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Sunshine Lawsuit in court today

From: JP -- venfl.com
Date: 12/01/08
Time: 04:46 PM

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Spoliation rears its ugly head. Attorney Andrea Mogensen brought up the "S" word in court today, this in arguments on Summary Judgment Motions filed on behalf of John Moore, Ed Martin, and John Simmonds.

Attorneys for the defendants argued that while spoliation may have occurred, it would have been the fault of the city and not the individual defendants (read: IT Director Lance Heiss and City Clerk Lori Stelzer are being set up to take the fall).

Best quote of the day award goes to Jeff Boone, attorney for Simmonds: "Your Honor, it didn't take a court order or a lawsuit for my client to produce his emails, he produced them voluntarily."

Second place also goes to Boone. Arguing that Mogensen is on a fishing expedition, Boone notes that his client is on the opposite side of everyone that Mogensen is trying to nail. Noting that Mogensen is going after what Boone called "the anti-airport" crowd, Boone states about Simmonds, "I don't think he's on the list of fish that anyone is trying to catch here."

Yeah... OK...

Other revelations: the city has no email backups prior to June of 2008. Most, if not all, of former city manager Marty Black's emails have disappeared.

Depositions of Heiss and Stelzer have already taken place. One description fed to me on condition of anonymity: Stelzer can't remember anything and Heiss can't find anything. Transcripts of those depositions will be released soon, according to a Mogensen staffer.

Coming up in depositions within the week: Tom Brener (president of Venice Neighborhoods Coalition), Walter Hake (citizen), Tom Slaughter (city's planning director), Kit McKeon (newly elected councilman), Greg Shanika (ex airport advisory board member).

Judge Robert Bennett will issue rulings on the Summary Judgment Motions sometime later this week or next week. Still to be heard: similar motions on behalf of Councilwoman Sue Lang, former mayor Fred Hammett, and various members of the now-defunct Airport Advisory Board.