The ledger is narrowing for some of the defendants in a Bradenton Beach lawsuit that was decided in favor of the city in 2019.
Three defendants have been relieved of their tab.
The judge narrowed the field of six defendants in Bradenton Beach to three who still owe the city’s $369,498 claim for attorney’s fees in the Sunshine Law dispute.
Judge Edward Nicholas of the 12th Judicial Court issued an order Oct. 28 striking three of six defendants — Patty Shay and Bill and Rose Vincent — from paying any share of the six-figure legal fees because they previously attempted to accept a lower settlement.
Nicholas’ order also calls for an additional hearing to apportion the $369,498 between the remaining defendants — Reed Mapes, John Metz and Tjet Martin — who declined offers and attempts by the city to settle during the three-year dispute.
The Sunshine Law is a series of regulations intended to guarantee public access to government records.
Nicholas ruled in July 2019 that former Bradenton Beach planning and zoning board members Metz, Mapes, who has since moved from the city, Shay and Bill Vincent, as well as Scenic WAVES Committee members Martin and Rose Vincent violated the Sunshine Law in 2017 while discussing city issues over email and at meetings for the now-defunct grass-roots group Concerned Neighbors of Bradenton Beach.
The judge also said the city is entitled to recover attorney’s fees and costs from the defendants, but the price tag remained undetermined until Oct. 28.
The city and the defendants presented what were planned to be final arguments before the judge in August and have since been waiting for a ruling from Nicholas.
The order states Shay and the Vincents no longer owe fees because they signed a settlement offer that failed when other defendants refused the deal.
The order refers to Attorney’s Title Insurance Fund Inc. v. Gorka and Larson, a case that set a legal precedent: “Settlement proposals that condition acceptance upon the mutual agreement of all or multiple parties are ‘invalid and unenforceable’ because no party could independently settle his or her claim.”
Nicholas determined that $369,498 would be split between Mapes, Martin and Metz because they refused to accept a settlement.
“The court does hereby reserve jurisdiction to determine if the attorney’s fees awarded herein may be apportioned amongst the three defendants who did not unequivocally accept the city’s flawed offer of settlement. Said another way, this court must apportion, if possible, the fees,” the order stated.
“The court anticipates that one additional hearing will be necessary to resolve the outstanding issues of apportionment, joint and several liability and to, again, determine the amount of costs and where they should be awarded in addition to the attorney’s fees awarded herein,” the order continued.
Shay spoke to The Islander Oct. 29.
“I’m very happy and I’m relieved that it’s over,” she said. “It’s been a very long three-year struggle and I’m glad to be done with it.”
City attorney Ricinda Perry told The Islander Oct. 28 that she also was happy with the ruling.
“The order clearly stands behind the transparency required of government so as to prevent the erosion of trust and integrity by those who serve the public,” Perry said. “Government is called to serve the people; not the people who form the government.”
Mapes, meanwhile, told The Islander Oct. 28, “I don’t care much about that. They aren’t going to get a nickel from me.”
The lawsuit had cost the city $572,321 as of Oct. 29, according to city treasurer Shayne Thompson.