litigation - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-28T22:49:11Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/litigationGulf Stream: O’Boyle, town hit dead end on settlement talkshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/gulf-stream-o-boyle-town-hit-dead-end-on-settlement-talks2017-08-02T14:17:13.000Z2017-08-02T14:17:13.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong><br /> <br />The legal battle between Gulf Stream and town resident Martin O’Boyle dragged on in July as O’Boyle conducted a 90-minute deposition in his home and his son filed a motion seeking a “6-foot pile” of documents in a New Jersey lawyer’s office.<br /> Jonathan O’Boyle filed a notice July 19 of his intention to subpoena Camden, N.J., lawyer David Sufrin to get copies of “any and all” documents between Sufrin and Robert Sweetapple, Gulf Stream’s outside counsel handling public records disputes.<br />Sweetwater said talks with O’Boyle were at an impasse.<br />“Settlement negotiations have broken down, but mediation is required pretrial so let’s see if we can emulate the O’Hare settlement,” Sweetwater said, referring to the cease-fire reached with town resident Chris O’Hare in June.<br /> The documents Jonathan O’Boyle seeks include all documents “in the ‘6-foot pile’ that are referred to in the email of Dec. 8, 2014,” that Sufrin sent Sweetapple. The email was not part of the motion.<br /> Jeffrey Hochman, another outside attorney for Gulf Stream, reacted quickly, filing a motion objecting to the subpoena July 20. <br /> Meanwhile, Martin O’Boyle personally deposed former Vice Mayor Robert Ganger in connection with his slander complaint against Sweetapple and Mayor Scott Morgan. Ganger said he asked that the deposition be conducted in Gulf Stream so he would not have to travel to O’Boyle’s office in Deerfield Beach.<br /> “I went over to his house thinking I’d be out in 15 minutes,” Ganger said.<br /> Instead, the session lasted 1½ hours, with O’Boyle shooting questions rapid-fire, said Ganger, adding that he really knows nothing about the case.<br /> The burst of legal activity comes after O’Boyle urged town commissioners in April to settle all litigation. He took out a full-page ad in The Coastal Star in March saying the same thing.<br /> O’Boyle and Sufrin have tangled before. In 2008 and 2009 in Longport, N.J., where O’Boyle also has a home, he sued a former planning and zoning board member and two other residents.<br /> Sufrin, who represented all three defendants, suggested to Longport’s municipal attorney that they cooperate in the defense. Sufrin prepared a joint strategy memorandum and a collection of documents on CDs and sent them to the municipal attorney.<br /> O’Boyle filed a public records request; Sufrin argued that the documents were attorney work product and not subject to public records law. <br /> The New Jersey State Bar Association and the New Jersey Supreme Court agreed. “Here, the plaintiff-petitioner has requested access to items that, on their face and in the most obvious, explicit fashion, fit squarely within the applicable case law and court rules that bar release,” the bar association said.<br /> In Gulf Stream, O’Boyle and O’Hare filed more than 2,000 requests for public records and dozens of lawsuits starting in late 2013. The town said they filed wide-ranging requests in hopes that Gulf Stream could not respond in a timely way and thus generate litigation and demands for attorney’s fees</p></div>Ocean Ridge: Vice mayor resigns, faces second felony chargehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/ocean-ridge-vice-mayor-resigns-faces-second-felony-charge2017-01-04T18:30:00.000Z2017-01-04T18:30:00.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Related Story: Town <a href="http://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/ocean-ridge-town-fires-police-lieutenant-over-lucibella-incident?xg_source=activity">fires</a> police lieutenant over Lucibella incident<br /></strong></p>
<p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong><br /> <br /> Richard Lucibella, Ocean Ridge vice mayor, resigned from office Dec. 7, the same day he was charged with a second felony connected to an Oct. 22 gathering in his back yard.<br /> “Due to impending litigation between the town of Ocean Ridge and myself, it would be impossible for me to effectively <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960697452,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960697452,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" width="96" alt="7960697452?profile=original" /></a>discharge the duties of my office,” Lucibella wrote Mayor Geoff Pugh. “I believe it is in the best interests of our town that I step down.”<br /> Circuit Judge Charles Burton scheduled a hearing for 8:30 a.m. Jan. 10 at the courthouse in West Palm Beach.<br /> Lucibella faces one count of battery on a law enforcement officer in addition to resisting an officer with violence. Both are felonies punishable by up to five years in prison. Town police also charged him with misdemeanor use of a firearm while under the influence of alcohol.