The unconstitutional and illegal fire rescue fee was the icing on the cake to expose them both. But so is the lies and corruption in the Garcia v Remingtons, Ferrigno v Remingtons, Campbell v Remingtons federal cases.
The deadline to cash Ocala fire fee refund checks expired on April 30, 2024, and the remaining uncashed funds have officially reverted to the city. [1, 2]
What Happened to the Refunds: The Settlement:
A court ordered the City of Ocala to refund nearly $80 million in illegally collected fire service fees charged on utility bills between February 2010 and July 2020.
The Deadline:
Eligible residents and businesses were given a final court-approved extension to cash their checks by April 30, 2024.
Uncashed Funds:
City records showed that nearly 18,000 checks totaling over $7 million went uncollected or uncashed.
$ 7 MILLION OF ILLEGALLY COLLECTED MONIES FOR 1000s of Ocalans ends up back into the city's coffers? WOW, sound familiar!
Source:
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-judge-voids-trumps-settlement-with-irs-2026-07-13/
City Council Action: In May 2024, the Ocala City Council voted to return the uncashed money to the city's general fund, designating it for future city fire services.
https://www.ocalagazette.com/ocalas-processing-of-fire-fee-refunds-leaves-questions/
https://www.ocalagazette.com/ocalas-fire-fee-strategies-were-flawed-from-inception-to-80-million-judgment/
https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/closed-settlements/ocala-florida-illegal-fire-service-fees-79m-common-fund/
https://www.ocala.com/story/news/courts/2022/05/10/judge-ocala-florida-sorts-out-80-million-fire-fee-issue/9714503002/
https://www.ocalagazette.com/latest-appeal-in-fire-fee-case-called-bid-to-extract-money-from-citizens-attorney/
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The legal wrangling is also raising questions about the nature of communications between the city attorney’s office and Franjola.
Like Franjola, Batsel denies his office has communicated with Franjola on his individual claim.
However, in an email to Marion County Circuit Judge Robert W. Hodges’ office dated June 9–following a hearing held on Franjola’s motion to intervene, in which he failed to show –Franjola states city attorney Robert Batsel, Jr. came to his office following the hearing.
At some point, there was communication between the two that has resulted in a misunderstanding between Batsel and Franjola. The disagreement about what was said has now spilled into the appellate filings.
Franjola said Batsel told him “the city struck an agreement with class counsel (Schroth) not to oppose class counsel’s attorneys’ fee request in exchange for class counsel agreeing that unclaimed refunds would eventually revert to the city.”
Batsel said no such agreement was made and that he did not tell Franjola that one was made. Schroth also said no such agreement was made.
Details of a May 10 hearing to finalize the judgment in the case and give class action members the opportunity to address the court before it’s ruling also reflect no such agreement.
Franjola attended that hearing as a class action member and objected to the amount of the attorney’s fees.
The city did not object to attorney’s fees sought by Schroth because they were not paying them; class members were paying them from proceeds received from the $80 million judgment.
At the hearing, Schroth argued against unclaimed refunds reverting back to the city. Instead, he advocated for the unclaimed money to be sent to the state’s unclaimed property program so that there would be more time to connect with those who were owed refunds.
Ultimately, the judge sided with the city. Under the court’s final order, it’s likely that everyone the city can locate who is owed a refund will receive between 92% to 100% refund between the first and second disbursements, and that is factoring in paying Schroth’s attorneys fees.
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https://www.ocalagazette.com/city-council-votes-to-return-7-million-in-uncashed-fire-fee-checks-to-general-fund/
https://www.wcjb.com/2023/03/15/many-ocala-residents-claim-they-still-havent-gotten-their-fire-assessment-fee-check-city/
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Anyone who feels or believes these two FL lawyers may have violated their rights to redress and for the Batsel's violating the ethical rules for FL lawyers, should file a complaint with the Florida Bar at:
https://www.floridabar.org/public/acap/filing-a-complaint/
Thanks to [DP] for discovering that Derek Batsel, works for none other than Thad Boyd of Boyd Group who is an investor/co-owner of Remingtons and who will be added to depositions and testimony that Boyd knew what was going on at Remingtons and, despite his British or as some have said an Australian accent, knew quite well of the racism.
