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The Palm Beach Circuit Court entered final judgment against the City of Boca Raton over its “blind reliance on assurances from self-interested officials” that led to pervasive public records violations related to the residential development of two prime oceanfront properties.
Robert Sweetapple, a partner at Sweetapple, Broeker & Varkas in Boca Raton, and Joanne O’Connor, a shareholder at Jones Foster, represented the plaintiff, Azure Development LLC, who sued the defendant, the city, in their litigation strategy to solve why the project was held up.
“In effect, the City has for years been running a secret government on private devices and social media of elected and other officials,” Sweetapple said. “Records were not surrendered when officials left office as required by Florida law and were often lost or destroyed. The City’s conduct entirely undermines the requirements of open government and open public records.”
AnneMarie Connolly, a spokeswoman for the city, declined to comment.
Now, Sweetapple estimates that the city will be liable to the plaintiff for over $2 million in attorney fees incurred over the multiyear litigation in state and federal court.
The dispute arose out of Azure’s efforts to develop the property at 2600 N. Ocean Blvd. in Boca Raton, including a September 2016 variance application for the property, according to the amended complaint. But following an October 2018 recommendation by the City’s environmental advisory board, the city counsel denied the application in February 2019.
What followed were three public records requests over the course of several months, including for private device communications, such as emails, text messages and social media records. However, the City failed to provide them, since the officials and employees chose largely not to communicate on their City-issued cell phones.
Palm Beach Circuit Judge Donald Hafele wrote that at trial, Azure had the burden to prove that it made specific requests for public records, that the City received them, that the requested public records exist, and that the City refused to produce them in a timely manner.
“These elements have been satisfied,” Hafele ruled.
Robert Sweetapple, a partner at Sweetapple, Broeker & Varkas in Boca Raton.
For instance, the records manager testified in court that the only way she knew how to locate official City records on private devices was to ask the official and “trust that he or she would voluntarily produce records when asked,” according to the 37-page final judgment.
Hafele also held that the plaintiff’s counsel proved at trial that the City failed to educate itself as to how its officials maintained private device communications, whether they were using social media to communicate with constituents or lobbyists, or what efforts those officials had taken to ensure the City’s public records would be preserved and not deleted.
Meanwhile, the circuit court’s ruling followed two appellate court decisions and a related federal court ruling in a case brought by Natural Lands LLC, owner of the adjacent 2500 N. Ocean Blvd. property in Boca Raton.
U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith found violations of federal law, heavily criticized the City, and ruled that the City must permit residential development at the site. The ruling also disqualified Mayor Scott Singer and two councilwomen, as well as specified staff, from involvement in future issues regarding the development of the parcels, citing bias on their part.
“They stonewalled this and covered it up for five years,” Sweetapple said. “When you fight the government, you better plan on having deep coffers and be persistent because, sadly, even governments lie.”
Read the Final Judgment:
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This article was originally published by a www.law.com . Read the Original article here. .