<br /> Assistant State Attorney Danielle Grundt added the felony battery charge but decided not to take action on a misdemeanor count of discharging a firearm in public. Her filing canceled a court hearing set for Dec. 8.<br /> Lucibella has pleaded not guilty to all charges. His attorney, Marc Shiner, said through his assistant that he would have no further comment on the case.<br /> Police arrived at Lucibella’s oceanfront home that Saturday night after neighbors complained of hearing gunshots. Officers said they found the vice mayor and one of their supervisors, Lt. Steven Wohlfiel, “obviously intoxicated” on the patio. Officers say they took a .40-caliber Glock handgun from Lucibella and found five spent shell casings on the patio. Police also confiscated a semiautomatic pistol they said Lucibella had in his back pocket.<br /> According to police reports, when officers Richard Ermeri and Nubia Plesnik tried to block Lucibella, 63, from entering the house, he resisted. The officers wrestled him to the ground and handcuffed him. Lucibella needed treatment for facial injuries, and Ermeri and Plesnik also required medical attention, according to the reports.<br /> Lucibella was absent from the two Town Commission meetings after the incident, on Nov. 7 and Dec. 5. Pugh said the commission would discuss the vice mayor position and the vacant seat at its Jan. 9 meeting.<br /> Filling the seat temporarily seems “illogical,” Pugh said, because commissioners would have to decide to do that in January, then review names and select someone in February who would then be a voting member only for the March meeting. Lucibella’s three-year term was to expire in March. <br /> Through Shiner, Lucibella has claimed that he is the victim of police overreaction. He maintains officers should not have entered his backyard in the first place, and then that they used excessive force. Shiner has called for Ermeri’s firing and an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The use of excessive force is a defense against a charge of battery on a law enforcement officer.<br /> Shiner was an assistant state attorney for nearly 13 years before going into private practice in 2000. Grundt began her legal career at the State Attorney’s Office in 2013.<br /> Police Chief Hal Hutchins reassigned Wohlfiel until completion of an internal investigation of his role in the incident. Both Lucibella and the lieutenant told police they knew nothing about shots being fired.<br /> Pugh said “some folks got really upset” by Lucibella’s arrest and subsequent resignation.<br /> “It’s not the first time we’ve had things happen that make the town look silly,” the mayor said. “Does it make the town look bad? I guess, yes.”<br /> Pugh said the incident also showed that Ocean Ridge “is made up of real people, and people make mistakes.”<br /> <br /> <em>Dan Moffett contributed to this story.</em></p></div>Local Voices: Public records law changes were misguidedhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/local-voices-public-records-law-changes-were-misguided2016-03-30T15:53:45.000Z2016-03-30T15:53:45.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p> This legislative session demonstrated a political will to reform the Florida’s Public Records Act. However, that will was misguided in both SB 1220 and HB 1021.<br /> Those bills targeted the attorney’s fees provision of Chapter 119 and attempted to change that reward to successful litigants from mandatory to discretionary. The zeitgeist: Judges punish lawyers for not vetting clients. Since very few people will pay tens of thousands of dollars for an email, the lawyers will ultimately determine who will come across well in the histrionics of court.<br /> Here is the problem: What government is not going to label the requestor an abuser? <br /> Any government lawyer worth their salt would label every requestor an abuser or risk malpractice. Since intentions are the only metric to distinguish abusers from non-abusers, the government will have subpoena power to discover your most intimate thoughts about public officials and government policies. The government will be allowed to subject you, your friends, family and coworkers to videotaped interrogations in search of anti-government sentiments. The government could read your emails, texts, and phone searching for evidence of frustration. <br /> The government will have the full power of the court to prove that you dislike the administration and are acting upon that dislike. Take a second to think about that; you sue the government for hiding information and the next thing you know you are being investigated for sedition: Orwellian.<br /> Thankfully, that situation fell through. <br /> In that universe, attorneys would not be anti-abuser policemen. They would be cash-up-front. Even the most righteous-minded is not certain to have the mettle to see litigation through, ensuring the attorney’s payment. <br /> Without enforcement, governments revert to their natural state of oligarchical secrecy. There is, however, an answer to the public records question and it lies not in substance but procedure.