Oakes Farms Food & Distribution Servs. v. Sch. Dist. of Lee Cnty., Case No. 2:20-cv-488-JLB-MRM
| Court | United States District Courts. 11th Circuit. United States District Court of Middle District of Florida |
| Writing for the Court | JOHN L. BADALAMENTI UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE |
| Decision Date | 28 May 2021 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 2:20-cv-488-JLB-MRM |
| Parties | OAKES FARMS FOOD & DISTRIBUTION SERVICES, LLC, and FRANCIS A. OAKES, III, Plaintiffs, v. THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF LEE COUNTY, FLORIDA, GREGORY ADKINS, FREDERICK B. ROSS, MARY FISCHER, DEBBIE JORDAN, MELISSA W. GIOVANELLI, CHRIS N. PATRICIA, GWYNETTA S. GITTENS, BETSY VAUGHN, CATHLEEN O'DANIEL MORGAN, and JOHN DOE #1, Defendants. |
OAKES FARMS FOOD & DISTRIBUTION SERVICES, LLC,
and FRANCIS A. OAKES, III, Plaintiffs,
v.
THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF LEE COUNTY, FLORIDA,
GREGORY ADKINS, FREDERICK B. ROSS, MARY FISCHER,
DEBBIE JORDAN, MELISSA W. GIOVANELLI, CHRIS N. PATRICIA,
GWYNETTA S. GITTENS, BETSY VAUGHN,
CATHLEEN O'DANIEL MORGAN, and JOHN DOE #1, Defendants.
Case No. 2:20-cv-488-JLB-MRM
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA FORT MYERS DIVISION
May 28, 2021
ORDER
Francis A. "Alfie" Oakes is the owner of Oakes Farms Food & Distribution Services, LLC ("Oakes Farms"). From 2016 to 2020, Oakes Farms supplied the School District of Lee County ("School District") with fresh produce. Shortly after Oakes Farms's contract with the School District was unanimously renewed for the 2020-21 school year, Mr. Oakes wrote a post on his personal Facebook page discussing the killing of George Floyd, bemoaning the "brainwashing" influence of the media, and characterizing the COVID-19 pandemic as a "hoax." Three days after Mr. Oakes's post, the School District terminated its contract with Oakes Farms. Plaintiffs believe the termination was unlawful retaliation for Mr. Oakes exercising his First Amendment rights, a breach of the underlying contract, and a
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violation of Florida's Sunshine Law. Accordingly, they now sue: (1) the School District; (2) the members of the Lee County School Board (Mary Fischer, Debbie Jordan, Melissa Giovanelli, Chris N. Patricia, Gwynetta S. Gittens, Betsy Vaughn, and Cathleen O'Daniel Morgan, referred to collectively as the "School Board" or "Board Members"); (3) Gregory Adkins, the School District's Superintendent; and (4) Frederick B. Ross, the School District's Director of Procurement. (Doc. 53.)
Defendants move to dismiss Plaintiffs' Second Amended Complaint for lack of standing and failure to state a claim. (Doc. 57.) After careful review of the parties' arguments and accepting all facts alleged in the Second Amended Complaint as true, the Court agrees with Defendants in only one respect: the Second Amended Complaint fails to state a breach-of-contract claim for the termination of the contract set forth in Count III. But the Court finds that Plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged a breach of contract for the School Board's failure to provide Oakes Farms with seven days' notice prior to its termination of the contract. The motion to dismiss is denied in all other respects, and the case shall proceed with discovery in the normal course.
I. The School District terminates Oakes Farms's contract after Mr. Oakes's Facebook post.
Oakes Farms continuously provided the School District with fresh produce over a four-year period, from 2016 to 2020. (Doc. 53 at ¶ 24.) In June 2018, the
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School Board voted to approve Oakes Farms's bid on a contract to supply the School District with produce for a period of three years, renewable for up to three additional one-year periods. (Id. at ¶ 23.) Oakes Farms's performance under the contract was apparently satisfactory through June 2020 because the School Board unanimously voted to renew the contract for the 2020-21 school year. (Id. at ¶ 26.)
On June 8, 2020, Mr. Oakes posted the following on his personal Facebook:
The COVID19 hoax did not work to bring down our great President and now this...the black lives matter race hoax...REALLY ...what else do the disgraceful powers that control this world with their puppets in the media have planned for us in next 5 months? Is it possible that so many of our fellow American citizens could really be this ignorant?
When I was a young child I vividly remember during church services a sermon that described how there would come a time where many people would not recognize good from evil or truth from blatant lies...I remember thinking to myself how could this ever happens? It seems impossible from the paradigm that I existed in.
Well here we are...in the past 3 months I have watched not only OUR country's economy but the entire world economy brought to ruins for no other reason that multitudes of men and women have allowed themselves to be controlled by deceit and fear. The corrupt world powers and their brainwashing arms of the media have proven the ability to program the masses.
