Cape Council votes to waive legal conflicts of interest
Cape Coral City Council on Wednesday voted 5-0 to execute a waiver of conflict of interest for the two municipalities joining Cape Coral in its appeal of a ruling by the South Florida Water Management District regarding releases of water from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee River.
The waivers of conflict will allow co-litigants Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel to use the law firm of Manson Bolves Donaldson Varn in Tallahassee, which currently represents the city of Cape Coral in its appeal, which is expected to take place Monday and Tuesday.
Attorney Craig Varn of MBDV requested the waivers so the firm can represent Sanibel and Fort Myers Beach, in a limited capacity.
On Oct. 19, the law firm representing Sanibel opted out due to a conflict, which resulted in the city requesting the services of Cape Coral’s law firm. Fort Myers Beach has also done the same.
Cape Coral City attorney Dolores Menendez said while she wouldn’t recommend clients share lawyers on the same case, this is an exception, since the proceeding has moved at an incredible pace and because the views of Cape Coral, Sanibel and Fort Myers Beach are currently similar.
But later?
“I get about 20 e-mails a day on this case and we’re just in the deposition stage. The hearing is set for Monday and Tuesday,” Menendez said. “Our interests are also well-aligned in this case. My concern is about future litigation between Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel.”
Menendez said that possibility has been addressed in the waiver. The firm would represent Cape Coral even if there was a future issue with either of the parties.
Fort Myers Beach was a new twist, as the waiver had originally been set for only Sanibel. Fort Myers Beach had conflict of interest documents sent to them just before the meeting.
Sanibel had already signed its waiver, while Fort Myers Beach had signaled its intent to move forward, Menendez said.
Menendez also asked Council to consider how costs would be split. It was decided Cape Coral and Sanibel would split costs equally from Oct. 19 to 23, with Fort Myers Beach signing on as an equal partner from Oct. 23 on.
Cape Mayor Joe Coviello said he understood the cities would pay for their own attorney costs for time spent before then. No agreement has been reached. Still, the mayor saw another bright side to the arrangement.
“By having this in the long run, there will be less cost as opposed to all of us paying for our own attorneys,” Coviello said.
The three cities are suing the SFWMD for its ruling Sept. 13 to raise the water flows from 300 cubic feel/sec. to 400, which was far from the 700 the cities want.
They said the increased flows in dry season would be better for the estuaries by making the water more brackish and would reduce the need for increased water flows in the summer, which the cities maintain contributed to the severe algae blooms and red tide this past summer that devastated the area’s economy.