By Dan Moffett
The hostilities between the town of Gulf Stream and two litigious residents appear destined to get a whole lot more hostile in the weeks ahead.
And the case the town is preparing against Martin O’Boyle and Christopher O’Hare could ripple through dozens of communities across the state.
Gulf Stream commissioners have given unanimous approval to a legal strategy that will invoke the federal RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) statute against O’Boyle and O’Hare, alleging they have engaged in a pattern of behavior intended to intimidate, harass and force settlements from public officials and governments.
Beyond Gulf Stream, town officials say, the class-action RICO suit will allege that O’Boyle used a group he founded called the Citizens Awareness Foundation to generate settlements from frivolous public records suits across the state — in communities such as Fernandina Beach, Miami, Bradenton, Cutler Bay and Miami Lakes.
“We thought this was about a feud in Gulf Stream,” said Mayor Scott Morgan. “But we learned it was a lot more.”
Commissioners unanimously approved hiring a team of outside lawyers that includes Gerald Richman, a prominent West Palm Beach attorney, who will spearhead the federal RICO case.
Richman told the commission that O’Boyle and his Citizens Awareness Foundation had used a “scorched-earth strategy” against Gulf Stream and many other communities.
“We’re well familiar with their tactics,” he said.
Said Morgan: “All the talk about open public access and white knights on chargers helping the common man is nonsense. This has all been about money.”
‘Volume of cases’ described
O’Boyle founded Citizens Awareness in 2013 and Joel Chandler served as its executive director until the relationship soured after a few months earlier this year. A longtime advocate for Florida’s public records laws, Chandler says he quickly became disillusioned with how CAF was run.
“I thought the foundation as originally presented to me would be a wonderful resource for open government across the state,” Chandler said. “What it ended up being is nothing more than a scheme to generate lawsuits for The O’Boyle Law Firm.”
Chandler said he had a quota of 25 public records lawsuits per week to fill and, though he recommended other attorneys, O’Boyle insisted that all the work be done at The O’Boyle Law Firm.
“The money was in the sheer volume of the cases,” Chandler said. “A lawyer could use a template and file a suit in 15 minutes. We filed hundreds of cases. The typical settlement started at $5,000. It all adds up to millions in legal fees.”
Fernandina Beach paid $5,000 to settle a lawsuit with Citizens Awareness this year. Miami Lakes paid $2,000. Cutler Bay paid $2,250.
In February, Citizens Awareness sued the city of Miami over a dispute about Mayor Tomas Regalado’s records. The complaint was signed by Marrett Hanna, a lawyer with The O’Boyle Law Firm who is the wife of attorney Mark Hanna, who represents O’Hare. Though O’Boyle and O’Hare filed most of their complaints individually, the town’s federal case will argue they often acted together.
Chandler said he wanted to work with Gulf Stream, meet with Town Manager William Thrasher, and work out the foundation’s differences over public records.
“O’Boyle was adamant that we wouldn’t do that,” Chandler said. “Marty said we’ll sue and that is all we do.”
After Chandler resigned his $120,000 -a-year job at Citizens Awareness in June, O’Boyle sued him, alleging he had misused the group’s funds. O’Boyle did not return calls seeking comment for this story but has maintained his goal is to promote transparency in government.
Suit greeted with applause
Gulf Stream has already spent about $370,000 since January in the legal fight against O’Boyle and O’Hare, and billable hours are likely to skyrocket with a new stable of lawyers onboard.
Besides Richman, the town hired a team of three Broward County lawyers who specialize in laws governing sober houses — a business venture O’Boyle says he is planning in the town.
Morgan says Gulf Stream has no choice but to defend itself, and if it can win the RICO case, the town can collect attorneys’ fees and triple damages from O’Boyle and O’Hare.
“In my opinion, the town of Gulf Stream has suffered enough,” Morgan said. “The town has been expending funds, and time and resources and morale, and the difficulties of hiring and retaining employees as the result of the scandalously malicious and frivolous lawsuits and public records requests by Mr. O’Hare and Mr. O’Boyle. I think it’s time for the madness to stop.”
Between them, O’Boyle and O’Hare have filed dozens of lawsuits in the state and federal courts against Gulf Stream, as well as more than 1,500 public records requests with the town. The two have joined in at least one of those suits. O’Boyle and O’Hare have both accused the town of being unwilling to negotiate a settlement.
“It’s disappointing and unfortunate when a town sues one of its citizens,” said Mitchell Berger, a Fort Lauderdale attorney who represents O’Boyle. “It’s unfortunate it has come to that over such a matter as public records.”
In September, O’Boyle told the commission he was prepared to “cost the town a million dollars” in legal fees, if commissioners did not negotiate with him. He did not attend the October meeting, saying he was out of town, but had an associate deliver a letter to Morgan.
