More than a year after it was filed, former Venice City Manager George Hunt's lawsuit against John Patten has taken a significant step forward.

Circuit Judge Robert Bennett denied two motions by Patten Tuesday: one sought an order directing Hunt to be more specific in his allegations against Patten; the other asked for relief from an order awarding about $2,500 in attorney's fees against Patten for failing to timely provide documents to Hunt's attorney, Andrew Froman.

Patten has 30 days in which to pay the attorney's fee award.

"Given a choice between paying and contempt," he said, "you've got to do what the judge says."

He will now also be required to respond to the allegations in Hunt's lawsuit. His co-defendant, Sylvia Parrish, a resident of Barefoot Bay Community in Palm Bay, Fla., is not represented by an attorney; she submitted correspondence to the court on her own behalf March 27, according to court records.

'Fiction'

In March 2006, Hunt sued Patten and Parrish alleging that each had made false statements about him that hurt his reputation and caused him financial harm.

He also claimed they acted in concert to sabotage his employment as community manager at Barefoot Bay, a position he later left, and in the future. Hunt's suit seeks unspecified damages of more than $15,000, the minimum amount to file a case in circuit court.

Patten denies the claims.

"Froman's assertion that I contacted Hunt's potential employers and wrote or told them that Hunt was to be arrested is a concocted fiction," he wrote in an e-mail to the Gondolier Sun. "Online news accounts on Google News refer to Hunt's unsuccessful job searches in the same breath as negative

news reports from newspapers, specifically the Venice Gondolier."

Hand-wringing

Bennett rejected the argument of Patten's attorney, Stanley Marable, that Hunt's suit is so vague it's impossible to frame a response to it. He also refused to grant Patten relief from orders he and Judge Lee Haworth, who formerly had the case, had entered when Froman complained he had never received documents he requested.

Testifying under oath, Patten said he had five e-mails showing he had provided the requested documents to his former attorney, Peter Baranowicz, and confirming his understanding Baranowicz had given them to Froman.

Marable told Bennett his client was "shocked and dismayed" to find out that not only had the documents not been provided, but he had been ordered to pay attorney's fees that were due the day he first learned about the order.

Froman obtained another order against Patten In February for failing to pay the fees awarded under the earlier order.

Because the fault originally lay with Baranowicz, Patten said, Baranowicz should pay Froman's fees.

"Between Mr. Patten and Mr. Baranowicz that may or may not be correct," Bennett said, but paying Froman is Patten's responsibility.

Patten said he has filed a complaint with the Florida Bar against Baranowicz.

"This current battle about discovery is a nightmare that could have been avoided if my previous attorney had simply complied with a court order," he wrote in an e-mail to the Gondolier Sun. "I can't help but feel that Hunt is wringing his hands with glee over this, and deservedly so."

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