<br /> First, the law must designate a responsible records custodian and mandate the government to clearly designate the identity of the custodian as well as the proper channels to make a request. Then, a request will only count if it is given to that designee, but requestors will not have to guess where to send requests or get the run-around. <br /> Also, there should be a fixed time to respond to requests; that time can reasonably be enlarged by the custodian unilaterally, but only after attempts to work with the requestor on a mutual production date have failed.<br /> Custodians should also be asking for clarification and feedback in every correspondence and seeking clarification in writing. When both parties are on the same page, the system works and a culture of trust is promoted. In addition, “gotcha” litigation becomes impossible. <br /> But what about abuses in the number of requests? Be wary of the officials who seek to limit requests, they peddle snake oil. <br /> First, the government can charge; costs will become prohibitive. <br /> Second, a hard limit on requests is futile; friends and organizations can defeat any limitation. The only way to truly limit the number of requests is to build trust with citizens.<br /> Some ask for public records to keep them; most people ask because they are looking for answers to questions on which public officials have prevaricated. The more a government is perceived as dishonest or evasive, the more requests it generally receives. When dealing with citizens, it pays to answer questions today, not requests tomorrow. Although a government cannot limit requests by edict it may exercise control by engaging with civility and respect. <br /> If Florida wants to sensibly address the public records question, the panacea lies not in substantive but procedural reforms and building trust. <br /><br /><em>Jonathan O’Boyle,</em> <br /><em>Deerfield Beach</em><br /><br /><em>Jonathan O’Boyle, an attorney licensed in Florida and Pennsylvania, is the son of Gulf Stream resident Martin O’Boyle. During the last three years, the O’Boyles have filed dozens of lawsuits against the town over hundreds of public records.</em></p></div>Boca Raton: City drops red-light cameras in wake of rulinghttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-city-drops-red-light-cameras-in-wake-of-ruling2015-03-04T18:13:18.000Z2015-03-04T18:13:18.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p><span><b>By Sallie James</b></span></p>
<p> Boca Raton has discontinued its red light camera program in the wake of recent litigation that red-flagged the issuance of traffic tickets by a third party vendor.</p>
<p> At a Feb. 10 council meeting, City Manager Leif Ahnell announced the city was ending its program. Council members, aware of the litigation, said they understood.</p>
<p> As of Nov. 1, Boca Raton had stopped citing red-light runners in anticipation of a ruling from the 4th District Court of Appeal on a Hollywood case involving red light cameras. </p>
<p> The 4th DCA subsequently refused to rehear an October ruling that found Hollywood could not assign ticket-writing duties to third party vendor American Traffic Solutions, the same company that Boca had contracted with to issue traffic tickets.</p>
<p> As a result, city officials decided to discontinue their own red light camera program. Palm Beach County, Hallandale Beach, Margate and Coral Springs have also scrapped red light camera programs.</p>
<p> Boca Raton had installed the cameras at six intersections.</p>
<p> “The 4th DCA upheld the decision that was against the city of Hollywood,” City Council member Scott Singer said. “That court decision stated cities should not delegate any component of the red light camera ticket issuance to third parties, so that would require cities to entirely use their staff for all phases of the ticket issuance process. It would be significantly more expensive.”</p>
<p> As a result, Singer said he supported ending Boca’s program.</p>
<p> Council member Robert Weinroth also supported terminating the program in light of the 4th DCA’s action.</p>
<p> “It did what it needed to do, which was to increase the awareness of needing to stop at red lights,” Weinroth said. “It was well worth the program. Less than 10 percent of the people who got a ticket at the red light camera came back and got a second ticket.”</p>
<p> The program wasn’t making the city any money anymore, either, Weinroth said.</p>
<p> When Boca’s program first started, the city made more than $1 million during the first 15 months, but the profits dried up. All the money subsequently went to either American Traffic Solutions or the state, Weinroth said.</p>
<p> Kate Coulson, a spokeswoman for American Traffic Solutions, deemed the program a success.</p>
<p> “Boca Raton’s Red-Light Safety Camera Program was started with the goal of changing driver behavior and that’s exactly what it’s done,” Coulson wrote in an email. “Since the program’s launch in May 2012 violations per camera per day have fallen by over 80 percent. We have enjoyed working with the city to achieve their public safety goals.”</p>
