Judge John Simon has ruled that late attorney George Ralph Miller and a company associated with lawyer/developer Lloyd Blue will be required to pay attorney's fees to Walton County resident Suzanne Harris in a Sunshine law case.
By TOM McLAUGHLIN
NWF Daily News
Judge John Simon has ruled that late attorney George Ralph Miller and a company associated with lawyer/developer Lloyd Blue will be required to pay attorney’s fees to Walton County resident Suzanne Harris in a Sunshine law case.
Harris, represented by attorney Matt Gaetz, will now go after attorneys fees from Walton County, which included Miller and Blue as “indispensible parties” during the protracted legal battle with Harris.
“It’s just a shame Walton County can’t do things in the sunshine,” Harris said, noting the county has now spent over $200,000 fighting her in a case she offered to settle.
“I told them if they’d just admit wrong doing I’d drop the suit,” Harris said.
A call to Lloyd Blue’s office was not immediately returned.
Harris filed a lawsuit in 2010 alleging the state Sunshine Law was violated when Walton County hired Miller without the public being notified.
It was filed following a controversial purchase of South Walton land in the area of Chat Holley Road.
Simon ruled with Harris when he decided in 2015 that then-interim County Attorney Lynn Hoshihara put Miller on retainer without notifying the board of county commissioners she was doing so.
That violated a county admonition to Hoshihara that she “work with the board to secure outside legal counsel, as needed,” Simon said in that ruling.
Walton County wound up paying $187,400 to Miller during the time he was on retainer.
By TOM McLAUGHLIN
NWF Daily News
Judge John Simon has ruled that late attorney George Ralph Miller and a company associated with lawyer/developer Lloyd Blue will be required to pay attorney’s fees to Walton County resident Suzanne Harris in a Sunshine law case.
Harris, represented by attorney Matt Gaetz, will now go after attorneys fees from Walton County, which included Miller and Blue as “indispensible parties” during the protracted legal battle with Harris.
“It’s just a shame Walton County can’t do things in the sunshine,” Harris said, noting the county has now spent over $200,000 fighting her in a case she offered to settle.
“I told them if they’d just admit wrong doing I’d drop the suit,” Harris said.
A call to Lloyd Blue’s office was not immediately returned.
Harris filed a lawsuit in 2010 alleging the state Sunshine Law was violated when Walton County hired Miller without the public being notified.
It was filed following a controversial purchase of South Walton land in the area of Chat Holley Road.
Simon ruled with Harris when he decided in 2015 that then-interim County Attorney Lynn Hoshihara put Miller on retainer without notifying the board of county commissioners she was doing so.
That violated a county admonition to Hoshihara that she “work with the board to secure outside legal counsel, as needed,” Simon said in that ruling.
Walton County wound up paying $187,400 to Miller during the time he was on retainer.
