-02T16:58:39.000Z2016-11-02T16:58:39.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong><br /><br /> Former Vice Mayor Robert Ganger wants the town to pay $2,355 he spent fighting a deposition in a Martin O’Boyle lawsuit against Gulf Stream.<br /> The amount requested by Ganger, who is recuperating from a stroke that forced him to quit his commission seat in July, is less than a third of what his lawyer charged, said Kristine de Haseth, executive director of the Florida Coalition for Preservation, which Ganger co-founded. “His doctor was very firm in his opinion that Mr. Ganger could not be deposed as part of this frivolous lawsuit,” de Haseth said.<br /> Commissioner Joan Orthwein said she had no objection to paying the legal fees. “I think it’s very sad that he had to go out and find a personal attorney to defend himself,” Orthwein said.<br /> Ganger’s total bill to obtain a protective order from being deposed was around $12,000, but de Haseth said she negotiated with his lawyer to get the bill closer to $7,500.<br /> She urged town commissioners to approve the request for $2,355 “not only as a vote of confidence for Mr. Ganger and all the years that he served, but hopefully that you’ll never be in this position also.”<br /> Resident O’Boyle has filed dozens of lawsuits against Gulf Stream over the last four years and made thousands of requests for public records. <br /> Commissioners decided to postpone the matter until their next meeting, which they rescheduled from Nov. 11 to Nov. 10 to avoid the Veterans Day holiday.</p></div>Editor's Note: A wish for residents in 2016: Be informed, get involvedhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/editor-s-note-a-wish-for-residents-in-2016-be-informed-get-involv2015-12-30T16:47:16.000Z2015-12-30T16:47:16.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p> As I sit at my desk the day after Christmas — with several extra pounds on my waist and a purring office cat on my lap — I think about how much there is to be thankful for as we slip into the New Year. <br /> Because I’m in the business of publishing a community newspaper, I also think about all that we need to keep an eye on in 2016. No matter how sated we may be with the sugar and tryptophan of the holidays, it’s important to remember that we can’t protect democracy by building gates around our personal desires and forgetting our place in the larger community. <br /> Here are my top three local issues for the coming year: <br /> • Beach erosion: It isn’t going away. Even if you believe that pumping sand on public beaches is a waste of time and money, it does allow one of the main economic drivers of Florida (tourism) to continue. As our population increases (there are now 6 million people living in the South Florida corridor), there is a growing need for recreational space — and there are very few public beaches remaining. No matter how many gates we put up, tourists (and residents) will want to come to the beach. Those of us lucky enough to live along the shore need to take a broader look at the role beaches play in our economy and not succumb to an “I’ve got mine” mentality.<br /> • Sober homes: The recovery industry’s meteoric rise over the past few years has taken almost everyone by surprise. We’ve all known family, friends or neighbors who have battled with addiction and are thankful for professionals who provided assistance for this disease. What we didn’t expect was for the sober home industry to explode when laws and a lack of regulations provided access to easy money for those who prey on the needs of others. <br /> Now we have the fourth-largest industry in Palm Beach County giving little back to the communities where they see the most potential profit. It’s become an issue for government agencies (aka our tax dollars) to deal with. Unless recovery industry leaders step up their efforts to police their own (it’s not like they don’t have the money), it’s going to take a long time for the wheels of government to provide a solution that benefits both the communities and the growing need for addiction treatment. <br /> • Guns for hire: Advance apologies to all my attorney friends, but it seems that no dispute (no matter how small) is settled in our area without costing thousands of dollars in legal fees. Again, much of this ends up being paid by the taxpayers. In meeting after meeting, I watch individuals, businesses and developers seek special allowances from local government by hiring well-connected lawyers who know what it takes behind the scenes to get things done. Can’t blame them, it’s how things work. <br /> But after seven years of attending