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I have established this blog as a means of transparency to the public, outreach to the community, and information dissemination to all who choose to look. Feedback is welcome, but because public participation is equally encouraged, appropriate language and decorum is mandatory.

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Underhill Wins!!!!: (a Pyrrhic Victory)

"If we are victorious in one more such battle, we shall be utterly ruined" -King Pyrrhus of Epirus, 318-272 BC


A ruling in Federal Court was handed down earlier this week.  

It was a pyrrhic victory of epic proportion for disgraced former commissioner Doug Underhill in that he "Won" one aspect of a long brewing, long simmering and percolating case.  

Yes, a judge ruled for him (Underhill) in just ONE (1) aspect of this lawsuit. 

The suit was filed alleging Underhill violated the constitutional rights of constituent(s) by hiding comments and blocking comments on social media accounts he, Underhill, controlled--and the judge did side with Underhill on this.

But --even though the Judge ruled for Underhill on just this one aspect of the suit----another portion of the same ruling was simultaneously devastating to Underhill.

......Because the Judge also ruled for the plaintiff, David Bear, in the other, equally important part of the same suit-----and awarded $130, 425.50 to him (Bear) from Underhill for Underhill's failure to produce requested public records.

From the order:

"The Court previously found Bear entitled to an award of attorney’s fees against Underhill pursuant to the Florida Public Records Act, Fla. Stat. § 119.12, resulting from his failure to respond to a public records request for records within his custody.  The Court also determined that Underhill may be held personally liable for those fees as the responsible “agency,” within the meaning of the statute. ...The Clerk is directed to enter final judgment in favor of Bear and against Underhill on the Public Records Act claims of Counts I and III, including an award of attorney’s fees in the amount of $130,425.50 to Bear, and final judgment in favor of Underhill and against Bear on the First Amendment claim of Count VII, and close the file."

Read the full Ruling Here.


"If we are victorious in one more such battle, we shall be utterly ruined" -King Pyrrhus of Epirus, 318-272 BC


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Petty and pathetic. There is not a worse representative of our community than you

Jeff Bergosh said...

Anonymous 5:24--LOL keep telling yourself that, you're obvioulsy having a mental breakdown because the opposite of what you say is actually the reality of the situation. And polling supports what I am telling you. So put your tinfoil hat back on, get back to the keyboard, and keep chugging the kool aid, and remember this. This post is real and it is factual. Re-read it slowly......

Mel Pino said...

Judge Rodgers made clear from the get go she had no taste for wading into constitutional on Facebook, which is a shame, as it leaves it for a future judge to determine. The ruling was that there was no evidence that it was a public forum and not a personal page. Um, it was named "Commissioner Doug Underhill." But this mini shit show started all the way back during the beginnings of the gigantic Trump shit show, when his Twitter case was still in court in NY. Note that the ruling didn't say that an elected official blocking citizens from their social media where they talked government business was okay; she simply said she wasn't ruling on Doug's because he'd done enough work covering his tracks to get the Court out of having to deal with it. The ruling left it wide open for the next person who gets blocked by an official to come back and prove that when it's government business, you can't block the content.

Cracks me up that Studio 850 is still shilling for Doug and the Douggites after all these years. It's such a shame, as when Singley reports on things like NAS, it's great coverage. But they just can't quit Doug. And neither can Jacqueline. If so embarrassing. And sad.

My favorite part of their recent delusional rants is claiming that Judge Rodgers ruled that his Facebook content both was and wasn't public record.

No, you poor confused, conned, and cracked cult mavens. She ruled that the content on his Facebook page wasn't a public forum. The public records had to do with his private messages.

You know, Jacqueline. The private messages that include hundreds of pages of political scheming between you and Doug.

The wheels of justice turn slowly, but choked as they may be these days, some of them are still turning. This one may just turn all the way, straight back to the State's Attorney's Office where it always should have been.

Eric Sharplin said...

It makes me laugh Mel Pino cant get over Doug Underhill she truly misses him.
This reminds me of a song.
Some enchanted evening, you may see a Doug,
You may see a Doug across a crowded room,
And somehow you know, you know even then,
That somehow you'll see here again and again.
Some enchanted evening, someone may be laughing,
You may hear Doug laughing across a crowded room,
And night after night, as strange as it seems,
The sound of her laughter will sing in your dreams.
Who can explain it, who can tell you why?
Fools give you reasons, wise men never try.
Some enchanted evening, when you find your true Doug,
When you hear Doug call you across a crowded room,
Then fly to Doug side and make Doug your own,
Or all through your life you may dream all alone.
Once you have found Doug , never let her go,
Once you have found Doug, never let her go

lol lol lol

Mel Pino said...

It was great to hear Rick Outzen call out the PNJ program of not being able to quit Underhill this morning on his show. Particularly on the heels of his very serious coverage about Uvalde and the lies the governmental agencies told the public, and that the press has to step up and hold the government and officials accountable when they aren't transparent and mislead the public.

"Fortunately David Bear doesn't give up easily." --Rick Outzen

No he doesn't. The very best kind of stubborn, and this community should be grateful to him every day for it.

Mel Pino said...

BIG CORRECTION! Looking over the cases again, it was *not* Judge Cannon who made an initial statement wringing hands about dealing with social media on a constitutional case, but a previous magistrate whom she overruled.

Still, I can't help but think the Court was happy to find a way not to have to rule on the constitutionality of Facebook stuff. This country's judicial system hasn't even gotten caught up figuring out how to deal with copyright and technology, let alone social media, with the tsunami of AI headed in to swamp the Herculean stable.