Lozman to Riviera: Ending battle will cost $650K, apology
RIVIERA BEACH — A month after the U.S. Supreme Court handed Fane Lozman his second win against Riviera Beach, the city’s longtime nemesis has offered to end his decade-old legal battle for $650,000, an apology and an invitation to address the city council.
Lozman described his proposition as a bargain. “I gave them a really inexpensive settlement offer,” said Lozman, a former U.S. Marine and self-made millionaire. “I just want to get this behind me.”
City council members, who have already spent $1 million battling Lozman over his floating home and his claims that city officials violated his First Amendment rights by having him hauled out of a 2006 city council meeting in handcuffs, aren’t so certain.
They are to meet Monday in executive session to decide whether to accept Lozman’s offer that expires Thursday.
City Attorney Andrew DeGraffenreidt said he favors continuing the battle. “It’s an extremely liberal position to take the position that Mr. Lozman prevailed,” he told the city council when it discussed its options this week.
He insisted that the Supreme Court didn’t declare Lozman the victor. While justices voiced deep concern over Lozman’s arrest, they sent the lawsuit back to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Atlanta-based court is to decide whether the city illegally retaliated against Lozman because it didn’t like his views.
DeGraffenreidt seized on one phrase in Justice Anthony Kennedy’s 13-page opinion. “That
is not to say, of course, that Lozman is ultimately entitled to relief or even a new trial,” Kennedy wrote in the ruling that drew a lone dissent from Justice Clarence Thomas.
Lozman said any reliance on that one line is misguided. The court made it clear that silencing critics by having them arrested violates the First Amendment, he said.
The decision facing the city council is complicated because it hinges, in part, on what action its insurer wants to take. If the insurer decides to settle the lawsuit, it would have to pay. It would also have to pay if it decides to continue the legal battle.
“If you were to unilaterally decide to settle, you would do it with city money not insurance carrier money,” DeGraffenreidt told council members. The insurance company’s position is to be discussed by the council at Monday’s closed-door session.
If the battle is to continue, Mayor Thomas Masters and City Councilwoman Julia Botel questioned whether West Palm Beach attorney Benjamin Bedard should continue to represent the city. They suggested perhaps another law firm should be hired.
Lozman said the clock is ticking.
The 11th Circuit has already asked him to prepare legal briefs. That will increase his legal fees that he said already far exceed the $650,000 he is seeking.
His offer, if accepted, would end both the battle over the city’s decision to destroy his floating home and his First Amendment lawsuit, he said.
While the Supreme Court in 2013 ruled that Riviera Beach illegally used centuries-old maritime law to seize his floating home, which was docked at the city marina, a judge subsequently ordered the city to pay Lozman virtually nothing in damages. Lozman said he plans to file another lawsuit to recover the $175,000 he claims the home was worth and the $195,000 he paid attorneys to represent him in that lengthy legal fight.
He is also asking that the council pass a resolution apologizing “for the conspiracy to ‘intimidate’ and targeting Lozman for ‘unwarranted heat’ based on Lozman’s exercise of his First Amendment rights and for his false arrest.” He also wants to be given 20 minutes at a city council meeting to talk about the significance of the Supreme Court’s recent decision.
Lozman insists the city should have settled the dispute years ago when he offered to take $350,000 to call it quits. Now, the stakes are higher and will continue to increase.
“How much is the city and the insurance company going to spend on the appeal?” he asked.