Deal or no deal?
Holmes Beach city officials and legal representatives held a Dec. 12 shade meeting regarding developer Shawn Kaleta’s federal lawsuit against the city for its alleged “anti-Kaleta policy.”
Florida’s Government-in-the-Sunshine law provides public access to governmental proceedings.
However, the state Legislature amended the law in 1993 to allow government bodies to meet privately — in the “shade” — with legal representation to discuss pending litigation.
The city’s shade meeting was to be attended by Mayor Judy Titsworth, city commissioners, attorneys Jay Daigneault and Randy Mora from Clearwater-based Trask Daigneault LLP, the city’s legal representation through its insurer, as well as a court reporter, according to the city website, holmesbeachfl.org.
The meeting was to pertain to “settlement negotiations … and strategy related to litigation expenditures,” according to the website.
Titsworth and Daigneault both declined to comment about the shade meeting in Dec. 15 phone calls with The Islander.
City attorney Erica Augello did not respond to a Dec. 15 phone call from The Islander.
The shade meeting comes shortly after attorney Michelle Grantham from the Bradenton-based Najmy Thompson law firm refiled Kaleta’s federal lawsuit Oct. 31 against the city. The original lawsuit was filed in 2021.
The lawsuit asks the court for a jury trial and a declaratory judgment finding the city’s actions violate Kaleta’s constitutional rights, grant injunctive relief ordering the city to cease “unlawful practices,” order the city to engage in corrective measures and award Kaleta damages.
Kaleta owns many properties in the city, including Bali Hai Beachfront Resort, Anna Maria Beach Resort, Coconuts Beach Resort, the Islands West Resort, 305 73rd St. and 102 48th St.
Kaleta’s first lawsuit, filed Dec. 31, 2021, claimed the city discriminated against the developer and set out to destroy his “business reputation and goodwill” by stalling development plans, denying access to public hearings and failing to respond to record requests.
The developer voluntarily dismissed the complaint over the summer but filed an amended complaint 75 days later.
There hasn’t been much action in the new case since it opened, other than a Dec. 6 motion filed by Mora on behalf of the city to stay proceedings during the pendency of related state court litigation.
Mora’s motion argues that, of at least 46 civil and administrative actions involving the lawsuit’s parties, 30 have been closed without a “single judgment or appellate order in their favor.”
The remaining 16 pending actions include 14 code enforcement appeals awaiting a judicial decision and a handful relating to the federal lawsuit.
Kaleta did not respond to a Dec. 15 text message from The Islander.