negligence - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-28T14:47:25Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/negligenceOcean Ridge: Lucibella files appeal; Plesnik pushes ahead with civil suithttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/ocean-ridge-lucibella-files-appeal-plesnik-pushes-ahead-with-civi2019-04-03T19:51:33.000Z2019-04-03T19:51:33.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong><br /> <br />Court transcribers are busily typing what they anticipate will be 1,800 pages detailing former Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella’s recent criminal trial.<br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960869055,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960869055,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" alt="7960869055?profile=original" /></a><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960868893,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960868893,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-right" alt="7960868893?profile=original" /></a>Lucibella, 65, is appealing his Feb. 21 sentence, in which he was ordered to pay $675 in court costs. A six-person jury found him guilty of misdemeanor battery, a lesser charge, instead of felony battery on a law enforcement officer; he also was found not guilty of resisting arrest with violence. <br />And on March 25 he offered to pay Ocean Ridge police Officer Nubia Plesnik $100 if she drops her civil lawsuit, which accuses him of battery and negligence.<br />“I can’t get my reputation back, but I will have my record cleared,” Lucibella said. “What was done to Barbara and I was wrong, and we intend to address every last vestige of this false arrest.”<br />Barbara Ceuleers is Lucibella’s girlfriend.<br /> West Palm Beach lawyer Leonard Feuer filed Lucibella’s notice of appeal Feb. 26 but did not pay the transcript costs until March 18. That started a 30-day clock for the transcribers, who must type about 78 pages a day to finish by April 17.<br /> Meanwhile, Richard Slinkman, Plesnik’s lawyer, demanded “better answers” from Lucibella in the civil case. Lucibella claimed his “Fifth Amendment right to remain silent” 77 times, Slinkman said in a Feb. 25 court filing. Those responses were given in November 2017, almost 15 months before the criminal trial.<br />Lucibella disputed Slinkman’s characterization of his responses about Plesnik. “I’ve not plead the Fifth at all,” he said. “I affirmatively denied her allegations.”<br />He also said Slinkman does not want better answers. “He actually wants a sleazy payday for him and his client, in that order,” Lucibella said. <br />Slinkman bristled at Lucibella’s statements, saying he only wants justice for Plesnik and calling Lucibella “a sad, little, entitled man who feels that, because he is wealthy, he is above the law and doesn’t need to take responsibility for his own improper actions.”<br />Slinkman previously had submitted his own settlement proposal in the case. Under Florida law, whichever side loses will pay the winner’s attorney fees from the date the proposal was filed.<br />Slinkman said he and Plesnik “are not concerned” with Lucibella’s proposal for a settlement. “We are confident in the jury system and confident that we will prevail at trial,” Slinkman said.<br />Florida court guidelines say most civil lawsuits should reach the jury in 18 months.<br /> In the felony trial, Plesnik testified that Lucibella was loud and belligerent during his Oct. 22, 2016, arrest. Plesnik, Officer Richard Ermeri and Sgt. William Hallahan went to Lucibella’s backyard that night to investigate reports of gunfire.<br /> “I was trying to put him down like a child, sit down!” Plesnik told the jury.<br />She has since missed reporting for police duty for several months because of shoulder problems caused by his actions, she testified.<br />Slinkman said that instead of throwing out insults, Lucibella should turn his critical eye inward.<br />“When a person gets drunk, acts like a fool, embarrasses himself, and in the process injures an innocent person who was simply out doing her job and protecting the public as a law enforcement officer, he should take responsibility for his own actions ... instead of passing the cost of these medical bills and other losses onto the citizens of Ocean Ridge,” he said.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Misdemeanor appeal months away</strong></span><br />Appealing a misdemeanor to a District Court of Appeal is so rare, Florida does not keep statistics, said Paul Flemming of the Office of the State Courts Administrator in Tallahassee.<br />“The number of misdemeanor cases filed in the district courts would be extremely small, since the appellate divisions of the circuit courts have jurisdiction over most misdemeanor cases,” Flemming said. <br />But Lucibella’s was a felony case heard in Circuit Court that led to a misdemeanor conviction, so the appeal goes to the 4th DCA.<br /> Lucibella’s appeal should carry the case into 2020. Generally, it takes two to three months after the last document is filed to get on the court’s calendar, the court’s website says. A three-judge panel renders its decision in most cases within 180 days, the website advises.