Court rules against environmentalist in ‘malice’ case
Several groups are backing Maggy Hurchella in her appeal to the Supreme Court.

hurchella
“Hurchalla’s comments were represented as statements of fact, as opposed to statements of pure opinion ... "

In a case watched by environmental and First Amendment groups, a state appeals court Wednesday upheld a $4.4 million verdict against a prominent South Florida environmentalist who fought a project that included limerock mining.

A three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal rejected arguments by Maggy Hurchalla, sister of the late U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, that the First Amendment protected her communications with Martin County officials about the project.

The decision was a victory for property owners Lake Point Phase I, LLC and Lake Point Phase II, LLC, which argued that Hurchalla engaged in “tortious interference” when she worked behind the scenes to thwart the project and undermine an agreement between the county and the South Florida Water Management District.

The property owners filed a lawsuit that led to Martin County paying $12 million as part of a settlement and a jury returning a $4.4 million verdict against Hurchalla.

The appeals court focused, in part, on whether the First Amendment protected Hurchalla’s communications with county commissioners and whether they involved malice.

The judges cited a Jan. 4, 2013, email that Hurchalla sent to county commissioners that included a false statement about documented benefits of a stormwater treatment area that would be part of the project.

“These statements are examples of competent substantial evidence that clearly and convincingly proved that Hurchalla demonstrated actual malice in interfering with Lake Point’s contracts with the county and the (South Florida Water Management) district, by making statements she either knew were false or with reckless disregard as to whether they were false,” said the 12-page ruling, written by Judge Burton Conner and joined by judges Dorian Damoorgian and Alan Forst. “Hurchalla’s comments were represented as statements of fact, as opposed to statements of pure opinion. Even if we viewed the statements as ‘mixed opinions,’ the statements would not be privileged under the First Amendment.”

The case drew friend-of-the-court briefs on behalf of Hurchalla, a former Martin County commissioner, from a wide range of groups, including the First Amendment Foundation, the League of Women Voters of Florida, the Sierra Club, the Florida Wildlife Federation and Friends of the Everglades. (Disclosure: The News Service of Florida is a member of the First Amendment Foundation.)

In a brief filed last year, Hurchalla’s attorneys wrote that the case is a “textbook example of a ‘SLAPP’ suit — a lawsuit commenced strategically to discourage citizens from exercising their fundamental constitutional rights to speak on matters of public concern and to ask their government officials to redress problems.”

But the property owners’ attorneys argued in a brief that Hurchalla worked to “breach” the agreement between the county and water management district.

“Central to this campaign was Ms. Hurchalla’s repeated dissemination of information that she either knew was false or had a high degree of awareness of the information’s probable falsity,” the brief said. “In her zeal to stop Lake Point, she did not engage in public protest; instead, she secretly poisoned the relationship between the county and Lake Point with false information behind the scenes.”

___

Republished with permission of the News Service of Florida.

Jim Saunders

Jim has been executive editor of the News Service since 2013 and has covered state government and politics in Florida since 1998. Jim came to the News Service in 2011 after stints as Tallahassee bureau chief for The Florida Times-Union, The Daytona Beach News-Journal and Health News Florida. He moved to Florida in 1990 and worked eight years for the Times-Union in Jacksonville and St. Johns County. A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he graduated from Northwestern University and worked at The Blade newspaper in Toledo, Ohio, before moving to the Times-Union. Jim enjoys covering legal and regulatory issues and has extensive experience in covering health care.



#FlaPol

Florida Politics is a statewide, new media platform covering campaigns, elections, government, policy, and lobbying in Florida. This platform and all of its content are owned by Extensive Enterprises Media.

Publisher: Peter Schorsch @PeterSchorschFL

Contributors & reporters: Phil Ammann, Drew Dixon, Roseanne Dunkelberger, A.G. Gancarski, Anne Geggis, Ryan Nicol, Jacob Ogles, Cole Pepper, Gray Rohrer, Jesse Scheckner, Christine Sexton, Drew Wilson, and Mike Wright.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @PeterSchorschFL
Phone: (727) 642-3162
Address: 204 37th Avenue North #182
St. Petersburg, Florida 33704




Sign up for Sunburn


Categories