Lawsuit against Tampa City Councilman Orlando Gudes has been dismissed

A civil lawsuit against Tampa City Councilman Orlando Gudes has been dismissed, two months after the City of Tampa announced a separate $200,000 settlement for Gudes’ accuser.

In March, allegations against Gudes, which the city knew about since 2019, resurfaced. The councilman was accused of creating a toxic work environment and of sexual harassment by his former aide, who alleged that he used lewd language toward the them and their child.

After firing their previous lawyer Grady C. Irvin, the accuser obtained legal counsel of Ethan Loeb, the same development and business lawyer who sued former councilman John Dingfelder out of office.

Upon reviewing the arguments of both legal teams, a Hillsborough County judge dismissed the case this week.

“The Court, after reviewing the filings and cases cited by the parties and hearing arguments of the lawyers, agreed with Councilmember Gudes and dismissed the lawsuit,” Gudes’ lawyer, Ryan Barack wrote in a statement to Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.

“Councilmember Gudes has been and intends to continue to focus his time and energy on the important matters facing the City like the affordable housing crisis, rent stabilization, and preventing senseless gun violence.”

Hillsborough County Court records show that a hearing was scheduled on July 26. At that meeting the case against Gudes were dismissed by the court.

The defense team’s motion to dismiss the case—which was filed last month and contested by Gudes’ accuser—rested on two main points, according to the court documentation. The defense claimed that the facts as pleaded by Gudes’ accuser do not support any viable cause of action against Gudes, and that he has immunity from the claims in the lawsuit.

What this means in layman’s terms is that Gudes’ defense team argued that the plaintiff did not have enough evidence to prove their claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress by Gudes.

The motion to dismiss argued that the claim against him was filled with “…superfluous facts, and highly subjective characterizations. What it lacks, however, are allegations which sufficiently state a legal claim against Defendant and it should be dismissed, accordingly.”

Another legal point that the defense team argued is that under Florida State Statute 768.28(9)(a), Gudes has immunity from the claims waged against him. That statute says that any officer, employee or agent of the state may not be held personally liable as a defendant in any event that occurred in the scope of their professional duties.

The statute makes an exception for those who act in bad faith or with malicious purpose.

Loeb’s argument said that whether Gudes’ behavior was in bad faith or malicious should be left up to a jury, and said the case should not be dismissed.

“We disagree with the Court’s conclusions and rationale,” Loeb wrote to CL in an email. “We plan to appeal the ruling.”

Loeb’s response to the motion to dismiss accuses Gudes of “unrelenting abuse” and “racially and sexually charged misconduct.”

Loeb, in the court document, says that, “Under the facts pled, it would be intellectually dishonest to assert that there is no credible argument. The allegations against Mr. Gudes state viable claims as a matter of law at this early stage of the proceedings. For these reasons and those stated below, Mr. Gudes’ Motion should be denied.”

Still, the case was dismissed by Judge Anne-Leigh G. Moe this week.

During the investigation into Gudes, the accuser had asked the City of Tampa to stop, but the investigation continued. The city issued a press release when the accusations against Gudes resurfaced, sharing identifying information about the accuser and condemning the councilman. Mayor Jane Castor said she would fire Gudes if she could, and apologized to the accuser.

Multiple council members called for his resignation.

But at the same time several people, especially from the Black community, began showing up to city council questioning if the city was playing politics with the accuser’s experience. Recently, Gudes has spoken up in favor of rent control, which Castor’s administration is adamantly against, and has taken a stance against the Mayor on other issues as well, including the city’s controversial crime free multi-housing program.

In May the city gave a $200,000 settlement to the accuser, who released any and all potential claims against the city after that payment.

Meanwhile in a completely separate case, the family of Arthur Green Jr. had to fight an eight year battle to get a settlement with the city after Green died while restrained by TPD as he was having a diabetic emergency. Castor and the city refused to apologize.

CL sent a request for comment on the ruling to the city. But the city declined to comment on the decision, saying that the personal lawsuit against Gudes was separate from the settlement that the city made with Gudes’ accuser.

In his initial response to the claims, Gudes said he took responsibility for some behavior that was inappropriate, but argued that many of the accusations were false. He said that he accepted responsibility for discomfort he may have caused in the language that he used.

Gudes told CL he was not personally able to comment on the ruling, but in March he said that he was going to work on his sensitivity in the workplace.

“Additionally, I believe there are ways I can improve on effectively communicating with and managing others, and to assist me with this, I have decided to engage the services of an Executive Coach, Gena Cox, Ph.D., at my own expense,” Gudes wrote in a statement. “It is my hope that through this process I can further develop my own leadership skills and workplace sensitivity so that I can be at my best to better serve my constituents and this City.”

This article appears in Jul 28 – Aug 3, 2022.