local government meetings, I see the same attorneys before our councils and commissions again and again and again. It becomes obvious that a very few people are behind the changes (good and bad) happening in our communities. Someone is profiting, and seldom is it the taxpayer. <br /> Will any of these concerns be mitigated or solved in the coming year? Doubtful. These are complex issues. <br /> Still, I have hope for 2016. <br /> Already I see citizens organizing and becoming better informed. In today’s changing media world, this is essential. It has become more and more important that traditional “follow-the-money” journalism be supplemented by courageous citizens who are willing to become part of the solution: solutions that work for everyone.<br /><br /><em>Mary Kate Leming,</em><br /><em>Editor</em></p></div>Ocean Ridge: Mayor Pugh wants to make Old Ocean Boulevard a promenadehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/ocean-ridge-mayor-pugh-wants-to-make-old-ocean-boulevard-a-promen2015-09-30T20:06:39.000Z2015-09-30T20:06:39.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><span><b>By Dan Moffett</b></span></p>
<p>Mayor Geoff Pugh has a plan to create a waterfront promenade and change the traffic flow in Ocean Ridge. And town commissioners say they like what they’ve heard so far.<br /> Pugh’s idea is to make Old Ocean Boulevard a one-way street running south from Corrine Street to Tropical Drive. He proposes making Thompson Street, Adams Road and Beachway Drive dead-ends at Old Ocean.<br /> The mayor sees at least two benefits from the plan: It is likely to funnel more nonresident traffic to Highway A1A and away from neighborhoods; and it would turn Old Ocean Boulevard into a friendly thoroughfare for pedestrians and bicyclists.<br /> “You get the thinking out of the box award,” said Commissioner Richard Lucibella, on hearing Pugh at the Sept. 10 meeting.<br /> “A really exciting beginning,” said Commissioner Lynn Allison.<br /> Commissioner James Bonfiglio said variations of the idea had surfaced in previous years but never advanced.<br /> “I liked it back then,” Bonfiglio said, “and I like it now.”<br /> Police Chief Hal Hutchins said he believes the proposed configuration would allow emergency vehicles adequate access and also work for bicycle traffic. Because the town owns Old Ocean, no approval from state or county officials appears necessary.<br /> “There’s no doubt in my mind we have to do some studies,” Hutchins said, however.<br /> Commissioners instructed Town Manager Ken Schenck to investigate the cost of a traffic engineering study and bring back estimates for this month’s meeting. Pugh says he believes the cost of the plan will be minimal, requiring little more than some signs and plastic barriers to implement.<br /> “If you put all the stuff up and it doesn’t work,” he said, “you just take it down.”</p>
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<p><b>Town to pay legal fees</b></p>
<p> <span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>In other business, commissioners unanimously approved paying $82,080 to cover Lucibella’s legal fees in defeating the recall movement against him earlier this year. The town still hopes its insurance carrier will cover the amount above a $50,000 deductible, or about $32,080.<br />The matter had been tabled twice during previous meetings, at Lucibella’s urging, because Allison was absent. She has been the commission’s most vocal critic of Lucibella’s role in the ouster of former Police Chief Chris Yannuzzi, the event that triggered the recall effort.<br />“This has been a really upsetting time for this town because of this circumstance,” Allison said. “This has felt very divisive.” <br />She stood by her assertions that Lucibella’s behavior toward Yannuzzi was “inappropriate and disrespectful” and the recall organizers acted responsibly. She said that, though the court threw out the recall petitions and ruled them legally insufficient, “that doesn’t mean that the substantive issue” was insufficient.<br />“Both sides had the right to do what they did,” Allison said. “It was extremely unfortunate that it escalated to the point that it did. It certainly could have been resolved in a more peaceful way.”<br />Lucibella reiterated his criticism of the commission for not defending him earlier. He said he had no choice but to hire an attorney to defend himself and ensure the “sacred election process be honored.” He disagreed with Allison that the recall was legitimate.<br />“You may only bring a recall action if you can stipulate that someone broke the law,” he said. The organizers’ petition had claimed that Lucibella’s conduct “did not reflect the values of the town,” a claim that the court dismissed as vague and insufficient.<br />• The commission also rejected a request from developer William Swaim to allow an easement behind Town Hall. “I don’t know why this is even on the agenda,” Pugh said. Swaim has been unable to get permits from state agencies and easements from land owners to access a parcel he wants to develop. Until that happens, Pugh says, the town won’t act.</p>