</p></div>Ocean Ridge: Arresting officer files lawsuit, accuses former vice mayor of batteryhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/ocean-ridge-arresting-officer-files-lawsuit-accuses-former-vice-m2017-06-28T14:00:00.000Z2017-06-28T14:00:00.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Steve Plunkett</strong><br /> <br /> Officer Nubia Plesnik, part of the police team that charged former Vice Mayor Richard Lucibella with resisting arrest last fall, has filed a lawsuit against him claiming battery and negligence.<br /> Lucibella “committed a battery upon [Plesnik] by intentionally causing harmful or offensive contact with [her] by pushing [her] and further physically contacting her during the course of the arrest,” Plesnik’s lawsuit says.<br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960728658,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960728658,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" width="99" alt="7960728658?profile=original" /></a> In a second count, the suit alleges Lucibella’s actions were negligent.<br /> As a result, the suit says, Plesnik “has suffered and will suffer bodily injury and resulting pain and suffering, disability, disfigurement, inconvenience, mental anguish, loss of the capacity for the enjoyment of life, expense of hospitalization and/or surgery, medical and nursing care and treatment and related expenses, loss of earnings, loss of the ability to earn money in the future, and/or an aggravation of previously existing conditions.”<br /> Lucibella has $10 million in insurance for personal liability. Plesnik’s suit says she is seeking at least $15,000 in damages, the legal threshold. <br /> Richard Slinkman, her lawyer, said Plesnik only wants what a jury feels is fair and just. <br /> “I can tell you that I do not expect such to be in excess of Mr. Lucibella’s $10 million insurance policy,” Slinkman said.<br /> The complaint was filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court on June 6, but as of June 27 Lucibella had not been handed the lawsuit.<br /> “He is evading service,” Slinkman said.<br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960728875,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960728875,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-left" width="97" alt="7960728875?profile=original" /></a> Lucibella did not answer a phone call seeking comment.<br /> Ocean Ridge Police Chief Hal Hutchins said Plesnik and fellow arresting Officer Richard Ermeri both returned to full duty as soon as they were cleared by their physicians.<br /> “No special assignments were made to accommodate them,” Hutchins said.<br /> But Plesnik has not fully recovered, Slinkman said.<br /> “Though she can fully perform the functions and duties of a police officer, she suffers from pain in her shoulder with activities, including necessary physical activities on the job,” he said.<br /> Lucibella faces a felony charge of resisting arrest with violence; after reviewing the case the state attorney’s office added a felony charge of battery on a law enforcement officer. The battery charge covers Ermeri only; the resisting arrest with violence covers Ermeri “and/or N. Plesnik ... by offering or doing violence to the person of such officers,” the charging document says.<br /> Lucibella also is charged with misdemeanor use of a firearm while under the influence of alcohol. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.<br /> Lucibella’s trial, originally scheduled for April and then July, is now postponed until October. His criminal defense attorney, Marc Shiner, and Assistant State Attorney Danielle Grundt told the judge they could not finish depositions in time for a summer trial.<br /> Plesnik, Ermeri and Sgt. William Hallahan went to Lucibella’s oceanfront home Oct. 22 after neighbors reported hearing shots fired. They confiscated a .40-caliber handgun and found five spent shell casings on the backyard patio.<br /> With Lucibella was one of the officers’ supervisors, Lt. Steven Wohlfiel. Both men were “obviously intoxicated,” the police said.<br /> During the arrest, Lucibella was pinned to the patio pavers and suffered injuries to his face and ribs. Shiner has said the officers overreacted.<br /> Plesnik and Ermeri said in their initial police reports that they went to MD Now, the department-approved urgent care center, Plesnik for “injuries to the left side of my body,” including shoulder, arm, wrist and foot. <br /> Plesnik, who was hired by Ocean Ridge in March 2013, also reported being placed on restricted duty.<br /> Officers later determined the confiscated handgun belonged to Wohlfiel, who was fired in January for his role in the incident. He is appealing his dismissal.<br /> Wohlfiel’s lawyer, Ralph King, petitioned a circuit judge on May 31 to order Town Manager Jamie Titcomb to hold an evidentiary hearing that is required by the town’s charter and would allow Wohlfiel to present and confront witnesses. Wohlfiel also wants back pay until the hearing can be held. <br /> Town Attorney Brian Shutt would not comment on the Wohlfiel case other than to say Ocean Ridge’s insurance company has hired a lawyer to defend the town.<br /> Lucibella resigned his vice mayor and town commissioner positions in December.</p></div>