Judge dismisses Michael Pizzi lawsuit vs town for legal fees

Talk about kicking a man when he’s down.

First, former Miami Lakes Mayor Michael “Muscles” Pizzi loses his re-election just a couple of weeks ago, getting an abysmal 23% against newly elected Mayor Manny Cid. Then, boom, a Miami-Dade court tells him Wednesday that the town is not on the hook for $2.5 million in legal fees incurred during his 2013 federal bribery trial.

Pizzi had been arrested in a bogus grant sting set up by the FBI targetting local electeds. He and former Sweetwater Mayor Manny “Maraña” Maroño were charged after undercover agents caught them accepting bribes in cash and campaign contributions in exchange for getting bogus grant requests passed through their own and other cities.

While Pizzi was found not guilty, Maroño entered a plea deal and got a 37-month sentence. Guess he didn’t have the million dollar lawyers.

Read related story: Spies, lies and video tape: Manny Maroño’s ‘charisma’

After Pizzi got off, he had to sue the state to get his suspension by Gov. Rick Scott lifted and then had to sue the town of Miami Lakes to get his job back. But, in August of last year, he still sued his beloved town for the $2.5 million bill from his legal dream team.  He had up to eight attorneys at once — like he was O.J. Simpson or something. Guess you get what you pay for, because his acquittal is nothing short of miraculous, considering he had been recorded taking cash from a lobbyist/informant in an office closet.

Ladra always suspected that the price had been artificially inflated, jacked up so that Pizzi could have a piece of the pie.  

Maybe Judge Antonio Marin smelled something too and said nana-nina. He cited precedents that established that “for public officials to be entitled to representation at public expense, the litigation must (1) arise out of or in connection with the performance of their official duties and (2) serve a public purpose.”

The city’s legal argument focused on the public purpose part and the judge bought it.

Read related story: Michael Pizzi sues Miami Lakes for $3.2 million in legal fees

But wait just one minute. Because while Pizzi certainly wasn’t serving a public purpose — he was only looking out for himself — you can’t argue that the litigation wasn’t a public purpose, if by litigation they mean Pizzi’s prosecution.

Look, Ladra doesn’t want the town of Miami Lakes, or the taxpayers, to pay this bogus bill. But it’s pretty certain that Pizzi couldn’t have been indicted for bribery in a bogus federal grant scheme if he wasn’t acting in his official capacity as mayor and performing his public duties. Or pretending to. It was the very elected office that federal prosecutors said he used to get those $6,000 in bribes. He wouldn’t have been bribed if he wasn’t the mayor.

The court granted Pizzi — or his multiple attorneys, probably — 20 days to file an amendment to the complaint. And I suspect it will go a lot like that.