Florida judge dismisses lawsuit against DeSantis migrant flights on technical grounds

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Florida judge on Monday threw out a lawsuit challenging Gov. Ron DeSantis’ migrant relocation program, removing a potential obstacle to the Republican governor for resuming the effort that drew massive publicity and condemnation from Democrats.

But Leon Circuit Judge John C. Cooper kept the door open for the legal fight, giving state Sen. Jason Pizzo (D-Miami) — the plaintiff who sued DeSantis and other state officials — two weeks to revamp his lawsuit.

“We’re talking about technical pleading issues, we’re not talking about the ultimate decision in this case, or anything else,” Cooper said Monday in Tallahassee. “Anything that I said by the way of hypotheticals, or whatever, should not be taken as a ruling or anything of that nature, for or against.”

Pizzo filed his lawsuit in late September, shortly after the DeSantis administration flew nearly 50 migrants from Texas to the island resort of Martha’s Vineyard. The Democratic state senator is seeking to block the governor from spending any more money on the program. State lawmakers set aside $12 million for the program in the state budget.

Florida has so far spent at least $1.56 million with the vendor that helped arrange the first flights. Pizzo’s lawsuit alleges that state officials — including those at the Department of Transportation — did not follow the guidelines for the relocation program as drawn up by the Florida Legislature in the budget language, including that money was spent on food, hotel rooms and even haircuts for migrants in Texas who were eventually sent to Massachusetts.

“It’s not authorized in the Senate or the House for your dollars or my dollars to be spent in Texas,” Pizzo told reporters Monday.

During the hearing, Cooper contended there were not enough specific details in the lawsuit that showed the program was unconstitutional. He also suggested he was unsure whether the litigation — filed primarily against DeSantis as well as the head of the Department of Transportation — was aimed at the correct individuals.

Cooper recommended Pizzo and his attorneys craft a new complaint clearly spelling out their arguments questioning the constitutionality of the migrant flights and how state policies were violated by top officials not properly bidding out contracts for the jobs.

“I don’t know that there is an enforcement official in this, or that the governor is a quote-unquote enforcement official under this statute,” Cooper said. “It seems to me the ability to sue the governor in this case depends upon other facts that might be unique to the situation here, which I think need to be alleged.”

Although the original lawsuit was dismissed, Pizzo said he was “thankful” to the court for outlining how an updated lawsuit should look. A new complaint is expected within the next two weeks; a hearing scheduled for Nov. 21 was canceled in light of the dismissal.

“We can walk out of here knowing that just — show our work, show our answers,” Pizzo told reporters Monday.

Pizzo’s lawsuit was filed against DeSantis and Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, as well as the Department of Transportation and DOT Secretary Jared Perdue.

In seeking to dismiss the lawsuit, attorneys for the DeSantis administration argued it “fails at the starting gate.” They contended the challenge lacked a cause of action and proper standing, and that DeSantis and other state officials were inaccurately named as defendants.

Attorneys for Pizzo “can offer no facts showing that the program was unlawful,” Desantis lawyers wrote in their motion to dismiss, noting that the Democratic senator has an “adverse” and “antagonistic” interest in the case.

The money for the relocation program came from interest earnings from the $5.8 billion that Congress sent to the state as part of the American Rescue Plan. State lawmakers passed the budget overwhelmingly, with only a handful of legislators voting no.

Pizzo’s lawsuit was one of several filed against the governor regarding the migrant flights. In September, the Boston-based Lawyers for Civil Rights filed a federal class action lawsuit accusing the governor or violating the migrants’ constitutional rights by coercing them onto the flights under false pretenses. The governor’s administration has denied that the migrants were lied to, saying they went to Martha’s Vineyard voluntarily.

The open government group Florida Center for Government Accountability, in a separate lawsuit, accused the governor of improperly withholding records of the flights. A judge recently ruled against the administration and ordered it to release migrant-related documents.