Bradenton Beach to pay Gallos $38,500 lawsuit settlement
by Rick Catlin. Islander Reporter
At a time when municipalities are tightening financial belts, Bradenton Beach has decided to cut its potential losses in a civil suit.
Commissioners last week agreed to pay $38,500 to former city pier restaurant operators Karen and Jake Gallo to settle a lawsuit the Gallos had filed against the city after their two-year contract to operate the city pier restaurant was abruptly terminated by the city commission in September 2004 with one year remaining.
The decision came after commissioners received the details of a mediated settlement agreement between the Gallos and the city.
Rather than face a lengthy court trial and possibly costly attorney’s fees, the commission agreed to the mediation settlement.
According to the terms of the settlement, announced at the commission’s March 20 meeting, the city will pay the Gallos $38,500 spread out over eight installments.
Attorney Greg Hootman of the Florida League of Cities, who represented the city in the action by the Gallos, advised the city to accept the mediated agreement and commissioners voted unanimously to take the offer.
City Commissioner John Chappie, who was the mayor when the commission gave the Gallos the boot from their contract to operate the pier’s restaurant, said the lawsuit could “go on and on” and it made sense to “close this thing out.”
The Gallos filed the lawsuit in late September 2004, claiming the city wrongfully terminated the lease they had to operate the restaurant.
After more than three years of court motions and hearings, a trial date had been set for May 19, 2008, but last month Judge Ed Nicholas ordered the two sides to mediation.
In the original lawsuit, the Gallos alleged they had paid $200,000 for furnishings, equipment, supplies and inventory when they started the restaurant in 2003. Because of the termination before the end of their two-year lease, they lost all their equipment, they claimed.
The lease was terminated at the commission’s Sept. 16, 2004, meeting, just 12 days after storms from a passing hurricane tore off the roof of the restaurant, court documents claim.
The lawsuit alleged that this decision was a breach of contract. Attorney Don Scarlett, representing the Gallos, also alleged in an amended complaint that there was a Sunshine Law violation because some commissioners and the mayor discussed the termination while the meeting was recessed.
The amended motion alleged that during a 12-minute recess at the Sept. 16 meeting, commissioners and then-Mayor John Chappie discussed the Gallos and the motion to terminate their lease.
According to Scarlett, a court reporter at the meeting left the recorder on during the recess. Scarlett had submitted the tape of the meeting, including the discussion during the recess, as evidence in the case. |
