Talk Spoiled The Federal Lawsuit
Back in November 2006, as we recall, Tom Tukey, President of theTAMPOA Board felt there was so much animosity against the City among TAMPOA members that it would be impossible to resolve the dispute short of litigation. Tukey at that time felt that TAMPOA had to file a lawsuit, though his preference would have been to continue to talk. He felt that talk alone would not satisfy the TAMPOA membership. So the lawsuit got filed in February, 2007. However, the TAMPOA attorneys, Tukey, City Attorney Shawn Smith and Commissioner Bill Verge continued to talk. The time whiled away while the good old boy network tried to work its magic. Unfortunately the federal judge was not part of the that network.
When it came to buckling down and doing the work necessary to produce the required Scheduling Report, well, we hear Shawn Smith let the TAMPOA counsel know he had not given the matter sufficient attention and was too busy to do so. And, the network being what it is, the TAMPOA attorneys just let him get away with that and the deadline for filing the Report went by. They were too nice; to their own detriment.
And, of course, the United States' Attorney didn't care. He, at least had filed something with the court asking for more time. Tell us the City didn't know that the judge would dismiss the case. Is the City now going to compensate TAMPOA Attorney Bill Andersen for his time in refiling the lawsuit? Bet not! No, the City will just know that it now owes him a favor within the network. The problem is that the City's pile of IOUs in the network is getting pretty large, and no one in TAMPOA seems to be collecting on them or benefiting from them.
What we don't get is why TAMPOA and its attorneys continue to get taken in by the good old boy games being played. You'd think that by now, they'd be players in the network too, and good at it. Apparently not. Political hard ball is not their style. And the players on the City side seem to have figured that out. When will TAMPOA draw a line in the sand and say never again? Many TAMPOA members thought that had happened last November, but they were wrong.
When it came to buckling down and doing the work necessary to produce the required Scheduling Report, well, we hear Shawn Smith let the TAMPOA counsel know he had not given the matter sufficient attention and was too busy to do so. And, the network being what it is, the TAMPOA attorneys just let him get away with that and the deadline for filing the Report went by. They were too nice; to their own detriment.
And, of course, the United States' Attorney didn't care. He, at least had filed something with the court asking for more time. Tell us the City didn't know that the judge would dismiss the case. Is the City now going to compensate TAMPOA Attorney Bill Andersen for his time in refiling the lawsuit? Bet not! No, the City will just know that it now owes him a favor within the network. The problem is that the City's pile of IOUs in the network is getting pretty large, and no one in TAMPOA seems to be collecting on them or benefiting from them.
What we don't get is why TAMPOA and its attorneys continue to get taken in by the good old boy games being played. You'd think that by now, they'd be players in the network too, and good at it. Apparently not. Political hard ball is not their style. And the players on the City side seem to have figured that out. When will TAMPOA draw a line in the sand and say never again? Many TAMPOA members thought that had happened last November, but they were wrong.
Labels: City Commission, Federal Case, lawyers, TAMPOA, Truman Annex
posted by Conchette at 8:00 AM
3 Comments:
Although I agree that failure to file a simple scheduling report is incomprehensible on the part of all parties concerned (it would not have been ordered by the court unless the court had notice that the parties were served), it appears as if Conchette, by her various comments on the dismissal of the federal lawsuit, is not fully informed as to the scope of the legal events between the City and Tampoa. The federal lawsuit (which can be re-filed) is the second lawsuit filed to determine whether the 2000 Agreement between the City and Tampoa is valid and enforceable. There is still pending a state lawsuit filed in 2006. The Board determined that a judgment in the second federal lawsuit hopefully would be dispositive of the result in the first state lawsuit. There is also a pending civil Assault & Battery lawsuit between Mike Geary, our chief of Security and Clayton Lopez, filed after SouthardGate, which is being funded by Tampoa. There is also an important question of title company coverage for attorney fees that arose from failure of the Board to know there was valid title insurance in effect. Conchette also does not seem to know that the Tampoa attorney has been paid in full for all legal work past, present and future. The Board made a deal with him in March: it paid him an additonal $250,000 on top of all his past fees (close to $750,000)and he agreed to complete all work required on the matter (except if the City filed an emminent domain action against Tampoa). Thus, there will be no more legal fee assessments, but how this will effect the quality of the future work remains to be seen. The fee agreement does not appear to have any built-in protections for Tampoa. The Board must merely trust that the attorney is doing all that he should to protect Tampoa's interests. Perhaps, the dismissal of the federal lawsuit is the first sign that it is not going so well.
