DEVELOPING STORY: Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi has sued the his own town twice to recoup $3.2 million 
in alleged legal fees from both his fight against federal bribery charges and is fight to get back into Town Hall.
Pizzi’s team of attorneys filed two lawsuits Wednesday. One seeks $700,000 for the civil case he won at the Florida Supreme Court to get back his seat once he was acquitted of federal bribery charges last year. The other seeks $2.5 million for the legal fees paid in that criminal case.
How many billable hours is that?
“That had nothing to do with the town of Miami Lakes,” said Town Attorney Raul Gastesi, who plans to fight the lawsuits and will tell the council members that at Tuesday’s meeting.
The conduct that resulted in him getting indicted was not the town’s fault,” Gastesi told Ladra. “He engages in conduct, accepting cash money for his PAC, and he wants to the town to pay $2.5 million for that? I think that’s unfair.”
Gastesi also plans to fight the $700,000 in fees for the civil case, which seems a little artificially bloated.
Read related story: Wayne Slaton gives up; Michael Pizzi is Miami Lakes mayor
“That’s twice what the Ackerman firm charged us,” Gastesi said, referring to the $300,000 the town paid to represent its side and fight Pizzi’s return. “It was the governor who entered the order [of suspension of office], not the town.”
Maybe the criminal case is artificially bloated, too. I mean, it wasn’t like a full time job. And the trial lasted about a month. One month’s work: $2.5 million. Ladra should have gone to law school.
Ben Kuehne, the lead attorney in the team of eight legal dogs on Pizzi’s side, has not disclosed how many hours they toiled and what the cost per hour is. “Until a judge determines whether he’s entitled to some of those fees, he doesn’t want to disclose what the hourly rate was.”
Earlier this year, council members set aside $250,000 in the budget — which they will be discussing publicly for the first time at a workshop Wednesday — because it was comparable to what they had paid their own firm in the case, said Vice Mayor Manny Cid.
They also have only $2.5 million in the reserves, so paying that legal bill will mean they might have to sell a few firetrucks or something.
Is this someone who has the best interest of the town at heart?
By the way, is Medley going to see a lawsuit also? They let Pizzi go as city attorney after the 2013 August arrest.
Pizzi and Sweetwater Manny Marono, in a separate but equal investigation, were caught conspiring with FBI agents posing as grant facilitators willing to steal U.S. funds meant for economic development. Marono pled guilty and is doing 3 1/2 years. Pizzi, who took a $3,000 cash payment from a lobbyist in the closet of his office and another envelope in the bathroom of a pool hall, was acquitted after his team of eight of the county’s most prominent attorneys was able to sell the jury on the slightest shadow of a doubt.
On second thought, maybe they are worth every last penny.
Maybe the city ought to pay these mobsters off. Before the tab goes up another million in this fight.
This story is developing and may have more information added shortly.
Michael Pizzi sues Miami Lakes for $3.2 million in legal fees added by Ladra on
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