Not so fast, Slippery George: appeal filed in Levine lawsuit
Judge Nancy Donnellan knocked former city manager George Hunt out of Levine's lawsuit, stating that Levine couldn't sue Hunt for malicious prosecution because Levine had never been prosecuted; Levine's attorney files an immediate appeal arguing that the prosecution process started as soon as Levine was arrested
-- John Patten, 04/09/05
-- jpatten@veniceflorida.com

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Complete breakdown of the events leading up to and
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-- Venice Florida! dot com, 12/30/02
Levine lawsuit takes a hit
-- Venice Gondolier Sun, 04/06/05

Not so fast, Slippery George...
An appeal has been filed in the Herb Levine lawsuit. The appeal goes against Judge Nancy Donnellan's ruling that former city manager George Hunt cannot be included in the case as a defendant. Hunt was being sued for malicious prosecution. Donnellan made the ruling on March 30.

Herb Levine is the president of the Venice Taxpayers League. In September of 2002, Levine, then 75, was arrested at the tail end of a city council budget meeting for getting involved in a name calling spat with Hunt and council members. The State Attorney's Office later dropped the charges against Levine, stating that he had broken no laws.

Last year, Levine filed suit against the City of Venice, Mayor Dean Calamaras, former police chief Joe Slapp and Hunt for false arrest, assault and battery, and malicious prosecution. Hunt was being sued on just the one count of malicious prosecution.

While Hunt's attorney, Andrew Froman, had been quoted in local press as stating that Hunt couldn't be sued because he wasn't a player in what happened to Levine, that apparently wasn't the winning argument he used with Donnellan to get Hunt excluded from the lawsuit.

Donnellan's reason for excluding Hunt, as stated in her ruling, is that no prosecution ever took place. In her ruling, Donnellan wrote,  "Plaintiff [Levine] cannot allege the commencement or continuance of an original civil or criminal judicial proceeding because such a proceeding did not take place. Plaintiff's claim for malicious prosecution against Mr. Hunt must fail because he cannot allege an essential element [prosecution] to stating a cause of action."

In other words, according to Donnellan, since the State Attorney's Office dropped the charges (what is referred to as "nolle prosequi"), there  was no prosecution and therefore Levine has no grounds to sue. This ruling no doubt opens the door for Mayor Dean Calamaras and former police chief Joe Slapp to file motions to be removed from the lawsuit on the same grounds.

Not so fast, says Levine's attorney, Peter Baranowicz, who is arguing that case law states that prosecution started as soon as Levine was arrested. In his appeal, Baranowicz cites a number of Florida cases, including a Florida District Court of Appeals case from 1972, Davis v. McCrory Corporation. In that oft-cited case, the court ruled that a malicious prosecution lawsuit could be brought forth "...if there is a nolle prosequi or declination to prosecute entered in good faith by the prosecutor."

Baranowicz stated that he is confident that Hunt will be re-included back into the lawsuit upon review by the appellate court.

And the band plays on.....

John Patten is the head of Web Operations for Creative Pages, and has worked in broadcasting for over 12 years. He can also be incredibly rude at times.