Judge tosses ex- principal’s $ 155M award
A Miami- Dade judge has struck down a jury’s $ 155 million award to the former principal of an Aventura charter school, adding anew chapter to the saga over her ouster.
Miami- Dade Circuit Judge Rosa Rodriguez issued a final judgment Wednesday against the fired principal, Katherine Murphy, andin favorof theAventura city manager, Charter Schools USA and one of its employees.
Last week a Miami- Dade jury decided that City Manager Eric Soroka and the school’s registrar, Nicole Munroe, an employee of Charter Schools USA, had conspired to ruin the reputation of Murphy, who was fired from her job as principal at Aventura City of Excellence School in 2006. Her firing stemmed from allegations a student skipped the wait list at the popular charter to enter fifth grade. The jury issued a $ 155 million award.
“This confirms
the
truth of what we have known all along, that the city manager did not do anything wrong concerning Dr. Murphy and has only acted in the best interest of the city which he steadfastly and honorably serves,” DavidWolpin said in a statement. Wolpin is an attorney with Weiss Serota Helfman and serves as city attorney forAventura.
Soroka’s attorney, Michael Burke, had argued the manager had immunity from defamation charges as a public official.
Burke said the judge’s decision means the evidence presentedover fourweeks of trial did not support that claim of defamation or others, including conspiracy to defame. What’s more, it eliminates $ 155 million award. “Itmeansit’s zero. He has no liability,” Burke said.
But the saga is likely not over.
Ben Kuehne, one of the attorneys for Murphy, said she will press for the jury’s verdict to be reinstated, including an appeal if necessary.
“The judge’s decisionwas remarkable, unprecedented in its scope and its speed. To rush to vacate the jury’s finding, not even three full days after the jury’s announcement, after having heard four weeks of trial evidence, is inexplicable,” Kuehne said.
While not common, the legal principle allowing a judge to set a side a jury’s verdict does exist and has a long standing in U. S. legal history, said Murray Greenberg, who teaches law at Florida International University and St. Thomas University School of Law.
“Lawyers use the slang term — You get a runaway jury that has grabbed onto somethingthat it’sheardand gives a verdict, which the judge thinks is way out of line,” said Greenberg, also a former Miami- Dade county attorney and of counsel at Stearns Weaver law firm. “I think judges should do it sparingly, but should do it in those cases where he or she thinks it’s the proper thing to do.”
The judge’s left Murphy Kuehne said.
Since her 2006 firing, she had been unable to find work in the education field and faced a near fatal health scare in 2011 and 2012, he said. Doctors testified to the jury that blockage in her colon was related to stress caused by Soroka’s treatment of her. That blockage led to sepsis, or a severe inflammation, that ruined part of her colon, led to gangrene and put her in a coma.
“The doctors were pleasantly surprised that she survived that ordeal. They had concluded shewas at death’s door,” Kuehne said.
In 2003, Murphy helped found the new K- 8 charter school in Aventura. It is funded with tax dollars but is operated by the city of Aventura and Charter SchoolsUSA. reversal has distraught,