‘Contract that never was’ adds twist to scientist’s fight over Everglades project | Florida

An environmental scientist sued by allies of Florida’s right-wing Republican governor Ron DeSantis and briefly jailed for what he called a “political prosecution” now claims new evidence shows his imprisonment was due to false pretenses.

Tom Van Lent’s claim represents the final turning point three year legal saga It was sparked by disagreement over a proposed restoration project that aims to address Florida’s recurring red tides and toxic algal blooms by helping restore the environment of vast Everglades wetlands.

Van Lent, widely considered one of the top Everglades scientists in the United States, is a former Everglades Foundation employee who posted a tweet criticizing the foundation. He and his attorney said a large nonprofit foundation with friendly ties to the state’s Republican leadership filed a lawsuit against Van Lent, alleging he violated an employment contract.

When Van Lent left the foundation in 2022, he publicly criticized the DeSantis-backed project, saying his new employer would “put facts before politics.” Shortly after the foundation lawsuit filedHe alleged that Van Lent violated his employment contract by keeping the nonprofit’s “trade secrets.” The case led to Van Lent being sentenced to 10 days in jail and facing $177,000 in legal fees after a judge in June found him in contempt of court for failing to return certain electronic materials and documents.

But Van Lent’s lawyer, Michael Rayboun, accused the foundation of “fraud” for claiming a sworn contract had been signed, claiming the employment contract no longer existed. Van Lent and Rayboun want the case reopened and the Everglades Foundation held accountable.

“The Foundation committed fraud by claiming the existence of a contract that did not exist,” Rayboun said.

The foundation denies the claim and opposes the motion to reopen the case, according to court documents. “They want to chill his speech and prevent others from saying that the foundation is holding hands with Florida’s version of the dictator,” Rayboun said.

An employee handbook setting out terms is a legally binding contract, the trust told the Guardian in a statement. In its response to the court, the foundation described the motion to reopen the case as “meaningless”.

“The foundation strongly opposes the motion because there is neither factual nor legal basis to reopen this case,” he says. The foundation noted that the case was concluded in 2022 and Van Lent accepted the terms.

The case traces its roots back to the early 2000s, when initial plans called for a nearly $4 billion project to address algal blooms that have threatened the state’s drinking water and plagued its beaches with a deadly odor for decades. Officials estimate the blooms have caused billions of dollars in damage to the region’s vast tourism economy.

The proposed solution required 60,000 acres of land water storage reservoir and designed marshes to clean water to be built south of the vast Lake Okeechobee in Florida’s interior. But the plan required the state to use concessional land to purchase or use land owned by politically connected and the country’s largest sugar companies. opposed any land sale.

In 2017, Florida Republican leadership offered a “compromise” that reduced the project to 10,000 acres, arguing that Van Lent and other scientists would not be effective and would not comply with federal rules.

Facing pressure from both parties, state leadership forced the Everglades Foundation to accept the compromise plan, which DeSantis called the “crown jewel” of Everglades restorations.

Van Lent said his departure tweet angered the Everglades Foundation and its political allies.

Eric Eikenberg, CEO of the Everglades Foundation. Worked for DeSantis He was involved in the project while DeSantis was in the Florida legislature and later served on DeSantis’ 2018 transition team. He also served as chief of staff to then-governor Charlie Crist. Meanwhile, Everglades Foundation founder Paul Tudor Jones, donated $250,000 to the 2018 DeSantis political action committee.

Nonprofit spends $722,000 on IRS legal fees in 2022 alone records to show.

“Their big legal effort was to shut me down,” Van Lent said, adding that the level of spending reveals the nonprofit’s priorities.

The foundation filed a lawsuit in state court, alleging that Van Lent engaged in a “secret campaign of theft and destruction” that included destroying scientific documents and stealing “trade secrets” from his laptop.

Van Lent signed an employment contract and the judge eventually ordered him to turn over his electronic devices and email accounts, the foundation said in its 2022 lawsuit complaint. Van Lent said his laptop at work also contained personal documents, such as tax information, and some items protected under attorney-client privilege. Van Lent claimed that he had destroyed or removed them and that the files the foundation claimed were missing were merely old.

Still, the Everglades Foundation claimed that Van Lent was hiding some “trade secrets” and was misleading about the information he copied to the hard drive. The judge agreed, found Van Lent in contempt and sentenced him to 10 days in prison.

The purpose of the prison sentence was not to correct the case, but was due to the defamation claim arising from the case.

Rayboun said he requested evidence of his employment contract before the defamation hearing, but it was never provided. He said Van Lent had confirmed since his release from prison that the contract did not exist.

The Everglades Foundation said in a statement to the Guardian that the policy manual signed by Van Lent prohibiting employees from retaining the nonprofit’s materials was a binding contractual agreement. It was stated that Van Lent had previously claimed in court that the guide was not a contract, but the judge rejected this claim.

Van Lent told the Guardian a judge had not ruled on whether the guide was a binding contract.

Meanwhile, the reservoir and marsh project is moving forward, and Van Lent said the project fails to meet water quality standards

“We were right next to it,” Van Lent said.