“In connection with the proposed RICO action, Mr. O’Boyle wishes to provide the commission with a warning that any such launch will be met with an unfriendly response,” the letter said. “Mr. O’Boyle reminds the commission that the mayor has been inviting a fight for some time now. Mr. O’Boyle further reminds the commissioners, that should they decide to embark upon and support the mayor’s grand battle, the likely result will be the demise of Gulf Stream.”
O’Hare told the commission that filing a federal case ensures a long and expensive battle: “I bet you $5 million from now, it’s still going on.” He urged the commission to settle.
“RICO is for criminal activity, O’Hare said. “I didn’t know it was a crime to ask for public records.”
O’Hare said he didn’t know about Citizens Awareness until recent weeks and is unaware of the group’s activities. He said he only filed one lawsuit jointly with O’Boyle but did use The O’Boyle Law Firm.
“Mr. Morgan’s claim that this is all about money is simply not true,” O’Hare said. “There is no profit to be had by asserting your right to a public record in court.”
He told commissioners they will cost the taxpayers millions in legal fees on the RICO strategy: “And it’s not your money.”
A cluster of 20 residents at the October meeting broke into applause over the commission’s decision to file suit in federal court.
“I don’t usually agree with what Mr. O’Hare says, but he did say something with which I fully agree,” resident Anthony Graziano told the commission. “It is our money. And we would like you to spend it fighting these gentlemen.”
Morgan said the RICO action allows the town to settle many disputes in one case.
“We can either take the approach of defending these individual cases as they come in and bleed to death by a thousand cuts,” he said, “or we can take steps necessary to stop those cases by advancing this case. From the evidence that I’ve seen, it’s a conspiracy of sorts to advance actions that essentially do nothing other than shake down municipal agencies.”
Comments
It seems that the Town Government of Ocean Ridge are as nefarious as the Government of the Town if South Palm Beach who also believe they can do what they want with their residents and just ignore the Law of the Statute of Florida.
Statute 119 is MANDATORY and if the Town Government violate it it will NEVER be illegal for anybody to go to the courts and sue for their rights-Mr. O'Neil is not the scoundrel here the COUNIL is.
Their and their lawyers ignorance of the law is the problem - and of course the lawyer is not going to care if the Town loses - he could get a vast amount of the five million he states the residents will have to pay to for this law suit!! Win or lose he will be in easy street.
These men should be praised for trying to keep your Council within the law its the Councils buffoonery that will be what cost the Town money - stop the case now!!
Has anybody noticed that all the Towns listed WON THEIR CASES!! Which means every Town was found to have violated the law.
I am a resident of South Palm Beach and I am suing the Town for unbelievable violations od the Town Charter, Violations of Statute 166.021(4) and years of violations of my freedom of speech.and my rights under Statute 119 that were so egregious they are hard to believe.
I have no money for a layer and even though I have not had one minute of legal training I have been in Court for over a year- the Town and individuals were denied their motions to dismiss and they were just denied their Summary Judgments against me I the Court granted me another chance to enter another Complaint which I am working on now- I need you all to pray for me- I will fight to my last breath for justice to be done to the residents of our Town.
If you want to see more on my court case go to my comments following the story in this edition about South Palm Beach thinking of changing our Carter.
These allegations by Mr. Morgan are simply untrue and must be challenged. Mr. Richman and Mr. Morgan made it quite clear during the October public meeting that they have concocted this spurious racketeering lawsuit for one reason only, they think it will scare me into withdrawing all my legitimate claims against the Town. Mr. Morgan, through his attorneys, told me last July that if I did not dismiss all my claims against them they would bring this RICO action against me. It is nothing more than extortion and a waste of the court's time and the public's money. Mr. Morgan describes my lawsuits are "scandalously malicious and frivolous." I look forward to the day when a judge decides whether or not that is true. Unfortunately, the Town of Gulf Stream has zealously used every trick in the book to prevent a judge from hearing any of my complaints. October 28 was the 3 year anniversary of the illegal and warrantless search of my home by a Gulf Stream police officer. During this time I have been blocked from deposing the key witnesses, or obtaining any of the "discovery" documents regarding this serious matter. The Town has spent unbelievable amounts of public money to keep any of my complaints from moving forward. I have used the public record law to obtain these documents outside the normal "discovery" process. But even though citizens have a constitutional right to obtain these records, the Town has made the otherwise simple process of obtaining a record extremely difficult. The records I have obtained show a secretive Town out of control. Rather than a democracy, I have discovered through these records, an elite gang of very wealthy people who run the Town like a country club. Vague laws are selectively enforced, state and federal laws are routinely ignored. Town leaders exhibit a capricious abuse of authority. My troubles started when I objected to a racist comment I heard a Gulf Stream police officer make about people working on my home. This officer has since "retired" but my complaints about it have resulted in a long list of retaliations by the Town. Now the Town wages a campaign to brand me the cause of all their problems. Mr. Morgan says there is a conspiracy to shake down his Town. I say to Mr. Morgan either negotiate or let the legal process move forward to a resolution. Anything less will only exacerbate the damage while unnecessarily enriching attorneys at the public's expense.