Escambia County’s lawsuit against Gannett, former commissioner Doug Underhill’s aide, Jonathan Owens and Alex Arduini had a show cause hearing on Zoom last Thursday. Okaloosa Judge Jonathan Schlechter presided after local judges recused from the case.
The case concerns the text messages of Commissioner Jeff Bergosh that were stolen off the county’s server and ended up with Owens, Pensacola News Journal and allegedly Arduini.
According to Bergosh’s blog, he testifed. Jonathan Owens was called to testify but took the 5th amendment. Arduini testified that he had never seen the text file nor had he ever possessed it. A lawyer for Gannett, which owns the PNJ, informed the court they would not testify because they are shielded under Florida law from testifying about the identity of their anonymous source that gave them their files.
Read more on Bergosh’s take on the hearing. He will be my guest on WCOA’s “Real News with Rick Outzen” at 7 a.m. today.
What’s a show cause hearing? When an order to show cause is issued, the court orders a party to appear before a judge to explain why a specific action should or should not be taken. In other words, the party whom the order is filed against must “show cause” why the court should not grant the relief sought by the petitioning party.
Malcolm Yonge Update
Jonathan Green has amended his emergency injunction order. Green and others are seeking a referendum to reverse the Pensacola City Council’s decision to demolish the Malcolm Yonge Gym.
The amendment includes the company hired to do the demolition, Jobe’s Dirt Works. Also, Teresa Hill added, “Notice on the last page the contract was not executed properly, so Jonathon has filed an addendum to our restraining order because it is possibly an unenforceable contract. ”
Read Filed Amended TRO 2.18.24
