STUART — The owners of the historic Post Office Arcade in downtown Stuart on Tuesday filed an eviction and breach of contract lawsuit against Nature’s Way Cafe and its owner Marion Biggins, court papers show.

In the complaint filed in Martin County Circuit Court, an attorney representing Stuart Arcade Associates Inc., claimed Biggins and Nature’s Way, at 25 Southwest Osceola St., have failed to pay July’s rent and other expenses totaling $10,807. (more…)

PALM CITY — Hard financial times have turned tumultuous at a local church, with the pastor using a sheriff’s deputy to keep elders outside the sanctuary doors and the elders, in turn, filing suit to remove the pastor.

In the lawsuit filed Wednesday in Martin County Circuit Court, seven members of Palm City Christian Church charge Pastor Anthony “Pastor Tony” Galbicka with breach of fiduciary duty and seek a ruling “ousting” him and voiding the “improper and/or illegal” actions he took.

The suit also alleges Galbicka slandered one plaintiff, Edward Taudien, when the pastor told other church members Taudien had stolen money from the church. The suit counters that Taudien had donated more than $168,000 to the church and loaned it $200,000 to build the sanctuary at 6450 Martin Highway in western Palm City.

Galbicka could not be reached Thursday at his home in Palm City, at the church, via telephone or by e-mail.

Robert J. Watson, a Stuart attorney representing the plaintiffs, said he expects a hearing on his request for a temporary restraining order against Galbicka to be scheduled late this month or early August.

According to the lawsuit, the 80-member church “began to struggle financially” this year; at a May 28 meeting attended by Galbicka, the elders approved several spending cuts, including reducing the pastor’s salary “by a modest percentage.”

Watson said the cut was to be about 15 percent, adding the church paid Galbicka’s housing and car expenses plus $22,000 a year. Details of how to make the cut had not been worked out, he said. (more…)

STUART — A group of residents suing Martin County because they contend the extension of airport runways at Witham Field has damaged their property values will have to wait until December to find out how the trial will be handled.

Attorneys for the group have filed motions asking they be allowed to file a class-action suit, a request opposed by Martin County, which operates Witham Field. (more…)

STUART — A judge has permanently dismissed parts of a lawsuit against famed Stuart attorney Willie Gary on claims he raped a woman nearly two years ago at a Stuart hotel.

Martin Circuit Judge Elizabeth Metzger in a ruling filed today dismissed claims from attorneys for Jillian Nedd that Gary’s alleged assault on her was a part of an ongoing pattern of criminal activity in which Gary was supposed to have engaged in similar acts with other women.

Metzger first found that the alleged acts concerning the other women did not result in any injury to Nedd, so she could not rely on them for her claims. The judge further ruled that the other claims directly related to Nedd weren’t enough to hold up the lawsuit’s claims of racketeering.

Gary’s attorneys Michael Pike and Bob Critton described the ruling as a huge win for Gary.

“The judge made a ruling that consistent with the law within the state of Florida and the United States,” Pike said. “We’re thrilled with the outcome.”

Pike added that he and Critton intend to ask Metzger to force Nedd and her attorneys to award them more than $100,000 in attorneys fees and costs for both their firm and Gary.

Since Nedd accused Gary of rape in August 2007, the two filed criminal complaints against each other - Nedd for rape against Gary, Gary against Nedd, her husband and a friend for extortion. No criminal charges materialized in either case.

Metzger’s ruling precludes Nedd’s attorney from filing that portion of the lawsuit against Gary again. Several other claims in the lawsuit are still in dispute.

When Andre Frechette’s physician advised him to exercise, he contracted Vero Beach-based Coral Pools Inc. to build a $21,000 pool at his Port St. Lucie home.

Tuesday morning, Frechette said he got a call from Coral Pools owner Shawn Riley telling him work on the pool, that was mostly paid for, would not be completed.

“He told me that they were filing for bankruptcy on Thursday,” said Frechette, 83. “My pool is only 85 percent complete.”
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PORT ST. LUCIE — Hundreds of Tesoro property owners aren’t waiting around while their subdivision’s developer grinds through bankruptcy court: They’re filing their own lawsuits against Ginn Resorts and its affiliates.

Property owners are charging Ginn with a host of wrongdoings, including selling lots through Ponzi schemes, fraudulently inflating property values, lying to and duping clients, failing to account for hundreds of thousands of dollars in membership dues and missing escrow accounts and backing out on promises to build amenities.

Timothy Vetrano, 72, a retiree from Manhasset, N.Y., who lives at Tesoro with his wife Marilyn, said his experience falls under “buyer beware.”
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The White House is reviewing the merits of the proposed Indian Street Bridge as a response to a U.S. senator who included the span in his list of 100 questionable federal stimulus projects.

The review is being conducted only because it was raised by U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., not because it is a concern of the White House.

The review could be quickly wrapped up as the White House has already determined that one-third of the items highlighted by Coburn in a report released Tuesday are not stimulus projects or are misleading characterizations of stimulus projects.
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A group of buyers in communities built by The Ginn Co. — including grandiose Tesoro in Port St. Lucie — are claiming the developer and its affiliates fraudulently inflated real estate prices.

A class-action lawsuit filed late last month in U.S. District Court in Jacksonville targets Celebration-based Ginn, its sister companies, financing partner Lubert-Adler and banks that worked with Ginn, including SunTrust, Fifth Third Bancorp and Wachovia Bank.

The suit alleges Ginn led a scheme to bloat prices at every step of the process — from lavish sales launches to manipulated appraisals. Among the claims: Ginn staffers posed as competing buyers to pressure people to sign a sale contract.

The misdeeds happened in more than a dozen Ginn developments, starting as early as the late 1990s, according to the suit.

Some properties are now worth as little as 10 percent of their appraised value, “a phenomenon that absolutely cannot be explained by mere market downturn,” the suit states.

Buyers from as far as England and as near as Boca Raton are parties. They are seeking class certification.

“We will vigorously defend against this litigation and any other false allegation brought against our company,” Ginn spokesman Ryan Julison said.

PORT ST. LUCIE — One year ago, a 6-year-old autistic boy was brought to the front of his classroom. He left moments later feeling like an outcast.

For many, he became a symbol of how children with autism are mistreated and misunderstood.

Some experts say the case of Alex Barton, who was voted out of his kindergarten classroom 14-to-2, brought about change and awareness of how autistic children are educated. Others say there still is a long way to go. (more…)

STUART — A circuit judge has thrown out a lawsuit from one of several people who claimed they contracted a dangerous staph infection while at Martin Memorial Hospital.

According to court records filed this week, Circuit Judge William Roby dismissed Louise and Alexander Webster’s medical malpractice case against the hospital claiming Louise contracted methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, in 2002 after having ankle surgery.

In his ruling, Roby said the Websters failed to prove that Webster contracted the infection because of any negligence on the hospital’s part.
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