The civil and criminal cases surrounding embattled former Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer took another bizarre turn Thursday, with Greer’s attorney and a lawyer for the party disagreeing over whether the sides are discussing a potential settlement.
Damon Chase, who represents Greer, said the two sides are still trying to hammer out a deal that would settle Greer’s lawsuit against the party. Chase emailed reporters a copy of an agreement to keep those talks confidential Thursday.
“We’ve been talking about a settlement this whole time,” Chase said.
The civil case is part of a two-pronged legal battle for Greer, who has been charged with money laundering and fraud in relation to an alleged fundraising scheme in which he is accused of steering party money to Victory Strategies, a fundraising company, while he was chairman. Greer said party leaders knew what he was doing and that a severance agreement should have protected him from any criminal liability.
Greer has sued, claiming party leaders broke the severance agreement and owe him more than $123,000. The suit also asks for punitive damages of more than $5 million.
But Chase sounded pessimistic about reaching any kind of agreement, saying that Greer would want a large payment to compensate for his arrest, the negative attention and the devastating impact the events have had on the former chairman’s livelihood. Chase also said he believed Greer would prevail in both cases.
“Why should we settle?” Chase said. “They’re dead. … Jim Greer will win the criminal case and Jim Greer will win the civil case.”
But Stephen Dobson, a lawyer representing the party, denied much of Chase’s account.
“At this time, there are no ongoing settlement talks,” he said.
And Dobson said that while there had been discussions in the past, RPOF did not intend to pay Greer to make the civil case go away.
“While I don’t want to get into specifics, I will tell you that the Republican Party has never made an offer to pay Jim Greer any money to settle his lawsuit — not one dollar, not one red cent,” Dobson said.
He later added: “I think it’s important to remember that only one person in this lawsuit has been arrested and charged with six felony charges, and that’s Jim Greer.”
The agreement disclosed Thursday was clearly hammered out to keep the negotiations quiet; it deals at length with the confidentiality of the talks and what the parties would not be allowed to disclose, including “[t]he financial parameters of any potential settlement of existing or potential claims discussed at the Settlement Conference.”
The original agreement said the talks were held at Chase’s office; but that was marked out and replaced with a handwritten note instead indicating they took place at “Shula’s Steak House.”
Chase suggested the existence of the document could also help Greer in his criminal case, which hinges on allegations that Greer secretly constructed the fundraising agreement with Victory Strategies. Greer denies wrongdoing, and Chase said the agreement is further proof that quietly handling the Victory Strategies deal was not unusual.
“All of the RPOF’s contracts are confidential,” Chase said. “All of them are secret.”
By Brandon Larrabee
