Lawyers for Palm Beach County Clerk Joseph Abruzzo have called on a judge to dismiss an unprecedented lawsuit that seeks to block him from investing county money in Israeli bonds.
Abruzzo’s lawyers filed a detailed response to the lawsuit Friday. They called the complaint “politically charged and fatally flawed,” adding that it improperly asks the court to adjudicate political issues related to the Gaza conflict.
“The plaintiffs are merely dissatisfied citizens who disagree with the government’s actions for political reasons,” Abruzzo said in his response to the lawsuit.
The anonymously filed lawsuit seeks more than a $100 million in compensatory and punitive damages allegedly sustained by several Palm Beach County residents whose relatives live in Gaza. They claim that they have been traumatized by the investments that they say are being used to kill their friends and family members.
But Abruzzo lawyers argue that allowing the case to move forward would open the floodgates to a virtually endless stream of disgruntled citizen lawsuits for every type of governmental investment or expenditure.
Abruzzo calls the lawsuit a political stunt that does not belong in the courts. He has thus far invested more than $700 million of county funds in Israeli bonds, the largest such investment of any county in the United States. The plaintiffs call the investments speculative, noting bond rating companies have downgraded the bonds from A to Baa1, heightening the possibility of a default. Abruzzo disputes the argument that there is a possibility of a default.
The county also calls on the court to deny the effort to allow the plaintiffs to remain anonymous. The pro-Palestinian plaintiffs say they fear for their lives if their identities are revealed. But the county notes that there is a strong presumption in Florida that “the public has a legitimate interest in knowing the identities of the parties and wholly ignores the Clerk’s due process rights in this case. The prejudice to Abruzzo far outweighs the unsupported assertions and alleged concerns stated by Plaintiffs’ counsel.”
County: Abruzzo has discretion to invest county funds as he sees fit
When the lawsuit was filed six months ago, those opposed to the Israeli incursion in Gaza held a demonstration outside the courthouse. Abruzzo, a Democrat, has acknowledged to The Post that he has heard from the far left wing of his party about the purchase of the Israeli bonds.
“But I would say to them, we’re not going to be deterred,” he said. “They need to back off and we need to stand united with our greatest ally, Israel.”
The plaintiffs challenge the investments simply because they “run counter to the Plaintiffs’ pro-Palestinian views,” according to the county. The lawsuit is an effort to “bootstrap their (the Palestinians) feelings about the Middle East conflict into a legal action against the Clerk.”
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The county also argues that the pro-Palestinian plaintiffs lack standing to bring the lawsuit and that Abruzzo has the discretion to invest county funds as he sees fit.
David Pina, the attorney for the Palestinians, accused Abruzzo in a press release issued Friday of “making poor financial decisions” with taxpayer money based on his own political beliefs. “The County and its Comptroller have a duty to Palm Beach taxpayers to make well-informed, profit-generating investments with their money, and when their fiduciaries fail to uphold that duty, taxpayers’ right to seek relief from a jury of their peers must be respected.”
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The unnamed Plaintiffs’ argue that the Israeli bond investments come at a time when the county is struggling to cope with a housing crisis and a funding shortfall in Palm Beach County’s budget.”
The Plaintiffs say they have suffered various mental ailments such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression as a result of the bond investments but without knowing who they are, the county says it cannot verify those claims.
Mike Diamond is a journalist atThe Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. He covers Palm Beach County government and issues impacting homeowner associations. You can reach him at mdiamond@pbpost.com. Help support local journalism. Subscribe today.
