It has been reported this week that the Vizcayans and Commissioner Mark Sarnoff are facing legal battles with the Related Group. Oh, no! Two lawsuits have been filed because of - yes again - those three Mercy Hospital Towers! Damn that Catholic church. According to the Miami Herald: "Vizcayans member John Hinson called the lawsuit the latest ''bit of skulduggery'' aimed at squelching his group's opposition."Do these suits constitute Slapp Suits? You be the judge. What is a Slapp Suit you might ask? Every single one of you should know what a Slapp Suit is because you might be facing one at some time in your life. And you will go broke. According to the not always reliable Wikpedia, this happens to be a good explanation:
"A Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation ("SLAPP") is a form of litigation filed by a large organization or in some cases an individual plaintiff, to intimidate and silence a less powerful critic by so severely burdening them with the cost of a legal defense that they abandon their criticism. The acronym was coined in the 1980s by University of Denver professors Penelope Canan and George W. Pring. One marker of a SLAPP suit is whether the costs outweigh the claimed damages by a large amount: for example, damages of a few hundred dollars and costs in the tens of thousands. Lawyers are thought to be particularly conflicted in SLAPP suits, since a marginal case can lead to high legal fees, and lawyers are encouraged to run up costs by their clients."
Now return to my Sunday July 22nd post and re-read that Related Group Letter: "What is Related Group Up To?" Now we know.
12 comments:
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2003-01-23/news/the-dumbing-down-of-derm/
Miami Slapp Suit (Ellen Perez had to move because of it:
Attorney Michael Pizzi, defending Perez in what he charges is a classic SLAPP suit (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation), found the DERM director to be singularly uninformed during the deposition. "Renfrow acted like he doesn't have a clue," says Pizzi. "You can't get a straight answer out of him on anything. The guy probably needs a map to find his office."
Mestre's lawsuit, which is dragging into its second year, claims that Perez "intentionally made false statements about Ouster and its business activities for the purpose of harming Ouster to force it to close the facility." The fiery Redland homeowner mistakenly believed the county had found arsenic in her residential water well, and made comments to that effect to two local newspapers. According to attorney Pizzi, the court action has taken its toll on Perez. So far she has rung up $10,000 in legal fees, and the stress has led to another $16,000 in medical bills.
Wonder if this resort to SLAP suites is a sign that all is not financially going so well for Related? Are all the employees getting paid? Are bills running late? Would be interesting to find out.
Negotiate your penance…or the healing green, a modest proposal.
The US negotiated its penance for abandoning Cubans after the Bay of Pigs fiasco through the freedom flights that resulted in a major population shift for Miami. That migration is honored at the Ermita De La Caridad on a prime bay site.
We have little public green or water space. Probably that site was once sacred to Native Americans, back when there was a fresh water spring in the middle of the bay.
The spot is part of a larger block by Mercy Hospital and La Salle and that other piece of land so much in the news regarding development.
Dear g.od., who examines titles the way some search souls…what is the actual provenance of all that land? Was it all acquired by the Archdiocese from James Derring’s heirs? When? Has that last piece already been sold to Related Group? By whom exactly?
It has been implied in this blog that the land is being sold by the Archdiocese to cover child abuse settlements. (while at the same time this blog, g.o.d., urges non-contribution to the collection basket, as if lack of cash flow were not precipitating sale of assets)
But is the land the Archdiocese’s, in which case it is held in the person of his Excellency John Favalora, or does it belong to the SSJs (Sisters of Saint Joseph).
The good sisters built Mercy Hospital and still live on the grounds in the convent. Did they ever own the land?
Back in the day, the good sisters, whose charism is teaching and healing, were activists themselves, and were charged with breaking Florida’s segregation laws by teaching black children. Many activist women who wanted to make a difference joined a hierarchical organization and didn’t protect their property rights and retirement benefits. It’s hard to collect social security if you’ve been credited a dollar a day for teaching the RULES about spelling, grammar and proper sentence structure. (…still an uphill battle bordering on martyrdom, but I digress).
Is the land really being sold for settlements for abused children in the Catholic school system? The irony and bitterness would break very hard on those very nuns.
The hospital has said it wants the money for expansion. Are Archdiocesan and hospital finances intermingled? Taxation without representation is tyranny but absolution without oversight is something else.
Mercy Hospital, which went corporate long ago, pushed the sisters out of management, but they are still there, literally. Did they ever own the land themselves?
Here is a modest proposal the sisters might support: ABSOLUT Absolution.
It would call for a lot of “buy in” especially the by most interested parties…not the Related Group, the victims who get the settlements.
A public act of contrition and restoration on the part of the Archdiocese in the form a gift of land to the community as a healing green space. (Yes there is a youth retreat area right by LaSalle, but we are dealing with people beyond alienation). It would represent a rejection of abuse of power, and violation of youth. It would call on the church to refrain from the desire for big bucks.
In its dealing with “those who at least believe they have been victims” the church has played hardball, supposedly to protect its reputation and assets of the people as a whole. None of these people have any control over the disposition of these assets whose acquisition their contributions have allowed, or even real knowledge of what they are. There is no annual report. The bishop does put out a pie chart or sorts, but the frustration of lack of transparency in church administration matches closely the frustration of ignoring popular concern for livability in the protests against the development of this parcel.
Why fiddledeedee this could even be a model for other archdioceses that are facing bankruptcy.
Dear g.o.d. research the provenance of these parcels. Could this sort of thing be negotiated in the courts? Would individuals and families settle for “green healing” over private damages? Hmmm.
S
Related makes bad decisions. Who is advising them? Idiots. Jorge Perez is doing permanent damage to an already bad reputation.
I guess Jorge Perez does not care for his reputation in Miami because he is moving to Atlanta, Mexico and South America.
Dear S: green healing vs. private damages? I think I know which way the plaintiff's will go....green in the pocket.
What's up with John Shubin? I thought he was a land use attorney? He used to represent neighborhoods fighting overdevelopment. Why is he suing a Commissioner?
In MA the arguments of church members, sisters, brothers and priests, were thrown aside in favor of church leaders, regardless of how poorly they had been decision makers in past abuse cases.
http://www.miamiherald.com/456/v-print/story/225920.html
How dare Jorge Perez of the Related Group sue Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff and the Vizcayans. Sue the very people who are trying to retain what little is left of the natural beauty of this city? The Related Group continues to build the slums of tomorrow; is any resistance to be met with legal action?
It may take some time, but after being trapped in one of these buildings by traffic gridlock, or walking up and down the stairs to the 34th floor during the inevitable brown-outs, you will not be able to give these units away. They will be the slums of tomorrow.
EUGENE P. ROSENTHAL, Miami
Thanks Eugene for caring and writing.
And Shubin was one of the good guys...
Great story in Daily Business Review about Related trying to intimidate opponents and John Shubin filing a SLAPP suit.
but my blog was first!
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