<p> Hollywood is appealing the 4th DCA ruling to the Florida Supreme Court. <span>Ú</span></p></div>Gulf Stream: Town raises taxes to pay for legal defenseshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/gulf-stream-town-raises-taxes-to-pay-for-legal-defenses2014-07-30T14:58:29.000Z2014-07-30T14:58:29.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960530289,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960530289,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="480" alt="7960530289?profile=original" /></a><em>A sign hangs from a truck parked in the Gulf Stream Town Hall parking lot.</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Dan Moffett/The Coastal Star</strong></p>
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<p style="text-align:left;"><strong>By Dan Moffett<br /><br /></strong> Hardly anyone expected budget problems to surface in Gulf Stream, one of South Florida’s most affluent enclaves — a place where government reserves and property values have always been high while tax rates stayed low.<br /> But then, who expected the town’s soaring legal bills, run up in defense against two frequently litigious residents, Martin O’Boyle and Chris O’Hare?<br /> On July 11, town commissioners voted unanimously to do what had seemed unthinkable years ago: raise the tax rate. <br />The proposed 11.5 percent increase over the rollback rate (to $3.90 per $1,000 of assessed value from $3.497) is projected to raise an additional $175,000 during the next fiscal year, money that will be set aside to cover the costs of the many court cases brought by O’Boyle and O’Hare.<br /> “It’s an absolute shame,” said Mayor Scott Morgan, “the wastage of reserves from this town as a result of what has been a legal onslaught on the integrity of our neighborhood. We’ve had to take the necessary steps to oppose it and protect this town. That costs money, unfortunately.”<br /> Gulf Stream has seen its reserves fund fall from about $1.6 million to less than $700,000 during the last several years of legal fighting with O’Boyle and O’Hare. Separately, the two have filed dozens of suits and complaints against the town and made numerous public records requests that officials say have been costly to handle and a strain on staff.<br /> “We’re in a unique situation,” Morgan said. “You can’t budget for the onslaught of lawsuits from Mr. O’Hare and Mr. O’Boyle, but the expense seems only to go up … It’s the uncertainty of the litigation costs. It’s the uncertainty of the end game.”<br /> He said O’Boyle and O’Hare had each brought up new legal issues in recent weeks, and called some of their actions “frivolous.”<br /> “How can you make such a statement?” O’Boyle asked the mayor and insisted on an answer.<br /> “If you want a response to your questions, you should look in the mirror when you ask them,” Morgan shot back at O’Boyle.<br /> O’Boyle accused commissioners of being unwilling to negotiate: “They want to fight, and when they want to fight, that’s OK.” He said he was willing to participate in “a slugfest in which the town is hemorrhaging cash,” but he called the town’s approach “foolishness” and said the commission was acting out of “ego, hostility, but certainly not sense.”<br /> O’Hare also criticized commissioners. He said they were ignoring his public records requests and creating their own legal problems.<br /> “All this stuff would go away and go back to normal,” he said, “if you’d just tell staff to follow the law.”<br /> The town has hired outside counsel and spent about $360,000 in legal costs during the last fiscal year and is setting aside another $400,000 in the proposed budget for next year. <br /> Vice Mayor Robert Ganger said the depleted reserves could hinder the town’s ability to recover quickly from hurricane or storm damage. He said the commission has to do what it takes to protect residents — even if that means raising taxes.<br /> “The fact of the matter, and everyone knows it, is the money is going for a purpose that does not serve the community or do much good,” Ganger said. “Gosh, to say that we’re willing to put at risk our citizens’ ability to recover in a natural disaster… just seems a shame to me.”<br /> Ganger suggested that the commission might consider cutting a street lighting project from the budget, but Commissioner Joan Orthwein objected, pointing to the town’s rising property values (up 14 percent this year, the highest increase in Palm Beach County, in part through annexation) and the town’s tax rate, which has been the county’s lowest.<br /> “I think we should go forward and be positive,” Orthwein said. “We can’t stop everything because of the legal expenses.”<br /> How nasty have things gotten in Gulf Stream?<br /> O’Boyle has posted a sign on a truck that reads: “Mayor Scott Morgan is Destroying Gulf Stream. BANKRUPTCY IS COMING!” and hired a plane to fly a banner over the town with a similar message.<br /> And his public records requests may have hit pay dirt, uncovering a scandal involving lots of dough in the affluent enclave. It seems Town Manager William Thrasher turned in for reimbursement several receipts from Dunkin’ Donuts — $7.99 each for boxes of a dozen doughnuts, fuel for the town’s overworked staff and unpaid volunteers, according to Thrasher.<br /> “I got a hot one,” O’Boyle said of the doughnut disclosure. “Hard to believe, isn’t it?”</p></div>