Seven judges of Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal are asking the voters to grant them new six-year terms in the Nov. 8 election. There are no opponents in these retention elections. The only question is whether voters agree that they deserve to remain on the bench.
For five of them, we think it’s an easy call. Judges Cory Ciklin, Jonathan D. Gerber, Robert M. Gross, Spencer D. Levine and Melanie G. May have all polled well in the Florida Bar’s pre-election merit retention survey, with 80% or better approval ratings from attorneys familiar with their work. We recommend “yes” votes for all five.
Judge Dorian K. Damoorgian also scored well, at 81% favoring his retention, but we cannot share the legal community’s enthusiasm. He was on the wrong side of two of Florida’s perpetually critical issues — the right of citizens to criticize public policy without fear of reprisal, and the public’s right to know why people in government do what they do.
He was part of a panel that three years ago upheld an outrageous $4.4 million SLAPP suit judgment against the late Maggy Hurchalla, a Martin County environmentalist who had opposed the Lake Point companies’ water storage contract with the county and the South Florida Water Management District. Lake Point claimed “tortious interference” with its contracts, which eventually went through despite her opposition.
Not long after Damoorgian and two colleagues affirmed the verdict against Hurchalla — which she never paid — environmentalists began withdrawing objections to a water pumping permit sought by the giant phosphate company Mosaic. A motion for “sanctions” filed by one of Mosaic’s attorneys prompted their retreat.
In a related public records case against Hurchalla, the Everglades Law Center and Donna Melzer, the same panel ruled that references to mediation had to be redacted from the transcript of the closed-door meeting between the water district’s board and its attorneys that led to a costly settlement with Lake Point.
The decision to allow mediation as a secrecy blanket was sought by the water district board, the Lake Point companies and Martin County. It created obvious opportunities for coverups. When the environmentalists finally received a transcript, key sections were blacked out, clouding the district’s reasons for settling the Lake Point dispute.
Although the Legislature meant to keep mediation proceedings out of the public eye, it was a stretch to apply that to meetings at which the outcome of mediation leads to important decisions.
Ordinarily, the evaluation of a judge’s career should not turn on one or two controversial cases, but these two outcomes were seriously detrimental to public policy. Accordingly, we do not make a recommendation on whether Damoorgian should be retained.
Edward Artau is the seventh judge up for retention. The newest of the seven, he also fared the worst in the Bar poll. Only 69% of lawyers familiar with his work recommended retaining him. That’s dismal compared to how the others polled, and we recommend a vote against his retention.
The poll seems to reflect disapproval of the politicization of the appellate courts under Gov. Ron DeSantis and his predecessor Rick Scott, who had appointed Artau to a Palm Beach circuit judgeship in 2014. DeSantis promoted Artau to the Fourth District in June 2020 to replace the court’s only Black justice, who had retired. Artau hadn’t been there two full years when he applied — unsuccessfully — for a Supreme Court vacancy. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with ambition, but his application was revealing. It was an overt appeal to the political biases of DeSantis and the Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission, which did not recommend him.
Artau pointedly emphasized his membership in the Federalist Society as a Georgetown University law student and his role in creating the right-wing organization’s South Florida chapter. DeSantis appoints only Federalists to the Supreme Court.
Sitting judges are required to choose five published opinions to describe in their Supreme Court applications. For four of his, Artau selected positions he had taken in favor of defendants claiming protection under the stand-your-ground law; opposing an abortion clinic’s request to have its address redacted from public property records; overturning Broward County’s attempt to ban firearms from the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airport, where there had been a mass shooting; and requiring the Palm Beach School Board to share its voter-approved tax millage with charter schools.
Whether those decisions were correct is beside the point. Artau was flaunting his conservative leanings.
The Fourth District hears appeals from the counties of Broward, Indian River, Okeechobee, Palm Beach, St. Lucie and Martin. It’s the last stop for most appeals from those court because the Constitution intends for the Supreme Court to hear very few. Only residents of those counties may vote on the retention of the seven judges.
Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its staff members. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson.
