Palm Coast Mayor Mike Norris today filed notice in Circuit Court through his attorney that he was voluntarily dismissing his lawsuit against the city he represents and Council member Charles Gambaro, with prejudice–meaning that it cannot be refiled.
Mt. Dora attorney Anthony Sabatini filed the notice early this afternoon, soon after being served a letter by the city’s attorney, warning that the city would pursue financial sanctions against Norris if the lawsuit remained active.
Norris filed the lawsuit on May 5, seven months after the council appointed Gambaro to the District 4 seat, Norris argued that the Gambaro seat should have been opened to an election in November 2024. The city, represented by GrayRobinson attorney Rachael Crews, argued that crucial deadlines had passed by the time Cathy Heighter resigned her council seat last August, making an election beyond impractical.
Circuit Judge Chris France agreed at a July 3 hearing, but also ruled that Norris had no standing to sue to start with. Norris then filed a motion for rehearing. Sabatini contended that the court failed to consider Norris’s standing under a particular part of Florida law, as opposed to a part France applied.
“This is false,” Crews wrote in the city’s answer to the court, filed late last week. “This exact standing argument was a central focus of [Norris’s] argument at the July 3, 2025, hearing, and it was specifically addressed and rejected in the Court’s Final Order.”
A motion for rehearing is required as a step before an appeal. Months ago, Norris said in remarks to FlaglerLive that while he anticipated losing in Circuit Court, he was prepared to take the case to the Supreme Court. He also told his colleagues on the council, when they sought to have him pay one or all the legal fees his lawsuit had cost taxpayers–about $30,000 until then–that he didn’t care if he cost the city $1 million.
Norris spoke differently at a town hall on July 29, suggesting that the boast had not sat well with at least a segment of what supporters he has left. “I have people in this city, multi-millionaires, that have said ‘I will appeal that case and take it as far as I can,’ but I don’t want to cost the city money,” he said. He has also toned down the rhetoric about Gambaro and, for the last few meetings that he has chaired, focused on the business at hand, though he is still not fulfilling customary mayoral roles as previous mayors have.
“Time to get back to city business,” said Vice Mayor Theresa Pontieri, who has been filling in for Norris’s absence on numerous occasions, including on Wednesday, when U.S. Rep. Randy Fine visited one of the city’s waste water treatment plants. “I think Council has been very focused on city business, but I think for the community for our residents, this is a positive thing because now we’re not embroiled in the lawsuit between a council member and a mayor, and that’s never healthy for a city. And so I think to be able to have this dismissal and to know that we’re not going to continue to spend resident monies on this lawsuit is a positive thing.”
Jim says
I hope Sabatini has billed Norris an arm and a leg for this stupid lawsuit. Norris is a tough guy until somebody tells him they’re going to get into his pocket. Then he chickens out. Maybe we should call him “Little TACO”.
He still needs to either resign (nope, likes the paycheck), be removed by DeSantis (nope, nothing in it for DeSantis) or the citizens of PC decide to recall him.
He didn’t even meet with our congressman when he visited. I guess he was too busy talking to his lawyer or updating his Facebook page or huddling with his crackpot supporters. What a mayor!
I know we’re going to keep on electing Republicans in this city; that’s just a fact for now. That said, is there any way you Republicans could vet your candidates better from now on? Ultimately, this isn’t good for your brand. Remember, Sears and Kmart used to be king of the hill in retail and look what happened to them. Picking such fine candidates as you’ve put up in the last few years and, most recently, Norris and Fine doesn’t bode well for the future! There are some good people in the Republican party and I wonder just how much longer they can stand by and watch this crap.