BOSTON - Technical issues could doom a class action lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was sued in 2022 after moving Venezuelan migrants from a Texas shelter to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts.
Alianza Americas and individuals using pseudonyms sued DeSantis in Boston federal court, claiming they were illegally lured by DeSantis and Florida Transportation Department Secretary Jared Perdue, plus others.
The plaintiffs are on their third complaint. Judge Allison Burroughs has already dismissed one of them after rejecting a conspiracy theory that attempted to establish Massachusetts jurisdiction over the Florida defendants.
Florida hired the company Vertol to fly some 50 South American immigrants to Massachusetts "to protect the state of Florida," DeSantis said. A decision earlier this year dismissed claims against DeSantis but kept them alive against Vertol, its owner James Montgomerie and contractor Perla Huerta.
Burroughs' order directed plaintiff lawyers to tie the Florida defendants to specific actions in Massachusetts when they filed their latest amended complaint, which DeSantis motioned to dismiss on Sept. 9.
"Plaintiffs assert that Huerta, Montgomerie and Vertol were agents of two of the State Defendants - (public safety czar) Lawrence Keefe or (DeSantis' chief of staff) James Utheimer - who were themselves agents of Gov. DeSantis," the motion says.
"Yet the allegations and documents on which Plaintiffs rely show that no State Defendant controlled Huerta, Montgomerie or Vertol. They also show that no State Defendant authorized the others to commit fraud for their personal benefit.
"So, Plaintiffs still cannot impute the Massachusetts contacts of others to any State Defendant."
In 2022, Florida's budget included $12 million to the Department of Transportation for transporting unauthorized aliens from Florida. The state began soliciting bids from companies to implement and manage such a program, then hired Vertol.
It is alleged Huerta told the plaintiffs that if they boarded a flight to the Northeast, they would receive stable housing, work and education. She had some plaintiffs sign an "Official Consent to Transport" form to receive a $10 McDonald's gift card, it is alleged.
Planes started in San Antonio then stopped in Crestview, Fla. Plaintiffs did not deboard and allege they only stopped there so those running the relocation program could claim they were in Florida.
Migrants were given a brochure to obtain with information about refugee cash and employment programs, plus a map of Martha's Vineyard. Some said they thought they were going to Boston and were scared to be going to an island. Their complaint alleges physical, emotional and economic harm.
Burroughs' order kept alive eight claims against Vertol but dismissed everything else. Plaintiffs sufficiently alleged Vertol knew or should have known its conduct would cause emotional distress.
She found "no legitimate purpose for rounding up highly vulnerable individuals on false pretenses and publicly injecting them into a divisive national debate."
Given the findings regarding Vertol, plaintiffs tried to tie its conduct to the Florida officials. They first named DeSantis, Keefe and Utheimer in their official capacities as defendants but changed that status to personal capacities in the amended complaint.
"Yet they still seek declaratory and injunctive relief," the motion to dismiss says. "But they can't get that relief against State Defendants in their personal capacities.
"And even if this Court were to forgive Plaintiffs' failure to name the State Defendants in their official capacities, it would still have to address the many other threshold problems with Plaintiffs' lawsuit unless it again dismisses the case under the long-arm statute.
"All the personal-jurisdiction, venue, standing and sovereign-immunity roadblocks remain."