Now only weeks after the COVID programming many of the same lemmings have allowed the media to convince them that the amazing men and women that put their lives on the line every day to protect us are bad but some disgraceful drug addict felon is a hero being paraded around the country. Can this really be happening??
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There is absolutely no dispute that George Floyd was a disgraceful career criminal, thief, drug addict, drug dealer and ex-con who served 5 yrs in prison for armed robbery on a pregnant woman, and spent his last days passing around fake 20's to store owners in Minnesota. Our new media hero "Gentle George" had two types of heart disease due to the tremendous amount of illegal drugs he was taking daily. In his autopsy he tested positive for marijuana, Fentanyl, Amphetamine, morphine, methamphetamine, and sever others .. When officer Chauvin responded to a 911 call that someone was passing counterfeit 20s the store owner pointed out Floyd, who was sitting in a car across the street. When officer Chauvin confronted Floyd, and asked him to get out of the car, Floyd refused and was not cooperating with the officer, a 20 year public servant, who was unlucky enough to be the one having to deal with this drug addicted criminal, a true disgrace to our human race that represents all that is wrong with our society. Floyd continued to resist the officers orders during this incident as one would expect from a mindless drug addict. Now the media, Hollywood and many of our disgraceful politicians want you to be outraged that this career criminal drug abusing thug suffered the consequences of a lifetime of bad choices. Unfortunately the liberal mindset that has been instilled in so many of our young generation has taught them to take no personal responsibility for their actions. They have been taught that if they do not success than [sic] they must be a victim. These lost souls without any direction or sense of purpose are so easily manipulated to blame others for their lack of self worth. It is these lost souls with little to no self worth who are the "protesters" that we see looting our stores, burning down our cities, defaming our national monuments and disgracing the great men and women that built this country.. but I suppose now they finally found a purpose.
As we will likely be facing tough times ahead, I can only pray that these lost souls find a true purpose beyond the blame and deceit that is testing if not ruining the strong fabric of once our great nation.
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(Id. at ¶ 28 (typographical errors in original).)2 Almost immediately, someone created an online petition on Change.org, calling on the School District to "cut ties with Oakes Farms as founder and CEO Alfie Oakes has shared racist views about the murder of George Floyd on his Facebook page." (Id. at ¶ 29.)
One day after Mr. Oakes's post, local news outlets reported that the School District was facing a "backlash" for the Facebook post, and that the School District was "aware of the petition that stemmed from [the] post." (Id. at ¶ 31.) On June 11, three days after the post, Oakes Farms was contacted by Defendant Frederick B. Ross, the School District's Director of Procurement. Director Ross informed Oakes Farms that the School District decided to terminate its contract with Oakes Farms "for convenience" without further explanation. (Id. at ¶ 32.) The next day, on June 12, Oakes Farms received a written notice of termination signed by Director Ross. (Id. at ¶ 35.) The notice provides that it "has been determined that it is in the best interest of the [School] District to terminate the contract for convenience. The last delivery date of ordered products will be June 25, 2020."3 (Doc. 53-4.)
II. The Board Members make public comments about Mr. Oakes's post.
As alleged in the Second Amended Complaint, between June 9 and June 11 certain members of the School Board made public statements that suggested the
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impetus for terminating Oakes Farms's contract was Mr. Oakes's personal views (as expressed in the Facebook post) about the Black Lives Matter protests and the circumstances surrounding George Floyd's death.
On June 9, Defendant Gwynetta Gittens gave a televised interview in which she stated, "The things that were said in that post, they were horrible. Being black myself, it's hard to read where someone vilifies someone for their own, you know, purposes . . . . I do not want to, in any way, shape or form, give a dime to that company." (Doc. 53 at ¶ 49.)
Two more members of the School Board—Defendants Cathleen Morgan and Debbie Jordan—were cited as supporting the decision to terminate Oakes Farms's contract in a local news article. Ms. Jordan was quoted as saying that Mr. Oakes's Facebook post was "very upsetting" and went on to explain, "When we say that we're going to be committed to our values of diversity and inclusion and condemn racism in all forms, we have to stand by that. We cannot have one statement that says one thing and allow another to stand." (Id. at ¶ 50.)
III. The School District's process for deciding whether to terminate Oakes's Farms contract is unclear.
The School District's contract with Oakes Farms contains two relevant clauses regarding termination in paragraph 29. The first clause provides:
In the event any of the provisions of the contract awarded as a result of this ITN are violated by the Vendor, the Superintendent or designee will give written notice to the Vendor stating the deficiencies and unless the deficiencies are corrected within ten (10) calendar days, recommendation may be made to the Board for immediate cancellation.
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(Doc. 53-1 at 7.) Paragraph 29 also contains a "convenience" clause, which permits the Board to terminate the contract "at...
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