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<p><span> </span></p></div>Ocean Ridge: Lucibella legal defense will cost taxpayers at least $50,000https://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/ocean-ridge-lucibella-legal-defense-will-cost-taxpayers-at-least-2015-07-29T16:00:00.000Z2015-07-29T16:00:00.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong></p>
<p> Ocean Ridge taxpayers appear likely to be charged at least $50,000 to cover Commissioner Richard Lucibella’s legal fees for defense against the failed recall movement that sought to remove him from office.<br /> Fort Lauderdale attorney Sidney Calloway has sent the town invoices for about $80,000 in services for Lucibella, much of it at $485 per billable hour.<br /> “I could not say that the number of hours was excessive or extreme,” said Town Attorney Ken Spillias, who reviewed the charges. “Generally, the time put in appeared reasonable to me.”<br /> The town is covered by insurance, but the policy has a $50,000 deductible. And the carrier has been reluctant to pay anything because one Ocean Ridge official (Lucibella) ended up suing another official (Town Clerk Karen Hancsak), an unusual twist the company claims exempts it from writing a check.<br /> Spillias believes that Florida case law comes down on Ocean Ridge’s side, and the town has a good chance of recovering the $30,000 above the deductible. Spillias’ argument to the insurance company is that the town had a public interest in intervening in the case and an obligation to reimburse an elected official against a legally flawed recall. Also, Lucibella had no choice but to defend himself against the recall group’s charges of malfeasance and had no choice but to sue the clerk because the position is charged with handling the petitions.<br /> The town’s premium for legal liability insurance for the commissioners will be going up about $2,000, or 19 percent, in the next year’s budget. <br /> “They have not stated that the increase was due to the recall,” Town Manager Ken Schenck said of the carrier, “but my guess is it didn’t help.”<br /> The recall effort fell apart after a five-hour trial when Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Gregory Keyser ruled in June that the petitions didn’t satisfy statutory requirements and were legally insufficient. The 10-page decision ended a five-month campaign against Lucibella that began when he played a key role in forcing out Chris Yannuzzi as police chief in January.<br /> “Anyone who read the statute and was thinking with their head would have looked at the petitions and said that’s not going to fly,” Lucibella said during the July 6 town commission meeting.<br /> Beyond the cost of attorneys, Lucibella and his supporters believe the recall dispute has taken a heavy toll on public service in Ocean Ridge. Lucibella said that, going forward, residents will be less likely to run for office, and he blames his fellow commissioners for some of that. He said the town had a responsibility to see that the recall organizers followed proper procedures and also followed the law. Lucibella said because the commission didn’t act against the “sham of a recall,” his only alternative was to go to court and stop it himself.<br /> “We didn’t play hardball on this,” Lucibella said of his court fight. “We went and protected ourselves. We went and protected future commissioners of this town. We got really damn little help from the current commission. I have really no hard feelings about that. You’re trying to protect the town’s best interests. But that was a pretty bad move. Because that’s going to cost the town’s taxpayers a minimum of $50,000.”<br /> Former Mayor Ken Kaleel also criticized the commission for not supporting Lucibella early on.<br /> “This commission should have taken a harder stance on this recall,” Kaleel told commissioners. “We need those fees reimbursed for this town, for the sanctity of future commissions. That recall was a joke. And it never should have gotten past first base. But it did. And this commission sat back and did absolutely nothing.”