Will Tampa pay former council member Orlando Gudes’ legal fees?
TAMPA — Two years after the release of a monthslong investigation that found Orlando Gudes made a litany of sexual and crude comments to his former aide while he was a Tampa City Council member, he is seeking more than $45,000 to pay his legal expenses from defending himself.
That’s because while the investigation — conducted by a private law firm at the city’s direction and on taxpayers’ dime — found 18 of her allegations to be credible, the lawsuit the aide subsequently filed against Gudes was dismissed.
Now, he wants the city to cover his legal defense bill.
On Thursday, the Tampa City Council will consider his request, resurfacing a tumultuous chapter in Tampa politics that portrayed City Hall as a place rife with dysfunction.
Under Florida law, public officials may be entitled to reimbursement at public expense for costs to defend themselves in private litigation if the alleged wrongful conduct arose out of performance of official duties.
The legislative aide sued for defamation and emotional distress. The suit was dismissed in 2022, two months after the city announced a separate $200,000 settlement with her.
The aide failed to meet the “extraordinarily high bar for the type of outrageousness required under Florida law,” a judge wrote in the order granting the dismissal. The aide filed an appeal, but withdrew it last October when the court ordered her to be identified with her full name, not her initials.
In 2022, Gudes apologized for making comments “not appropriate for the workplace” but maintained they did not reach the level of sexual harassment.
He directed a request for comment to his attorney, Ryan D. Barack, who said the suit’s dismissal meant the city was legally obligated to reimburse him.
A retired Tampa police officer, Gudes was first elected to the City Council in 2019, serving East Tampa, downtown, Ybor City and parts of West Tampa. He characterized his aide as an old friend, a description she disputed in court. He has previously said he failed to set new guidelines in their interactions after hiring her.
In the fall of 2020, the aide approached city Human Resources. She relayed Gudes’ tendency to “bark” at her and noted an incident in which he made a lewd comment after stopping by her home to pick up work documents. She decided not to pursue her complaint. The city considered the matter to be resolved that November.
According to her lawsuit, she pleaded with Gudes: “You should help me get another job because I’m having a hard time, and it is unfair to you that you feel you can’t be yourself.”
He refused, according to court records, and she continued in her role, “hopeful things would get better.”
In the summer of 2021, the city rekindled the investigation, with officials reaching out to her twice while she was on an extended absence. She “served Mr. Gudes in this role until she could not bear it any longer,” according to court records. Gudes asked that she be relocated and she left the position that August.
The next month, the city hired the firm Trenam Law to investigate her accusations. The resulting 60-page report found Gudes created a hostile work environment. He made a series of crude and sexual comments toward her, her teenage daughter and other women, including Mayor Jane Castor.
The report’s March 2022 release came as the council was already wrangling turmoil: That month, John Dingfelder resigned his council seat over alleged violations of public records law. The events posed a stark contrast between Tampa’s shiny post-pandemic reputation, flush with new residents and new developments, and the inner workings of a local government mired in dispute.
Some, including Gudes, questioned if the city was playing politics with his aide’s allegations, given his occasional criticism of the mayor.
Fellow council member Luis Viera, who remains on the board and will vote on his reimbursement request, said Gudes should have resigned his chairmanship. He subsequently did. Castor has said she would have fired Gudes if she could.
Gudes’ lawyer contested the investigation’s findings, noting his client denied the most disturbing allegations, including making a comment about the breasts of the aide’s daughter.
In May 2022, the city announced its settlement for the aide. “Nobody should have experienced the emotional turmoil and pain that you suffered,” the mayor wrote in a letter to the former aide.
That same month, the aide and her daughter sued Gudes. Barack filed to dismiss, arguing the suit was filled with “superfluous facts, and highly subjective characterizations.”
The court granted his motion in October 2022, dismissing her defamation claim with prejudice on the grounds that public officials are shielded for comments made while performing their official duties.
Though Gudes’ comment to the aide’s daughter about her body, if true, was “inappropriate, offensive, hurtful, and frankly very strange,” Circuit Judge Anne-Leigh Gaylord Moe wrote, it did not meet the “extraordinarily high bar” that it amounted to intentional infliction of emotional distress.
As for Gudes’ alleged comments toward the aide, those too did not meet the bar. (The aide has not alleged any sexual advances, requests for sex or touching by Gudes.) That claim was dismissed without prejudice, allowing the aide to refile amendments.
But a judge ordered she needed to use by her full name. Shortly after, she voluntarily dismissed the appeal. Her attorney, Ethan Loeb, did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Gudes told the Times he would not be attending Thursday’s meeting.
He lost his seat last spring to educator and political newcomer Gwen Henderson. She is the former aide’s sister.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify that Guido Maniscalco said that fellow Tampa City Council member Orlando Gudes should relinquish his chairmanship on the board in 2022 in light of hostile workplace allegations against him. An earlier version of this story misstated his position.
