County Comes Out Swinging

We have an update on the Right Rudder lawsuit against Citrus County.

A bit of history for those that missed it. Right Rudder Aviation is the company that operates the airport in Inverness. In May, they were served with a termination letter that terminated their contract with the county over various things the county said they violated in their contract.

Right Rudder contended that they were not in violation of the contract and that the county was terminating the contract without cause. Right Rudder has said they will not leave as they are operating as the County did not have the right to terminate the contract as Right Rudder was not in violation.

So the June 30th date came for Right Rudder to vacate... and they didn't. Instead, they filed a lawsuit on July 16th against the County stating that they were not in violation of the contract and it was the county that was unlawfully terminating it.

August 28th, the County filed a motion to dismiss the case, stating that Right Rudder was in violation and that they have no right to be there and the contract should be terminated.

And we are now caught up on the basics. Obviously a bit more complicated than that, but you get the general idea.

The county has no upped the ante.

On October 3rd, the County filed a counter claim against Right Rudder.

In this lawsuit, the county requests that Right Rudder be removed from the airport facilities as they argue they are unlawfully occupying them. This is basically an eviction request.

There are 5 Claims for Relief in this.... Ejectment (Statutory), Ejectment (Common Law), Eviction, Unlawful Detainer and Breach of Contract.

Claims One and Two are basically the same. They just fall under Florida Statute (Statutory) and Common Law.

The argument is that the county terminated the contract, ordered Right Rudder to vacate by June 30th and that they have refused to do so. The county would like a judge to rule that Right Rudder must go.

Count 1:
"WHEREFORE, the County demands a judgment of ejectment under section
66.021, immediate possession of the premises, removal of Right Rudder’s property at its expense, damages including fair rental value during unlawful possession, costs, and such other relief as the Court deems just and proper."

Count 2:
"WHEREFORE, County demands a judgment for ejectment, a writ of
possession, damages, costs, and such other relief as the Court deems just and proper."

Count 3 is eviction. This discusses the lease that Right Rudder has with the county and how it was breached, leading to the termination. As such, Right Rudder has failed to cure the defaults and continues to hold the premises without legal right.

"WHEREFORE, the County demands a judgment for eviction under chapter
83, a writ of possession under section 83.21, Fla. Stat., recovery of damages
including holdover rent, costs, and such other relief as the Court deems just and
proper."

Count 4 is Unlawful Detainer. This is regarding Right Rudder still detaining the Inverness Airport property without a valid leasehold. Under chapter 82 in Florida Statutes, the county is entitled possession of the property.

WHEREFORE, County demands a judgment for immediate possession of the
premises, a writ of possession, damages, costs, and such other relief as the Court
deems just and proper.

Count 5 is Breach of Contract. This is pretty self explanatory. County claims Right Rudder violated the FBO contract and refuses to surrender the contracted property.

But this is the first time that the county has claimed damages.

"County has sustained damages, including loss of control of the Inverness Airport property, enforcement costs, and lost use."

They seek.

"WHEREFORE, the County seeks compensatory damages, costs, and such
other relief as the Court deems just and proper."

So.. things are moving. I honestly thought that the eviction action would come before anything else, but Right Rudder surprised everyone by filing their lawsuit first.

The county would like the court to toss out the case Right Rudder filed and then rule on their counter filing that Right Rudder should be evicted. The county seeks unspecified amount of damages for loss of use, enforcement costs, damages, holdover rent and whatever else the court decides is just and proper.

Back in June I believe, there was an internal email that went around the county that directed staff to not accept future payments from Right Rudder. I am told Right Rudder went to pay their rent and other fees, but were not allowed to do so.

Right Rudder asked the court to allow them to make payments into an escrow account and the court granted that. Since then Right Rudder has been paying their lease amounts into an escrow account held at the court. So far, $21,838.68 has been deposited since September. I would assume those to be the monthly June, July and August Payments owed to the county.

So now things will start to get interesting.