Pegasus Reopens Suit Vs. Green Cove, Asks for Rehearing on Aviation Issues
And This Time the Judge Is a Pilot
Lawyers in the Pegasus Technologies lawsuit have asked for a rehearing after a judge last month ruled in favor of the defendants, the City of Green Cove Springs and the family of Virginia Hall.
Readers may recall that the CIA-controlled aviation outfit sued to stop a city-approved apartment complex that aligned with its runway at Reynolds Industrial Park, and especially those buildings directly in the flight path.
Judge Don Lester quashed many of the Pegasus arguments centering on state aviation law, ruling that it was inadmissible as evidence. Instead, the case was decided on whether the project was consistent with Green Cove’s Future Development Plan, and Lester ruled that it was.
The arguments in the motion for a rehearing focus almost entirely on what Lester refused to consider. Attorney Hunton Andrews Kurth, representing Pegasus co-plaintiff Reynolds Park, summarized why a second look at the case was justified:
At the end of trial, one thing remained undisputed: the city—and now the court, by virtue of its wholesale adoption of defendants’ proposed judgment1—have approved of a rezoning decision that permits 59-foot multi-story buildings in close proximity to and in direct alignment with an active airport runway, all without formally considering the requirements of Florida’s airport zoning law. This, despite the fact that plaintiffs emphasized the need for airport protection zoning regulations from start to end. Rehearing is warranted to rectify this error.
A Pilot on the Bench
This is where the story gets interesting. It won’t be Judge Lester considering the motion; Lester’s term has expired. According to the Clay County Clerk of Court’s office, Circuit Court Judge James Kallaher has been assigned the case.
Before he became a lawyer and then a judge, Kallaher was a naval aviator flying F-14 and F/A-18 fighters. He was a graduate of the Navy’s Top Gun school and served in operations Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom with several tours of overseas duty, including Kuwait and Afghanistan.
After Kallaher was appointed to the bench by Gov. Ron DeSantis in April 2022, the Jacksonville Daily Record conducted a Q&A with him:
Record: Do you have any special talents?
Kallaher: I am a licensed pilot and have love and fascination for all things aviation.
Record: If you weren’t a judge what do you think you’d be?
Kallaher: I would absolutely still be practicing law. If I were not a lawyer, I would probably be trying to make a living flying an airplane.
In the same interview, Kallaher also signaled the importance of “rethinking opinions.”
Record: What is your favorite book?
Kallaher: The one I am reading. I currently am reading “Think Again” by Adam Grant, an examination of the critical art of rethinking your opinions. I will admit to getting great joy from Douglas Adams’ “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” anthology which I recently revisited and shared with my teenage son.
Kallaher is one of four area pilots who partner in the ownership of a Mooney M20J 201 aircraft, which they keep at Herlong Airport in Jacksonville. One of the partners is Clay County Commissioner Jim Renninger, who was also a naval aviator.
No date has been announced for a hearing on the Pegasus-Reynolds motion, which resets the 30-day clock for the losing party to take its case to Florida Appeals Court.
At the end of the trial, Judge Don Lester told the court that his schedule was jammed up as his term as judge was coming to an end. To balance his workload between the Pegasus suit and other cases Lester was finishing up, he asked attorney’s for both sides to each craft a proposed judgement and submit it to him. The document submitted by the city and Halls was entered into the record by Pegasus/Reynolds lawyers in connection with their motion for a rehearing. The proposed wording from the lawyers for Green Cove and the Halls was pretty much adopted in its entirety for Lester’s final ruling.