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The ongoing lawsuit over ownership of five Palmer Park boathouses in Windermere is now headed for court mediation.
The Sixth District Court of Appeal on Friday issued an order referring the case to mediation, following the Town of Windermere’s recent appeal of a circuit court ruling in favor of 10 current and former residents.
Representatives for both the residents and the town will have 10 days to respond to the mediation referral. They must agree on a mediator from a list of more than 200 certified mediators. Otherwise, the court will choose one.
Once the court appoints a mediator, both parties will then have 60 days to hammer out an agreement. If the parties settle, the court will close the case. If not, then the case will go through the regular appellate process.
More than 30 percent of cases sent to mediation are resolved through the court’s program, according to the Sixth District Court of Appeal.
On Nov. 19, Ninth Circuit Court Judge John E. Jordan issued a final ruling in favor of the residents, who have spent three years fighting Windermere’s efforts to evict them from the historic structures. Jordan stated that the residents could not “be evicted or ejected from the boathouses for which they own and have the right of possession,” while also denying the town’s motion for eviction and breach of contract in his order. Jordan, in an earlier ruling, had scolded the town, saying, “There is nothing equitable or fair about the goal Plaintiff is trying to achieve or the manner in which it is trying to achieve it.”
The town sought to file an amended complaint but was denied, subsequently filing its appeal on Nov. 26.
It’s unclear why Windermere is pursuing the case, which has cost the town more than $637,000 in taxpayer funds to litigate.
Asked during his April 2023 deposition what would happen to the boathouses if the town’s lawsuit was successful, Town Manager Robert Smith emphasized that the goal was not to tear them down. Instead, he said the town would “leave them vacant for a period of six months,” and then either “keep them as visual historical aids and/or to lease them out to the public.”