Conchette and Ms. Winshall - Please allow me to correct a statement made by Ms. Winshall. She wrote "There is also an important question of title company coverage for attorney fees that arose from the failure of the board to know there was valid title insurance in place." Of course, the current board knew that a previous board had purchased title insurance. Mr. Christian had complete records. Chicago Title initially denied that the policy was valid claiming that they had not been paid by local Attorney Tim Koenig. Mr. Koenig could not produce his record of payment. The Andersen Firm worked very hard both with extensive title research and with behind the scenes negotiations to remedy this situation. They turned this potential serious problem into a complete victory. Chicago Title has now fully validated the policy. The title research done by the Andersen Firm was so good that the City of Key West has totally withdrawn any claim to ownership of Southard Street. Repeated answers by the City in their interrogatories state again and again that Southard Street is indeed owned by TAMPOA. (You cannot ever rely upon what is reported in the Citizen.) Really, it was very well handled.
As to the recent dismissal - This is a Miami federal judge. He know what the Key West Bubba system is like. (Key West and Monroe County governments are actually a joke in Miami courts after the Ducks case and Jim Hendrick.) Rest assured that this federal judge knows that the City is the one who has been playing games. The dismissal only caused ill will toward the City and not TAMPOA. The Federal case will be a clean ruling on what type of easement the Navy has. The easement can be unilaterally expanded by the Navy. It is not leagl to allow the City to "use" the Navy's easement. The federal court knows this and the Navy attorneys, in private, admit it too. Moving to the local case, the City is no longer contesting ownership of Southard. Really, TAMPOA has already won that case. The contract, of course, will be shown to be a valid and legal document becuase it always was a valid and legal document. The federal case was additionally necessary to get rid of the City's claim that they could "borrow" the Navy easement. You are in good and competent hands. It just takes time for it to move through the courts. TAMPOA owners should be OUTRAGED that their City officials have treated the good, honest residents of Truman Annex so poorly. The City Commission did it solely for their own political reasons. It was OK in the Bubba system to abuse the good people of Truman Annex. That is OUTRAGEOUS. Luckily, TAMPOA can stand up for themselves against this government abuse. Truman Annex residents have been a good thing for the City. They do not deserve to have been trated so poorly. The Commission should have upheld the legal and valid 2000 contract which was carefully negotiated by an earlier board.
The above comment appears to be from an insider privy (unlike the overwhelming majority of homeowners) to the operations of the TAMPOA Board and management. We can only hope that this new information is true. Unfortunately, this first revelation that a "complete victory" has already been achieved on behalf of TAMPOA homeowners leaves several questions still unanswered:
1) The main question still is not answered: Has (or will) the Title Insurance pay for the attorney fees? When will the homeowners be reimbursed for the thousands of dollars that they have already paid out in this matter?
2) If Mr. Christian had such "complete records" why could this not have been resolved perhaps by simply producing a cancelled check made out to Mr. Koenig showing that the insurance premium was paid? Could Mr. Koenig be held responsible financially at that point?
3) If Mr. Christian was so meticulous in his records management, why did it still require the Anderson Firm to "work very hard" and to perform "extensive title research" and to add on hundreds of thousands of more dollars to their bill?
4) If TAMPOA undoubtedly owns the street, does that in any way eliminate the easement rights (actual and implied) that have been given away previously? It is virtually moot as to who "owns" the property (despite the small fortune wasted on such a determination), as long as someone has "rights" to use it.
Overall, poster, nice try but your explanation is still just the same nonsense (incomplete information and lies) that more and more homeowners have come to expect from TAMPOA leadership and management. Contrary to a "complete victory" this whole matter continues to be the lose-lose situation that TAMPOA leadership and management wants to ram down the throats of Key West citizens in the name of being "a good thing for the city". No, the only OUTRAGE that the "good, honest residents of Truman Annex" have is toward the TAMPOA Board and Management itself.
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