Hunt v. Patten [1]

Former city manager of Venice, Florida, George Hunt, sued VeniceFlorida.com writer John Patten and local resident Sylvia Parrish for defamation.

Hunt had left his post in January 2004 after environmental violations by the city utilities department surfaced. Hunt claims in his lawsuit that Patten and Parrish conspired to spread lies about him to get him fired and keep him from finding another job. Specifically, Hunt claims that Patten and Parish contacted his current and potential employers and told them that he was about to be arrested for violating federal environmental laws while working as Venice city manager. He maintains that Patten and Parrish made these statements in emails and phone calls. Patten had been a longtime critic of Hunt in his writing for veniceflorida.com.

Hunt sued Patten and Parrish in Florida state court in March 2006. In March 2007, the court ordered Patten to pay approximately $2500 in attorney's fees for failing to provide documents to Hunt's attorney in a timely fashion. Patten subsequently replaced his lawyer. In July 2007, the court dismissed Patten's motion for a more definite statement, and Patten and Parrish filed their answers.

As of April 18, 2008 the case remains pending.