Miami firefighters defamation case goes to state Supreme Court
TALLAHASSEE - Three Miami firefighters have gone to the Florida Supreme Court after an appeals court shielded the city of Miami and Fire Chief Joseph Zahralban from defamation allegations in a lawsuit stemming from a 2017 incident in which a Black firefighter's family photos were defaced and a string shaped like a noose was placed over one of the photos.
Firefighters David Rivera, Kevin Meizoso, and Justin Rumbaugh on Monday filed a notice that is a first step in asking the Supreme Court to take up the case. As is common, the notice did not include detailed arguments.
Lt. Robert Webster discovered the racist symbol on his shift in Fire Station 12, the day Hurricane Irma hit. There was a hangman's noose and sexual images drawn on his family photos.
The three men filed the lawsuit over comments that Zahralban made in a news release and news conference that implicated them in placing the noose over the photo, according to an August ruling by a panel of the 3rd District Court of Appeal.
The firefighters said they were not involved in the noose incident and alleged in the lawsuit that Zahralban's statements falsely portrayed them as "racists who were responsible for placing the noose over the defaced photos, causing them irreparable harm," the appeals-court ruling said.
After being terminated from their jobs, the firefighters went to arbitration and were reinstated. A Miami-Dade County circuit judge declined to dismiss the defamation allegations, but the appeals court said the city and Zahralban were entitled to legal immunity.
