We hate to bring some more bad news about North Miami Beach City “Attorney” Joe Geller (okay, not really), but we just came across another example of this overpaid shyster’s incompetence.

On July 22, 2026 Lorena A. Holley, the Senior Vice President and General Counsel for the Florida Retail Federation (FRF) sent an email to the City Commission “regarding the City of North Miami Beach Ordinance on shopping cart retention plans.”

Ms. Holley stated, “This is a follow up to my previous letter dated March 25, 2026.”

It is now three months later and, once again, City “Attorney” Joe Geller has dropped the ball.

In her second email to the city, Ms. Holley attached a letter from her organization stating, “I am following up on my letter dated March 25, 2026, regarding the City of North Miami Beach shopping cart ordinance wherein I shared a recent opinion issued by Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier. I have included a copy of that opinion for your reference. As stated previously, we believe that your current shopping cart ordinance is in violation of Florida law.”

According to her letter, it appears that a recently passed City Ordinance violates Section 506.5131, Florida Statutes.”

Naturally, Commissioner Lynn Sue was concerned about this and sent an email to City “Attorney” Joe Geller.  She attached the letter from FRF, and wrote:

“While this ordinance was brought forward at the direction of a commissioner, it was drafted by your office and reviewed for legal sufficiency. As our chief legal advisor, I am writing to formally request your legal analysis and guidance to ensure the City is protected from immediate legal liability resulting from this text.”

Furthermore:

“We cannot take a wait-and-see approach while sitting on an invalid ordinance until retail owners file suit. Waiting for litigation to force our hand guarantees completely avoidable taxpayer-funded legal expenses, statutory attorney fee awards, and damages against the City.”

But the very best part of Commissioner Su’s letter to Joe is:

The attached correspondence points to a January 21, 2026, Florida Attorney General Opinion which explicitly cites North Miami Beach Code Chapter IX § 9-39 (Footnote 14) as an unlawful local ordinance preempted by Section 506.5131, Florida Statutes. Furthermore, the FRF cites Section 57.112, Florida Statutes, which mandates that local governments pay attorney fees, court costs, and damages when enforcing preempted ordinances.

In other words, North Miami Beach’s illegal ordinance, which was voted on and approved at the November 17, 2025 Commission meeting, was already on the radar of the Florida Attorney General when he issued his Opinion Number AGO 2026-03.

What this blogger is loving even more is that the AG’s opinion was addressed to Allan T. Weinthal, Esq., the municipal Attorney for the Town of Davie, who had the foresight and initiative to request a legal opinion about Florida laws from the Attorney General’s Office BEFORE drafting controversial legislation on shopping cart retention plans.

It’s just a shame that the residents of North Miami Beach got stuck with Joe Geller as their City “Attorney” instead of a competent barrister of Mr. Weinthal’s ilk.

And because We Told You So doesn’t quite cut it, just to rub it in a bit more, Footnote 14 of the Attorney General’s Opinion states:

Though not under direct consideration here, the logic and conclusions of this opinion apply with equal force to any local ordinance that requires businesses to submit shopping cart retention plans or install retention systems to retain shopping carts within those businesses’ real property boundaries.  See, e.g., North Miami Beach, Fla., Code ch. IX § 9-39;

Yeah, we couldn’t help gloating a little.

But in all seriousness, this latest incident is just more proof that Joe Geller is completely unfit to serve in the capacity of City Attorney.

Joe’s got to go!

North Miami Beach residents deserve better.

Stephanie