Courthouse Mistake! Wrong Judge Hears Case On Judicial Candidate
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Judicial candidate Lloyd Golburgh shouldn’t be celebrating yet.
Lloyd Golburgh
Retired Miami-Dade Judge Richard Yale Feder’s dismissal of a case seeking to throw Golburgh off the ballot for failing to sign his financial disclosure before the filing period closed could be meaningless.
Chief Judge Vic Tobin signed an order on June 14th transferring the case to Palm Beach County Judge Edward Garrison.
Neither party apparently knew about the order.
“It appears we will get a second bite at the apple, said Kraig Weiss, the Weston lawyer handling the case against Golburgh.
Weiss is sure that Golburgh will fight the validity of the Tobin order.
If Golburgh is thrown off the ballot, County Judge Edward H. Merrigan Jr. will automatically be re-elected. Merrigan has no other opponent.
Golburgh is a criminal defense attorney specializing in drunk driving defense. Merrigan was a commercial litigator and is a Lt. Colonel and judge advocate in the United States Army Reserves since 1994, serving in Iraq in 2003 to 2004.
Judge Merrigan on the left
Today’s decision by Feder dismissing the suit came with no reason, Weiss said.
“The dismissal was done without rational,” he said. “We don’t know the reasoning. He told me he didn’t have to give me one.”
Weiss believes Feder’s decision was meaningless, since the case was already transferred to another jurisdiction — Palm Beach County.
The case now should be heard again by Garrison, Weiss argued.
Weiss’ lawsuit alleges that Golburgh should not be on the ballot because he did not fulfill the requirement that he submit a signed financial disclosure form with his qualifying papers.
Golburgh says his failure to sign the form was an oversight. When notified of it by Browardbeat.com, he quickly went to the elections office and signed the form.
But the signature came after the filing period closed.
Here is Browardbeat.com’s original story on the Golburgh error.
June 29th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
You mean the same Judge Garrison who just got thumped by the 4th on the Jordan Jordan case?
FROM BUDDY: I believe you are right. Judge Edward Garrison’s decision throwing Jordan Breslaw, a.k.a. Jordan Jordan, off the ballot was overturned.
June 29th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
How dumb is Kraig Weiss? The order was signed transferring jurisdiction on June 14th, yet Weiss didn’t object to Feder (who by the way isn’t a 17th judicial circuit court judge – he’s from the 11th) hearing the motion? Can you say, “WAIVER?”
Here’s the law: “Individual defendants, who failed to challenge jurisdiction over their persons in any way, and who participated in litigation by moving to discharge lis pendens and to increase injunctive bond, which motions, if granted, would have been of material benefit to individual defendants, were properly before circuit court as defendants and were properly required to file answer or other defensive pleading to plaintiff’s amended complaint.
[ ], and, “If a defendant proceeds First on the merits, as by a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim or by an answer on the merits, and thereafter attempts to challenge jurisdiction over his person or improper venue, the challenge should fail; it comes too late, and has not been made in the manner prescribed in Rule 12.’ 30 F.S.A. Rules of Civil Procedure, rule 1.11. See Green v. Roth, 192 So.2d 537 (Fla.App. 1966.).
Perhaps it’s time for Merrigan to reverse the overwhelmingly negative reaction he got to the filing of this lawsuit in the first place and step in and stop this now.
June 29th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
Judge Feder reused to sign the Order granting Kevin’s Motion to Dismiss and faxed him the Order from Justice Quince
See ya in WPB
June 29th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
This leaves a guy like Lloyd’s boy Jack Shifrel in the dark. Word is he is working for Lloyd and he is going crazy because he can’t do anything about stopping the Merrigan dogs from this law suit.
June 29th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
wrong jew. shirfrel doesn’t work for golburhg. he works for bernstein.
June 29th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
A second bite? Choke on that one too.
June 30th, 2010 at 1:36 pm
I hope Lloyd Golburgh is allowed to run for this office. It is NOT like he has political operatives or is unqualified. If voters know of this error, oversight, or whatever and he is NOT voted in, then so be it. What penalties are there if an incumbent does not sign the finacial disclosure? Even a coproprate legal doc has a signature assertion. It was a mistake folks! What happens if you send a unsigned tax doc with your payment to the IRS? They send it back and give you time to get it back to them.
I don’t get it…why the big fuss?
June 30th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
FROM BUDDY:
There is talk around the courthouse about how I got this story.
I first got word of this decision where I get a lot of news of the courthouse — JAAblog.
I then worked on getting a different angle.
The times on the comments may mislead some readers. They are California time, since my server is in California. So 12:15 p.m. time on the first comment is really 3:15 p.m. EST.
February 16th, 2012 at 11:04 am
It’s so obvious Browardbeat.com was anti-golburgh. Love the way they characterize him as a “drunk driving” lawyer. Not everyone accused of driving under the influence is “drunk” you morons. Lloyd is a criminal defense lawyer and DUI defense is a very technical field of criminal defense. Go ask what the conviction rates are for DUI in Broward. Not as high as you think because cops merely want to arrest you the minute they smell any alcoholon your breath. Don’t have a glass of wine with dinner or you will go to jail.