Chris Carmody Featured in SFBW

ORLANDO, FL – September 30, 2019 – Christopher L. Carmody, Jr., attorney and lobbyist in GrayRobinson’s Orlando law firm office, is featured in the South Florida Business and Wealth (SFBW) article "Criticized Law Brings About Fairness." The article discusses Florida's 2019 Community Planning and Growth Management bill recently signed by Governor Ron DeSantis. The bill creates a "prevailing party" provision and allows the winning party to a lawsuit challenging a development, based on its consistency with a jurisdiction's comprehensive plan, entitlement to recover reasonable attorney fees.

The legislation (HB 7103) was met with criticism that the mere risk of losing takes away the public's ability to counter a governing authority's action. But on the other side of the controversy—the bill also enables citizens that have solid legal arguments against a development to win with their legal fees covered, thus creating an additional financial stick to hold governmental agencies more accountable in prudent review of all development. Carmody gives his input stating, "A chief complaint around the state is the push for affordable housing on the backs of commercial developers. This legislation makes clear that if a local government prioritizes affordable housing in developments, it must fully offset the costs associated with it."

Read the full article here.