Weeks before Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Dennis J. Murphy retired from the bench, he hastily ruled in favor of the City of North Miami’s Motion to Dismiss a whistleblower lawsuit filed by NMPD Sergeant Neal Cuevas.

However, in a stunning courthouse victory, Cuevas’ attorney, Mike “Pitbull” Pizzi, was able to convince a successor Judge to vacate Murphy’s ruling, deny the city’s Motion to Dismiss, and allow the Cuevas whistleblower lawsuit to proceed on all four cylinders.

Then-Assistant Chief Cuevas was one of three law enforcement officers who became collateral damage in the aftermath of the July 18, 2016 shooting of an unarmed black man by North Miami Police Officer Jonathan Aledda, who was convicted of a misdemeanor count of culpable negligence on June 17, 2019.

Immediately after the shooting, then-Assistant Chief Larry Juriga, who oversaw Sanitation and Code Enforcement, and his cronies conspired to frame Commander Emile Hollant, who was sworn in only six days earlier.  In an attempt to cover for the shooter, Juriga and SWAT team trainer Sergeant Angel Rivera concocted a false narrative that Alleda fired his weapon on Hollant’s command.

Juriga and Rivera took it upon themselves to ask the Miami State Attorney’s Office to file criminal charges against Commander Hollant.  The SAO subsequently cleared him of all wrongdoing.

Hollant immediately became unjustly subjected to a barrage of negative publicity, a “house arrest” during a 17 month administrative leave, and two Internal Affairs investigations, the second of which was purely retaliatory and closed fifteen days later.  On December 8, 2017, Commander Hollant was fired by the cop who framed him in the first place, then-Acting Chief Juriga.  In response to the harassment he was subjected to, Hollant filed a federal lawsuit against the City of North Miami, et al.  The city eventually settled with Hollant for an undisclosed amount.

Next on the chopping block was the newly appointed Chief of Police Gary Eugene, who was scapegoated for the problems in the department created by his predecessor.  On June 15, 2017, City Manager Larry Spring placed Eugene on administrative leave and gave him 21 days to resign or be fired.  Six days later on June 21, 2017, Spring publicly humiliated Eugene at a Community Council Forum.  On July 6, 2017, Gary Eugene filed a federal lawsuit against the City of North Miami, et al.  The city eventually settled with Eugene for an undisclosed amount.

By far the most egregious retaliatory act of all was against then-Assistant Chief Neal Cuevas.  As we previously reported, at the request of his Chief, Cuevas prepared a June 2, 2017 Memorandum listing his criticisms about the findings of Commander Hollant’s first IA investigation.  This Memorandum exposed, among other things, the Disposition Panel’s “cherry picking” of evidence, perjury committed by witnesses, and the corrupt, manipulated and rigged process of the investigation itself.  The Cuevas Memo unequivocally proved, as did the State Attorney’s Office, that Commander Hollant did absolutely nothing wrong, but was being framed for acts he did not commit.

Not only did Larry Spring deliberately try to hide the Cuevas Memo from the public records, he then subjected Cuevas to a multitude of retaliatory actions beginning with his public statement that Cuevas was merely a “political appointment.”  Spring also disparaged Cuevas at the same June 21, 2017 Community Council Forum during which Gary Eugene was attacked.

According to the whistleblower lawsuit filed by Cuevas against the City of North Miami, Spring also “ordered the initiation of an Internal Affairs investigation of Cuevas as a direct result of Cuevas’ whistleblowing memorandum.”

And finally, less than five days after he manipulated Spring into promoting him to Chief, Juriga demoted Cuevas three ranks from Assistant Chief to Sergeant, apparently in the hopes of humiliating him into retirement.

Unfortunately for Juriga, Cuevas is still there.

And, unfortunately for North Miami city officials, so is his whistleblower lawsuit.

On December 28, 2018, Michael A. Pizzi and Benedict P. Kuehne, Esquires, filed a Motion to Reconsider and/or Rehear Judge Murphy’s Order of Dismissal.  In addition, Cuevas’ legal team had also filed a Notice of Appeal with the Third District Court of Appeals in the event their motion was denied.

The city in turn filed a Response to Plaintiff’s Motion to Reconsider, which was followed by the Plaintiff filing a Reply to the City’s Response, which was then followed by a hearing scheduled for June 12, 2019.

We can only imagine the look on the faces of North Miami city officials, who had months earlier gleefully and publicly celebrated their “win” against Neal Cuevas, when they found out that on June 21, 2019, the Honorable Martin Zilber issued his Order Denying the [City’s] Motion to Dismiss With Prejudice.

Accordingly, His Honor ORDERED and ADJUDGED as follows:

1. The Motion for Reconsideration and/or Rehearing is GRANTED.
2. The Motion to Dismiss Amended Complaint is DENIED for the reasons stated in the Plaintiff’s pleadings and as stated on the record.
3. The Final Judgment Against Plaintiff Cuevas is vacated.
4. The Defendant shall answer the Amended Complaint within twenty (20) days of entry of this Order.

Some of the highlights from the official transcript of the June 12, 2019 hearing were Michael Pizzi’s statements to the Court that Cuevas has met all the standards required to be a whistleblower in accordance with Florida Statute 112.3187, in that he was an employee of an agency, he engaged in protected conduct by reporting “malfeasance, misconduct and gross mismanagement,” and who was then retaliated against for doing so.

Judge Zilber apparently agreed, despite the red herring arguments attempted by the city’s counsel, Michael Kantor of Weiss, Serota, Helfman, Cole & Bierman, which amounted to nothing but whining, and which His Honor saw right through.

When Kantor contended that if every party filed a motion for rehearing “the judicial progress will halt immediately,” Judge Zilber replied, “I agree completely, however, at the end of the day we are ultimately here to try to do what is right, not what is expedient, but go ahead.”

When Kantor questioned the definition of a “whistleblower,” Judge Zilber replied, “So if you’re an assistant chief, and then you go ahead and accuse your department of wrongdoing, how is that not the intent of the whistleblower [statute] to protect an employee that reports their employer, and then has an adverse reaction from it?”

When Kantor argued that Cuevas wasn’t demoted for nine months after he wrote his Memorandum, Judge Zilber replied, “Well, if I’m a police chief or a city manager, I’m not going to do it the day after and make it obvious either.”

When Kantor persisted that Cuevas’ demotion “nine months later” had nothing to do with retaliation, Judge Zilber replied, “Is there anything else that led to why he was demoted if it wasn’t related to this?”

Kantor even had the chutzpah to tell Judge Zilber that it was the “district court of appeals’ job to tell Judge Murphy he was wrong,” to which Judge Zilber asked, “Are you telling me I don’t have the authority to hear this reconsideration?”

As the legal team of Pizzi and Kuehne had argued from the very beginning, and as the Honorable Milton Zilber agreed, Neal Cuevas is a “classic example of a whistleblower” in that he “reported what he believed to be improper conduct and malfeasance, and then had a retaliatory action.”

At the end of the hearing, Judge Zilber ruled that “clearly on the facts, this is what the whistleblower statute is there for, and I’m letting the case go forward.”

Attorney Michael Kantor interrupted the judge several times.  He was so persistently annoying that Judge Zilber finally asked him, “Are you arguing on what I just ruled on?”

At that point, Kantor finally shut up, possibly sensing that he very close to being held in contempt of Court.

Yeah, that was pretty awesome.

The City of North Miami now has twenty days to respond to Cuevas’ Amended Complaint.

As always, we will keep you posted.

Stephanie