Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi and council members clashed over the attorney fees his lawyers are demanding the town pay for his criminal trial and reinstatement cases, as the hot button issue exposed some bad blood with the town attorney as well.
The dispute over his court costs finally came to a head at the September 1 regular Town Council meeting, where lawmakers questioned the $3.2 million legal bill without any facts and figures on how Pizzi’s lawyers arrived at that amount.
Pizzi filed two lawsuits against Miami Lakes to coerce the town to cough up the money to pay his team of attorneys, Ed Shohat, Ben Kuehne and David Reiner.
The lawyers reportedly requested $750,000 for his reinstatement cases that include the Florida Supreme Court victory that forced Governor Rick Scott to lift his suspension, and $2.5 million for his federal bribery trial.
Town Attorney Raul Gastesi said his requests for the numbers of hours the attorneys spent on each case and their hourly or flat rates were rejected repeatedly.
"The town asked what the break down of the fees but were met with rejection," he said. "I don't know how and why they came up with that number."
Miami Lakes set aside $400,000 for the attorney fees but is hoping the town’s insurance company comes to the rescue.
Gastesi said the Brown and Brown insurance company may cover Pizzi’s legal bills for the circuit court trial and appeals court case.
“And for the time being it’s defending for the his criminal case,” Gastesi said.
But the insurance company will not cover the town’s legal fees to contest Pizzi’s challenge in the Supreme Court against Scott.
“They are not defending the Mandamus case but my law firm will be handling that case,” Gastesi said.
Pizzi said he instructed his lawyers to resolve the legal wrangle as soon as possible and in an amicable manner without any additional court costs and aggravation.
“I want to get it done now without any lawsuits and get the fees from the insurance company,” Pizzi said.
He claimed his attorneys offered to settle the matter outside of court but Miami Lakes didn’t respond to their invitations to meet.
"They put a moratorium on litigation and attorney fees to sit down and resolve this month after month, week after week, day after day," Pizzi said.
But Gastesi said the mayor’s attorneys never contacted him or the town about resolving the dispute instead of settling the matter in court.
Pizzi and Gastesi, who was appointed by then-Mayor Wayne Slaton, are apparently embroiled in a political grudge match that stemmed from Pizzi’s nine-month fight to get his job back following his acquittal.
He said Gastesi’s bad legal advice to try to keep him from returning to the dais piled on the legal fees.
Pizzi said instead of fighting the reinstatement lawsuits, the town should have given him his job back after his trial.
“The town attorney should pay for some of the town’s legal bills for giving bad legal advice,” Pizzi said.
But Gastesi said only the governor could’ve reinstated him since he temporarily removed him from office following his arrest.
“I will not sit here and have my judgment questioned by the person whose poor judgment caused this,” Gastesi told Pizzi, referring to his arrest for allegedly accepting bribes and kickbacks. “Had you been sitting in my seat as the attorney, which at one point you were in Medley, sitting as the attorney for this town, seen the charter and voted on it and you helped enact, the charter says what it says. Had you been the town attorney or mayor for this town, you would’ve done the same thing.”
Council members said it's not fair residents have to pay for Pizzi's bad judgement that led to his arrest and subsequent trial.
“We tell our kids they have to be responsible for their actions, but in this case, because of the bad judgment of someone, now our taxpayers are facing a real possibility of having a significant impact on their budget, which will adversely affect their services,” said Councilmember Ceasar Mestre.
Councilmember Frank Mingo said residents shouldn’t have to reach inside their pockets to pay Pizzi’s court costs that the insurance company may not cover.
“The goal is for the insurance company to pay for this, and since the mayor said his lawsuits are against the insurance company and not the town, what’s not covered shouldn’t be passed on to the taxpayers,” Mingo said.
Councilmember Tony Lama said he and residents are equally frustrated over the mayor’s legal fees.
“I am disappointed as they are because we can’t seem to get any clarity about anything when it comes to his legal matter,” Lama said. “I just want us to put this behind us one way or another because this is absolutely nonsense and childish with this back and forth.”
Lawmakers were left in a conundrum over the legal status for the town of Medley, which was not included in Pizzi’s lawsuits.
At the time of his arrest, Pizzi was Medley’s town attorney, where the FBI public corruption sting took place as well.
Gastesi said Medley is subject to a subpoena to discover the reason why Pizzi hasn’t sued the town to pay his attorneys’ bills.
“They may have gotten a release or some sort of agreement,” Gastesi said. “I don’t know, it’s just a speculation. But with a subpoena the town will find out.”