Tampa taxpayers will foot the bill for former City Councilman Orlando Gudes’ legal fees incurred while defending himself against a former aide’s lawsuit alleging defamation and emotional distress, the Tampa City Council voted Thursday.
The board’s decision that he is entitled to reimbursement came two years after the release of a months-long investigation that found Gudes created a hostile workplace for the assistant and made a litany of crude and sexual comments against her, her daughter and other women made.
While the investigation – conducted by a private law firm at the direction of the city and at taxpayer expense – found eighteen of her allegations credible, the lawsuit she subsequently filed against her former boss was dismissed.
Under Florida law, public officials may be entitled to reimbursement at public expense for the costs they incur in defending themselves in private lawsuits if the alleged wrongful conduct arises out of the performance of official duties.
The aide’s lawsuit was dismissed in 2022, two months after the city announced a separate $200,000 settlement with her.
The assistant did not meet the “extremely high bar for the type of outrageousness required under Florida law,” a judge wrote in the dismissal order. The assistant appealed, but withdrew it last October when the court ordered she be identified by her full name, not her initials.
In 2022, Gudes apologized for making comments that were “not appropriate for the workplace” but insisted they did not rise to the level of sexual harassment.
He is a retired Tampa police officer and was first elected to the City Council in 2019. He served in East Tampa, downtown, Ybor City and parts of West Tampa. He characterized his assistant as an old friend, a description she disputed in court. He has previously said that he failed to set new guidelines for their interactions after hiring her.
The assistant alleged no sexual advances, requests for sex or touching by Gudes.
A majority of the Tampa City Council voted to reimburse Gudes for legal fees, which amounted to more than $45,000. Councilwoman Gwen Henderson, a relative of the aide, abstained. Councilman Charlie Miranda was the lone dissenting vote.
Councilman Alan Clendenin called the allegations “outrageous,” but added that it was in the best interest of Tampa citizens for the city to stand behind its elected officials.
“Next time it could be one of us,” he said.
In the wake of the 2022 investigation, Gudes resigned from his presidency but did not heed calls from some for him to resign his seat as an elected official altogether. Mayor Jane Castor has said she would have fired Gudes if she could.
Gudes’ attorney disputed the investigation’s findings, noting that his client denied the most disturbing allegations, including making a comment about the assistant’s daughter’s breasts.
In May 2022, the assistant and her daughter sued Gudes. His attorney Ryan D. Barack filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the lawsuit was filled with “redundant facts and highly subjective characterizations.”
The court granted his request in October 2022, dismissing her claim for defamation with prejudice on the grounds that public officials are protected from comments made in the exercise of their official duties.
Although Gudes’ comment to the assistant’s daughter about her body was, if true, “inappropriate, offensive, hurtful and, frankly, very strange,” wrote Circuit Judge Anne-Leigh Gaylord Moe, it did not meet the “extremely high lat’ who said it. amounted to intentional infliction of emotional distress.
As for Gudes’ alleged comments toward the assistant, these also fell short.
Gudes lost his re-election bid last spring.
