A panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal on Monday upheld a circuit judge’s decision rejecting a lawsuit filed by former Florida Office of Financial Regulation Commissioner Ronald Rubin against a lobbyist over Rubin’s 2019 firing.
The three-judge panel did not detail its reasons, but the court also issued a separate order that said lobbyist R. Paul Mitchell “is entitled to recover reasonable attorney’s fees and court costs because Appellant (Rubin) pursued an appeal which was without substantial fact or legal support.”
Rubin, who was fired from his regulatory post after a controversy that included sexual-harassment accusations, filed a lawsuit against Mitchell, alleging tortious interference, defamation and violation of the Florida Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization, or RICO, Act.
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Mitchell, a lobbyist with The Southern Group, an influential Tallahassee firm, had ties to state Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, who nominated Rubin to become commissioner of the Office of Financial Regulation.
The state Financial Services Commission, made up of Gov. Ron DeSantis and Cabinet members, hired Rubin in early 2019. But Rubin was suspended in May 2019 after an employee filed a complaint about alleged sexual harassment.
That prompted an inspector general’s investigation and, ultimately, Rubin’s firing. Rubin disputed the sexual-harassment accusations, which he contends Mitchell used to help get him fired after a falling-out about issues such as the hiring of a general counsel for the agency.
Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper last year granted summary judgment to Mitchell, prompting Rubin to appeal.
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“Plaintiff contends that Mitchell fabricated the sexual harassment complaints or had knowledge that they were false,” Cooper wrote. “The record does not support the contention.” The three-judge panel was made up of Judges Clay Roberts, Thomas Winokur and Robert Long.
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