Deerfield-News.com-Deerfield Beach,Fl-With the recent on the record verbal attack by Deerfield Beach Mayor Ganz on resident John Grassi.Deerfield-News.com has taken a brief look at what exactly is “Absolute Immunity” and how the Mayor is putting the City at risk in our opinion here at Deerfield-News.com
We are not quite sure why Mayor Ganz verbally attacks John Grassi during the city commission meeting when there was no connection to the agenda.Grassi certainly has rights to post on his Facebook group “Deerfield Beach Politcs”. Grassi should be able to post without fear of retribution or the Mayor will abuse his position at the Dais for a Bully Pulpit to call him a fool then go onto a tirade.Intentional,malicious and uncalled for.
FYI Mr.John Grassi
The legislature has waived government sovereign immunity in tort actions under certain conditions, in Fla. Stat. 768.28. Therefore, if there is a proven intentional tort by a government entity, then sovereign immunity would be waived. Whether or not there is an actionable claim or liability based on the scenario described below will depend on a lot of fact-specific factors, including whether the officials are deemed to be acting in a public or private capacity when making comments, whether there is malicious intent or purpose, whether the elements of “defamation” are met, whether remedies are being sought against an individual or against the County, etc.. As those are all questions of both law and fact, they can’t be answered in a generic way. You probably need to talk to an attorney about the very specific facts at issue (i.e., actual comments made that are alleged to be false, etc.), and whether that rises to the level of “defamation,” and what remedies may be available.
Source Member of Florida Bar.
Ganz talk about Grassi 3 Oct 2017.mp4 – Google Drive
