Two city commissioners unleashed their ire in Fruitland Park last week when City Attorney Scott Gerken tried to explain why a costly class action lawsuit is still in court 11 months after Lake County Circuit Judge Michael Takac ordered it settled.
Gerken wasn’t their real target. That honor belongs to Florida Super Lawyer Greg Stewart of Tallahassee, whom the city hired last year as lead attorney in the class action suit. Gerken, who resigned last month and will leave his office soon, had the unlucky task of defending a failed legal strategy he hadn’t devised.
Derek Schroth, Lady Lake’s city attorney, filed the class action suit on behalf of more than 3,500 city residents who paid $8 monthly police and fire fees from 2009 to 2013.
Initiated by former Fruitland Park Commissioner Jim Richardson, the lawsuit was officially settled last April when Lake County Circuit Judge Michael Takac told commissioners to set aside $530,000 to cover attorney fees and refunds. That was almost 10 percent of the city’s annual budget.
The city agreed to map out an equitable plan to refund the fees and sent out 1,841 refund notices to then-current water customers. The city also posted Legal Notice ads in the Villages Daily Sun.
More than 1,600 names—past customers who moved away and duplicates—had been purged.
For Schroth and his clients, that was a sticking point. He asked the court to hold the city in contempt for not complying with the settlement order, and that’s what set off city commissioners.
In January, the city’s lawyer told Judge Takac he thought the city had done exactly what everyone agreed to and 904 residents had responded with applications for refunds.
Schroth alleged the purged names included viable addresses of people who are legitimately due refunds and Judge Takic agreed.
“I am finding you didn’t comply with the order,” Takic told Stewart.
Stewart quickly agreed to send notices to the purged names.
Commissioner Rick Ranize interrupted Gerken’s explanation of the whole mess and made it clear Gerken wasn’t his intended target.
“Scott [Gerken] has done more work on this than that firm up there,” Ranize said, referring to Stewart.
“When they were hired on, Scott had already worked through an agreement.”
Ranize grew testier as the discussion unfolded, as did fellow Commissioner Ray Lewis. Vice Mayor Chris Cheshire, a Villages health care professional, also chimed in.
“We could have been out of this in September of 2013 if the commission had accepted the settlement offer of $400,000,“ Ranize said later.
So far, settlement costs have totaled more than $600,000.
Judge Takac said he would reserve judgment on a potential contempt finding and any subsequent city penalties and sanctions, including $27,000 in additional attorney fees Schroth requested.
Commissioners instructed Gerken to send refund notices immediately to the widest possible list of customers.
For Ranize, the ultimate solution is clear.
“I would like the commission to fire the firm in Tallahassee, ask them to refund some of the fees we have paid them, if they’re not willing to do that, we look at filing a bar complaint against them and if that doesn’t work we should talk with our next city attorney see if we can take them to court over malpractice,” Ranize said.
Ranize hedged his bet toward the end of the meeting. The city held several secret meetings—so-called “Shade” meetings that are allowed under Florida’s Sunshine laws—as the class action case unfolded. Shade meetings allow commissioners and their attorneys to speak in confidence about legal strategies. Minutes are mandatory but can’t be made public until after the lawsuit is certified by the court.
When that happens, we may learn whether the failed legal strategy was a creation of city commissioners—two of whom were voted out of office in November—or its Super Lawyer.
In any event, the city can look forward to more “housecleaning” issues as the new majority of recently-elected commissioners—Cheshire, Lewis and Ranize—learn to flex their civic muscles.
Stay tuned.
