© 2024 WLRN
MIAMI | SOUTH FLORIDA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Judge: Former Republican Party Head Jim Greer Can Sue Two State Senators

Florida.arrests.org

A civil lawsuit filed by former Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer against two state lawmakers can proceed.

A judge in Tallahassee on Monday refused to toss out the suitagainst Senate President Mike Haridopolos and Sen. John Thrasher. Greer is suing them as well as the state Republican party over severance pay he says they promised him.

The fight stems from Greer’s personal legal trouble. He is facing criminal charges for allegedly diverting money from the state party into his own private company, Victory Strategies.

Before Greer was arrested, the senators made a secret deal to pay him $124,000 to resign.

“After he left, Haridopolos denied that the agreement had even been made,” says Brittany Alana Davis in the Herald Times Tallahassee bureau. “Sen. John Thrasher went on television and said that he had never planned to fulfill the terms of the agreement, that they just wanted Jim Greer out.”

Attorneys for Haridopolos and Thrasher said their clients shouldn't be sued personally because they were acting as party officials. But Greer’s attorney said that neither senator was in a leadership position with the party at that time.

Greer’s criminal trial is scheduled for February, and no date has been set for the civil case.

More On This Topic