<br /> <strong>In other business</strong>, at the July 21 budget workshop, commissioners unanimously voted to keep the town’s tax rate at $5.35 per $1,000 of assessed property value. The rollback rate — the rate at which tax revenues stay the same as last year — is $5.08 per $1,000.<br /> Next year’s proposed budget has a deficit of about $180,000, but commissioners hope that shortfall can be reduced by a $129,000 windfall from code violation fines collected from owners of a property at 40 Hibiscus Way.</p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family:georgia, palatino;"><strong>Ocean Ridge</strong></span><br /> <strong>Proposed tax rate: $5.35 per $1,000 of taxable value</strong><br /> 2014-15 tax rate: $5.35 per $1,000 of taxable value<br /> Change in property value: 6.6 percent increase<br /> Total budget (operating and capital): $6.13 million<br /> Public hearings: 5:01 p.m. Sept. 10 and 17 at Town Hall<br /> <br /> <br /> The commission tentatively signed off on giving the Police Department three new cruisers at a cost of about $120,000 and upgraded radio equipment for $80,000.</p></div>Gulf Stream: Town working overtime on public records requestshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/gulf-stream-town-working-overtime-on-public-records-requests2014-09-03T16:35:43.000Z2014-09-03T16:35:43.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p><strong>By Dan Moffett</strong></p>
<p> In waging their legal wars against the town of Gulf Stream, residents Chris O’Hare and Martin O’Boyle have used Florida’s public records laws hundreds of times in the last 18 months to challenge how their community is governed.<br /> As of mid-August, the town had responded to 1,252 public record requests filed in roughly equal numbers by O’Hare and O’Boyle, according to Town Clerk Rita Taylor.<br /> The requests touch most every imaginable tangent of the disputes O’Hare and O’Boyle have had with the town: fights over the architecture of home entrances and roofs, election rules, Americans With Disabilities Act compliance, parking regulation, constitutional protections and general governmental procedures.<br /> The two have sought documents, emails, phone texts, receipts, expense vouchers, transcripts and recordings. Between them, O’Hare and O’Boyle have filed dozens of suits and complaints against the town in the circuit and federal courts during the last two years.<br /> Taylor, 83, said she has been working seven days a week since last year and her assistant works Saturday mornings. <br />The town also has added a full-time temporary office worker, solely to help satisfy the requests.<br /> “Even with the extra temporary worker,” Taylor said, “a lot of our other work is undone because we’re working on public records.”<br /> Since mid-2013, Taylor says the clerk’s office has logged 4,650 hours handling the public records requests from O’Hare and O’Boyle. She says the office currently is logging about 145 hours per week, or 72 percent of its total work time, dealing with the requests.<br /> Gulf Stream spent about $360,000 in legal fees during the last fiscal year to fight the lawsuits of O’Hare and O’Boyle, and the related clerical work at Town Hall has cost at least another $100,000, officials say.<br /> In recent months, the town has added a folder on its website just to keep track of public records requests and make them accessible to the public.<br /> O’Boyle and O’Hare accuse town officials of creating their own problems. O’Boyle blames the town for being unwilling to negotiate and choosing a “legal slugfest” over a settlement.<br /> “If you really want to get the legal fees under control,” O’Boyle told Mayor Scott Morgan during the July Town Commission meeting, “you have to really want to get the legal fees under control.”<br /> O’Hare has accused the town of violating the very public records laws it claims to be upholding.<br /> “If you tell your staff to follow the law,” O’Hare told town commissioners during the same meeting, “all this stuff would go away and go back to normal.”<br /> The town has installed a $3,500 video security system at Town Hall after an incident on July 24, when O’Boyle and two associates entered the clerk’s office and asked for records during a meeting of the architectural review board, officials said.<br /> The new system allows staff to use a video monitor to identify people at the door, talk to them through an intercom and then release the lock electronically — or not.<br /> In other business: The Aug. 8 Town Commission meeting was canceled because of a lack of a quorum. Commissioner Donna White was ill, and Morgan and Commissioner Joan Orthwein were on vacation.<br /><br /></p></div>