Former long-time Apopka city official Richard Anderson’s attorney has asked a circuit court judge to dismiss a lawsuit the city of Apopka filed against him last year.
Michael D. Jones, Anderson’s attorney, filed a 15-page request last week asking Judge Heather Higbee to issue a summary judgment in Anderson’s favor that would end Apopka’s lawsuit against the former lobbyist/special projects manager, city administrator, and fire chief.
In the document filed by Jones, he says the city’s accusation in its suit against Anderson that he breached his lobbying/special projects contract with the city because he didn’t report an April 2016 crash involving his pickup truck that couldn’t be proven because “Apopka cannot cite any express or implied language in the agreement that requires Anderson to report such an incident.”
In Apopka’s suit, there were also accusations that Anderson wasn’t registered as a lobbyist with the state or federal governments but, in the most recent document, Jones said that, “public records confirm that Anderson was a registered lobbyist in 2015 and 2016, but Anderson had not registered to lobby for any Apopka issues.”
Also in the summary judgment request, Jones said that the city’s claim that Anderson failed to provide Mayor Joe Kilsheimer with monthly written reports on his work as the lobbyist/special projects manager was false.
Jones’ summary judgment motion follows a settlement that was rejected by the City Council this summer in which the city was to pay Anderson $60,000 to end the court battle.
The lawsuit was filed by the city in June 2016. Anderson filed a counterclaim against the city – his employer for 42 years – this past May. The suit brought by the city and the counterclaim brought by Anderson came after Anderson’s truck was involved in a crash on State Road 46 in Lake County on April 5, 2016.
The full story appears in the Friday, November 3, issue of The Apopka Chief.