The sight of oil washing up on Florida’s beaches and the empty restaurants, souvenir stores and bait shops already has led to the filing of numerous lawsuits — creating perhaps a sense that attorneys are closing in like sharks at the smell of blood, or money, in the water.
But some attorneys who recently filed a class-action lawsuit against county property appraisers in the Florida Panhandle say they’re not moving in for the kill. They said they’re trying to help Florida’s property appraisers get clear direction from the state on assessing the effects of the oil spill on property values.
“When we filed it we did not think it was a lawsuit hostile to property appraisers,” said former Florida State University President Talbot “Sandy” D’Alemberte, one of the attorneys representing coastal property owners. “Indeed, I think it is helpful to the property appraisers.”
But at least one of the three county property appraisers who was sued said the lawsuit isn’t helpful — or necessary to adjust property values next year based on the oil spill.
Read more at The Florida Tribune.
If Talbot D'Alemberte is truly just trying to be helpful to the Property Appraisers, why does his complaint ask for "reasonable attorneys fees to be assessed against the class members" "taxable costs for the prosecution of this action" and relief pursuant to the Civil Rights Act Section 1983?
In my opinion he's just another land shark like the other mass tort lawyers in this suit giving pond scum a bad name.