Krishan Manners lawsuit- honk honk

OK…so as mentioned before, I’m not an attorney, nor do I play one on TV. However, you don’t need to be an attorney to understand the blatant omission of facts, twisted histories and downright lies contained within former City Manager Krishan Manners new lawsuit against the Village. This will be a quick overview based on my initial observations:

List of the obvious bloopers:

 This is an action by the Plaintiff for damages exceeding $30,000 excluding attorneys’ fees or costs for unlawful, retaliatory discharge pursuant to Florida’s public sector Whistleblower’s Act, Fla. Stat. § 112.3187. (“Whistleblower’s Act”).  There was nothing unlawful (in my opinion) and I doubt it can be proven as retaliatory regarding the discharge of Krishan Manners with cause. Plus, as this was just filed, he should have maybe made his move earlier…like before he was notified he was being sued by Commissioner Dan Samaria. Amiright?

FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS COMMON TO ALL COUNTS 

(Not so factual but aww... let’s getting started anyway…)

Throughout Plaintiff’s employment, Plaintiff performed his duties in an exemplary fashion. – ROFL! Really?? Nope. Nada. Not even close. He was unqualified from the beginning, should have never been hired (both times) and proved to be utterly incompetent. That’s cause enough right there before getting into his blunder with a sitting Commissioner.

In doing so, Plaintiff was abiding by his duty to ensure that all provisions of the Village’s Charter were being followed and faithfully executed. – Um, no. The question that needs to be asked and answered was why (and for what purpose) Krishan was poking around in Dan’s mortgage in the first place? Why was he providing information to the banks, who was behind this action (and stood to benefit from it) as this is not a provision in our Charter under Manager duties.

Section 2.05(B)(1) of the Village Charter states that the office of a Commissioner shall become vacant if at any time during his/her term he/she, “ceases to maintain his/her permanent residence in the Village.” – Wrong. Dan has maintained permanent residency in the Village. This is the same half-baked argument Rebecca (former Village attorney) was trying to use, that is, before her case got tossed out of court.  

Samaria failed to provide proof of his permanent residence in the Village; Plaintiff was left with no choice but to disclose this information to the appropriate agency. – Nope, there were other choices, including doing nothing. Or, turning it over to the Commission to let them deal with it. Krishan hand delivered papers to Dan at this residence so he clearly knew where he lived. So, total BS. This was not the appropriate procedure to follow via our Charter.  This was never brought before the Commission.  Krishan filed an unsanctioned action against Dan Samaria. Like...two times.

At all material times, Mr. Samaria was aware of the Village’s residency requirements for acting Commissioners, and chose to disregard these requirements completely. – As home ownership is not a requirement to sit on the Commission, this makes zero sense. And, in my opinion also nullifies the entire premise of the “residency” argument. Oops…

Since their taking office, the newly elected Commissioners were determined to terminate Plaintiff’s employment, to terminate the acting Mayor, Tracy Truppman and to terminate the Village’s attorney. – Wow. First off, both Tracy Truppman and the attorney firm resigned. That’s not termination people. Also, have fun proving intent other than due cause.

On or about March 9th, 2020, while under suspension, Plaintiff elected his right per the Village Charter to a name clearing process which was timely filed, and which included a scheduled hearing where Plaintiff would be allowed to give testimony to the Commission. – A minor issue compared to the rest so far, but it was not “timely filed.” Krishan drug his feet until the 11^th hour to continue to hoover up as much money from the Village as possible.

This “name clearing” hearing was, in actuality, a sham hearing which deliberately denied Plaintiff his due process rights with an opportunity to be heard regarding his duties as Village Manager. - $%^&$*@#*! An absolute lie and it’s all evidenced on film. A Whopper Pants on Fire Lie.

Commissioner Ross, among the other members of the Village Commission, was biased toward Plaintiff. – Well, considering Rox Ross was part of the commission that originally hired him, worked with him for years and her husband Chuck was the person responsible for calling Krishan back when the position became open again… yea, right, this makes total sense. 

At the name clearing hearing, Plaintiff was continuously interrupted by the Commissioners, and he was never given any opportunity to be heard to defend himself against the baseless accusations made against him in the performance of his duties as Village Manager, thus dismantling Plaintiff’s due process rights under the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution. – Bonkers! Again, not baseless accusations and he was given due process (and all captured on film) I’m not clear if he thought his employment was guaranteed for life? I mean…is that the purpose here?

At the time of termination, Plaintiff was qualified for and able to adequately perform the essential job functions as required by Defendant and by the Village Charter. – Not according to the majority of the Commission that was present. All save one voted to terminate him with cause. 

The aforementioned actions of Defendant were done wantonly, willfully, maliciously and with reckless disregard of the consequences of such actions. – There was nothing wanton, reckless or malicious about it. Good luck with proving that.

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff respectfully requests that this court order the following:

Reinstate Plaintiff to the same position held before the retaliatory personnel action, or to an equivalent position, or in the alternative award Plaintiff front pay. -  O.o  This bad penny just needs to go away and stay there. We’re still in the process of cleaning up his mess. 

Reinstate full fringe benefits and seniority rights to Plaintiff;

Order Defendant to make Plaintiff whole, by compensating Plaintiff for lost wages, benefits, including front pay, back pay with prejudgment interest and other remuneration for physical and mental pain, anguish, pain and humiliation from being terminated due to objecting to illegal activity; - “Illegal activity” = mere supposition. "Humiliation" huh? Maybe Krishan should have of thought of that beforehand. This is akin to arsonists blaming the firefighters! I find it hard to believe he doesn’t understand that there are consequences for actions taken in life. #karma

In the present case, Defendant terminated Plaintiff and ended his employment with a sham hearing depriving Plaintiff of his property right of continued employment with Defendant. – They keep repeating this point several times. Just repeating it doesn’t change the facts though. “Sham hearing?” The actual hearing was as genuine as possible. There was no pretense. The Village had every right to terminate his employment. The sham looks to be this lawsuit in my opinion. 

So this is a quick recap of points I noticed. This looks to me like little more than an attempted shakedown but we’ll have to watch and see how it all pans out. And just when I thought 2020 couldn’t get any dumber.

We are truly living in a Clown World.

Standing Watch,

Milton Hunter

The Biscayne Parker