Paul J. Schwiep of Coffey Burlington. Courtesy photo.

Miami Coffey Burlington partner Paul J. Schwiep will reclaim his seat on the Miami-Dade Citizens' Independent Transportation Trust after suing over what he claimed was a politically motivated ousting.

The Third District Court of Appeal sided with Schwiep Wednesday, affirming a ruling from Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Pedro Echarte, who found Schwiep shouldn't have been removed from the trust. The group is an independent body that supervises and audits half-penny sales surtax for transit operations.

Schwiep had served as a trustee since 2006, and was chair for three years. But he was kicked off after representing an environmental group that opposed the county's plans to extend State Road 836 by 14 miles into the Everglades.

This didn't sit well with Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who'd pledged to build the new road. The mayor urged the director of the Citizens' Independent Transportation Trust to invoke a rule that blocks members from suing over county policy.

Schwiep's lawsuit claimed the rule didn't support his removal, since he wasn't a litigant in the case, and because it was an administration petition—not a lawsuit.

Declining to weigh in on all claims, the Third DCA agreed the ordinance didn't apply because what Schwiep had filed was not a lawsuit.

"An administrative petition is not a 'lawsuit' in normal legal usage," the opinion said. "The County Attorney's office routinely invokes this distinction when it raises a party's failure to exhaust administrative remedies as a well-recognized condition precedent for the commencement of a variety of lawsuits."

Billion-dollar boondoggle?

Counsel to the Citizens' Independent Transportation Trust director, Miami-Dade County Attorney Abigail Price-Williams and assistant county attorneys Dennis Kerbel, Oren Rosenthal and Annery Alfonso did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Schwiep said he was glad to be reinstated and called the planned expressway a "$1 billion road boondoggle" that will "save West Kendall commuters six minutes on commutes downtown while destroying hundreds of acres of wetlands and farmland."

"The administration decided to waste time and energy on a personal vendetta rather than address our mobility crisis," he said. "I'm especially grateful to Commissioner Daniela Levine Cava, who appointed me, for standing by me during this process. I'll continue to be a strong advocate on the Transportation Trust for increasing all transit options and using trust funds to implement real solutions to our congestion."

That administrative challenge is still pending.

Schwiep's attorney, Jeffrey Crockett of Coffey Burlington, noted that his client litigated against the county in a prior environmental case involving leaking sewage in Key Biscayne without any issue.

"Everything he's doing is done in the interest of the citizens. It's all consistent," Crockett said. "He's a believer in it. He is the voice for mass transit, SunPass and using the money as the people intended."

Read the ruling:

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