Event to be conducted via Zoom
With a 12th Judicial Circuit Court judge having ruled for the second time, in early November, that Sarasota city Commissioner Kyle Battie was immune from a resident’s allegations that he defamed her with a fake Facebook post, Battie’s lawyer has filed a motion requesting attorney’s fees and costs, The Sarasota News Leader has learned.
The Nov. 18 document references a June 12 settlement offer in the litigation that Laurel Park resident Kelly Franklin launched in February. That Offer of Judgment sought $100 and called for Franklin to dismiss all claims against Battie, with prejudice, meaning she would not seek to pursue them again. It also pointed out that Battie had made no claim for punitive damages as of that time.
The June 12 filing came just weeks before Franklin’s attorney filed an amended complaint in the case.
The Nov. 18 motion does say that Battie is “reserving the determination as to amount to be awarded for an evidentiary hearing,” if the parties are unable to agree on Battie’s offer.
Such an agreement apparently did not happen, as Circuit Judge Stephen M. Walker filed a Dec. 4 notice that he has scheduled a Feb. 25, 2025 hearing, via Zoom, at 10:30 a.m., so he can make the final decision on the costs and fees. Walker has set aside 30 minutes for that hearing, the formal notice says.
The Nov. 18 motion made by Battie’s attorney follows Walker’s entering in court records on Nov. 15 a Final Judgment in the case. That formally granted Battie’s Motion to Dismiss the amended complaint that Franklin’s attorney had filed on her behalf on July 2, after Walker first ruled in favor of Battie in early June. That Final Judgment did note, “The Court reserves jurisdiction to … determine entitlement to attorneys’ fees and costs, and, if necessary, the amount of said attorneys’ fees and costs.”
Brian Goodrich, of the Sarasota firm Bentley Goodrich Kison, is Battie’s attorney.
As of the deadline for publication of this issue of the News Leader, the case docket showed no indication that Franklin had decided to appeal Walker’s Nov. 7 ruling in favor of Battie. “I have 30 days to determine whether to appeal, and will take the time to do so,” she told the News Leader via email on Nov. 8, as part of her response to the publication’s request for comments about Walker’s decision.
In the latter half of July, the members of the Sarasota City Commission unanimously voted for the city to cover Battie’s legal expenses in the case, at least through the time of ruling on Franklin’s amended complaint. In response to a News Leader inquiry this week, City Attorney Robert Fournier wrote in a Dec. 3 email, “The total amount billed for Commissioner Battie’s attorney fees in the suit filed by Kelly Franklin is $37,028.36. The City has paid the $25,000 deductible and the insurance carrier has paid $12,028.36.”
Later the same day, Fournier let the News Leader know that he had just learned of the amount billed by Battie’s attorney in November. It was
$1,529.00, he wrote. “Although it hasn’t been paid yet,” he added, “I anticipated it will be covered by Richmond National Insurance as the City has met its deductible.”
Thus, the total billings for the city add up to $38,557.36.
Walker ruled both in June and in November that Florida law and judicial precedents make clear — as he wrote with emphasis in his Nov. 7 decision — the “[a]bsolute immunity of an official [which relieves] him from the necessity of being subjected to trial of an action based on his privileged conduct, notwithstanding that a complaint for libel which is filed against him may allege, as a conclusion, that he is without such immunity or was acting beyond the scope of his duty or office, where the complaint and its exhibits disclose the action of the official was taken in the interest of the public good and thereby within the scope of his duties and responsibilities, notwithstanding the allegations in the complaint to the contrary [italics added].”
Walker added, “There is simply no persuasive argument that a City Commissioner, expressing disgust and concern for blatant and offensive racism in our community, is not acting in the interest of the public good.”
Franklin links her engagement in city issues to alleged conspiracy to defame her
Franklin has argued that Battie defamed her during a Jan. 16 presentation before the City Commission that was listed on the agenda as “Discussion Re: Civility, Respect and Rhetoric.” As he made his remarks at the table facing the dais, he showed all of those watching the meeting — in person or online — an alleged copy of a Facebook post. It included a photo of Battie cutting the ribbon for the grand opening of the Corona Cigar Co. on Lemon Avenue in downtown Sarasota in September 2023, while he was mayor. Tanya Borysiewicz, co-owner of the business, is also visible in that photo, which was below the comment, “Gorillas in the midst of being gorillas are on my mind.” Battie described Borysiewicz as half African American.
Battie never mentioned Franklin by name during the presentation, but her photo was clearly visible atop the alleged Facebook post.
Mayor Liz Alpert later reported during the Jan. 16 meeting that Franklin had emailed all of the commissioners with the assertion that Franklin had not created the purported post; instead, Franklin wrote the board members, it appeared to be a mash-up of a post she had put on her Facebook page in late December 2022, showing photos of gorillas that she had taken on a trip to Rwanda, along with a Facebook post about the Corona Cigar Co. ribbon cutting.
In her statement to the News Leader following Judge Walker’s Nov. 7 ruling for Battie, Franklin wrote, “I will say this — my lawsuit was never about money, but about clearing my name after the authorship of the faked racist Facebook post was falsely and publicly attributed to me.”
She added, “It would be in the best interests of everyone if Kyle Battie acknowledged publicly that his accusation against me was in error, and that he should have investigated the authenticity of the hoax post more thoroughly before accusing me in public of creating it, and that he regrets the way he has handled this matter.”
Franklin has maintained that Battie conspired with other parties to defame her because of her engagement with City of Sarasota issues, including her criticism of actions involving the Corona Cigar Co.
Her amended complaint pointed out, that “beginning around the summer of 2023, Franklin had been a vocal critic of [the] business
for its operation of an outdoor café on the City-owned sidewalk in front of its bar in apparent contravention of the City’s zoning code and the City’s apparent indifference to those ongoing violations.”
Moreover, the amended complaint said, “Franklin also criticized Battie’s cozy relationship with the Corona Cigar Company and its owners.”
Battie asked Borysiewicz to join him at the table facing the City Commission dais on Jan. 16, when he made his presentation. Borysiewicz told the commissioners that her assistant had received in the mail a printed copy of the Facebook post that appeared to have been made by Franklin.
“And this here is equating me and her to a primate, a gorilla, an ape, a monkey. … This is on a social media page,” Battie said.
Addressing his colleagues, Battie emphasized, “We should not be subjected to this. I should not be subjected to this. … This is sick, abhorrent, egregious.”