North Miami Beach Taxpayers Foot Legal Bill in Mayoral Residency Scandal UPDATED

Update published 10:30 a.m. 6/30/2023: On June 30, city spokesperson David Jeannot confirmed that North Miami Beach had paid a $188,894 invoice submitted by a fourth law firm — Heise, Suarez Melville — in connection with its work on former mayor Anthony DeFillipo’s civil case. The invoice brings the total amount paid to more than $300,000.

The original story follows below.

Former North Miami Beach mayor Anthony DeFillipo may have cost taxpayers a pretty penny in legal fees on his way out the doors of city hall.

City invoices obtained by New Times show that North Miami Beach has paid more than $110,000 to three law offices that pursued a months-long legal battle arising from the now-suspended mayor's residency scandal. A city spokesperson cited a fourth firm's invoice for additional sums that substantially increase the city's exposure in the case.

As first reported by New Times in December 2022, an ethics complaint accused DeFillipo of living in a Davie mansion far outside the North Miami Beach city limits, an alleged violation of the city charter. The controversy caused an extended deadlock in North Miami Beach government as Michael Joseph and other commissioners refused to acknowledge DeFillipo as mayor, deeming him an interloper no longer qualified to hold the mayoral seat.

DeFillipo denied the allegations, insisting he lived in a small North Miami Beach apartment and that he was being castigated for visiting family in the Davie home. His attorney, Michael Pizzi, called the claims against him "politically contrived nonsense."

In January, after a handful of city commissioners refused to attend city meetings in light of the claims, DeFillipo filed a lawsuit asking a judge to allow the city to do business with four commissioners instead of five as required by city code.

The lawsuit dragged on in Miami-Dade County court, and the city racked up tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees before a judge in March ordered commissioners to attend city meetings again, leading the case to be dismissed.

Gov. Ron DeSantis later removed DeFillipo from office over his arrest on charges of voting misconduct — a separate issue related to votes he cast in a North Miami Beach precinct where he was allegedly ineligible to vote.

City invoices show that North Miami Beach has paid a total of $111,513 to the law offices of Michael Pizzi, Benedict Kuehne, and David Reiner, a trio of attorneys who pursued the civil case DeFillipo filed. The firms ultimately agreed with the city and DeFillipo to a discounted rate: $330 per hour instead of rates ranging from $500 to $800 per hour.

City spokesperson David Jeannot says a fourth firm, Heise, Suarez Melville, has billed the city an additional $188,000 in connection with the case.

"I was paid a substantially reduced and discounted fee for work done to get a judge to order the entire city commission to meet," Pizzi tells New Times. "This was not for Mayor DeFillipo but for the people of the city whose business was not getting done."

Reiner confirmed to New Times that his firm also provided discounted services via an agreement with the city and DeFillipo.

In a May email to the city manager's office, interim city attorney John Herin indicated that the city would only pay for legal services tied to efforts to resume city business, not for defending DeFillipo against the residency allegations, which appeared in the lawsuit in a counterclaim.

As of May 9, Reiner & Reiner had been paid for 98 hours of work, totaling roughly $33,500; Kuehne Davis had received more than $40,700 for 123 hours; and Pizzi's firm had received approximately $37,000 for 108 hours.

Kuehne says the lawsuit was crucial to breaking North Miami Beach's governmental gridlock.

"I substantially reduced my earned legal fees and accepted modest payment for my legal representation of $40,788."

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"As a service and benefit to the city and its citizens, I substantially reduced my earned legal fees and accepted modest payment for my legal representation of $40,788. I stand ready to continue providing quality representation to the city when given the opportunity," Kuehne says in a statement provided to New Times.

Pizzi separately defended DeFillipo against the residency allegations and issued public statements on his behalf. Kuehne is defending DeFillipo in the voting-related criminal case.

The mayor's residency dispute came into the public eye in December 2022, when a North Miami Beach resident filed a complaint against DeFillipo with the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust, detailing the mayor's alleged move to Davie — a Broward County suburb about 15 miles away from North Miami Beach.

Broward County property records show DeFillipo purchased the single-family Davie home in the swanky Sierra Ranches community for $1.2 million in July 2022.

In late December, when New Times attempted to make contact with DeFillipo at the house, the mayor could be seen through the transparent front doors. He declined to answer the doorbell.
A private firm enlisted by then-city attorney Hans Ottinot issued a January 2023 opinion that DeFillipo was ineligible to retain his position as mayor in light of evidence that he no longer lived in North Miami Beach. The opinion also mentioned potential voting violations, which mirrored the criminal charges on which DeFillipo was later arrested.

Amid the controversy, DeFillipo unsuccessfully pushed for Ottinot's firing. Ottinot resigned in March and was replaced by Herin at the city attorney post.

State prosecutors charged DeFillipo in May with three felony counts of voting misconduct, alleging that he violated Florida election law by failing to update his address in county records before submitting ballots in 2022. He sold his family's longtime homestead residence near Greynolds Park Elementary in 2021, yet he proceeded to vote in three elections under that address — the primary, general, and North Miami Beach runoff elections in 2022, prosecutors claim.

DeFillipo pleaded not guilty on June 4.