Morgan Bentley, the attorney representing both Karen Woodson and John King in their Town Council recall fight, has asked the Circuit Court to consolidate the cases so they can both be heard before the same judge.
Fort Myers Beach town council member Karen Woodson has filed a lawsuit against former Mayor Ray Murphy and council member John King has filed a lawsuit against former council member Bill Veach. Murphy and Veach are co-chairs of the recall committee. They are trying to remove Woodson and King from the council.
When the lawsuits were filed the Woodson/Murphy case was assigned to Judge Kyle Cohen. The King/Veach case was assigned to Judge Michael McHugh. Bentley wants the lawsuits to be consolidated and heard by one judge. The court has not yet ruled on that request. In his filing Bentley writes, “The facts and law of both cases overlap and arise out of the same transaction or relationship and judicial economy would be best served by consolidation.” He goes on to write that “consolidating these matters will accelerate the trial process and eliminate duplicative trials because the two cases involve the same questions of law and have questions of fact in common.”…