Lawsuit against City Commissioner Kyle Battie heads to court

The case of Kelly Franklin v. Kyle Battie now has a court date. 

At 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 30, a motion to dismiss Franklin’s defamation suit against the Sarasota City Commissioner filed by his attorney, Brian Goodrich, will go before Judge Stephen Walker of the 12th Judicial Circuit Court.

The lawsuit stems from a Jan. 16 Sarasota City Commission meeting when Battie produced what Franklin said is a hoax social media post that portrayed her as using a racial slur. He displayed a crumpled printout depicting a photo of himself and others at the ribbon cutting of Corona Cigar Co. with the caption “Gorillas in the midst of being gorillas are on my mind.” 

The co-owner of Corona Cigar Co., Tanya Borysiewicz, is a half Black woman.

Franklin said the caption and her identity, which was displayed during Battie’s presentation, were lifted by an unknown person from a 2022 Facebook post accompanied by multiple pictures of actual gorillas she took while on an African photo safari. A search of her account confirms that she published such a post.

Photo by Ian Swaby

Battie spoke at length about the printout. Whether such a post was actually ever published online has not been proven. He cited it as an example of racism in Sarasota and asked fellow commissioners to respond.

Franklin’s attorney, Richard Harrison, filed a five-count defamation suit against Battie in the 12th Judicial Circuit with a demand for jury trial.

In the interim Franklin’s husband, Ron Kashden — who is running against Mayor Liz Alpert for her District 2 commission seat — provided a list of conditions to the city that, according to City Manager Marlon Brown’s Feb. 28 email to city commissioners, detailed “items for city consideration that if done may cause any action against the city (and I believe Commissioner Battie) to cease (although too late).”

“As you read the document the first two items are pertinent/relevant to the current lawsuit against Commissioner Battie,” Brown wrote. “Item 3 is more administrative and I can understand that request, however, I have been hard press (sic) to see how items 4, 5, and 6 has anything to do with the matter on hand and appears to bring in other non-relevant issues that one or a few individuals may have. 

The six-point list from Kashden suggested:

• A statement from the city acknowledging that the fraudulent image and the exonerating evidence was in Battie's possession as of Dec. 19. Given that fact set and timeline, no reasonable person would conclude that defamatory image came from Kelly Franklin or had anything to do with CityPAC. Therefore, the city is initiating an investigation into the source of the falsely attributed image and the circumstances that lead to its publication and extends its sincere apologies to both Kelly Franklin and CityPAC.
• The city initiate an SPD investigation behind the source of the altered image (which could be announced as part of the statement).
• Alter the agenda request procedure for presentations by commissioners with an additional question if no backup was provided as to why there is no backup. If it is only verbal or the backup materials are not ready, the commissioner can state that.
• (City Attorney) Bob Fournier review whether the rights for Corona Cigar change as a result of the recently approved bar, restaurant and nightclub zoning text amendment. 
• Corona Cigar be cited for a code violation and told to remove their outdoor seating since no valid permit exists for seating.
• ”Her-story" sign for Unconditional Surrender using text already agreed upon by Mayor Alpert, which promotes dialog about messages and meanings.

With the list attached, Brown wrote to commissioners, “It appears to be a situation where, ‘while we are at it, let’s throw everything and the kitchen sink at the city that we have had problems with so that the city can further appease us.’”

Alpert told the Observer that she recalls signing off on the Unconditional Surrender companion sign verbiage, but “This was a few years ago. Ms. Franklin and another person worked on the wording, I finally agreed to a version of it to be placed on the agenda to see if the commission wanted to add an additional sign. I don’t recall what it said.”

In an email to Alpert explaining the list of conditions, Franklin wrote:

“Ron’s outreach to the city was in response to your request at the Feb. 5, 2024 City Commission meeting that we seek resolution that would not involve litigation. Ignoring the antagonist and unprofessional tone of Marlon’s email, the document he sent you yesterday was provided to (Deputy City Manager) Pat (Robinson) when Ron met with him Feb. 6. On Feb. 9, Pat told Ron that Kyle was blocking movement on the requests. The reason the sidewalk cafe permit and bar ZTA issues were raised is because they are pertinent to the defamatory attack which occurred Jan. 16, 2024.”

Photo by David Conway

Regarding Unconditional Surrender, Franklin wrote in an email to the Observer, “Given the feigned performance Kyle staged in chambers Jan. 16, the time seemed ripe to make the point that imagery can trigger powerful PTSD reactions, as that statue has for multiple female veterans raped in service as well as for the child I mentored from Big Brothers/Big Sisters. She confessed her rape to me upon seeing that statue.”

Franklin maintains the events of the Jan. 16 were a coordinated attack on her and, by extension, the city government activist organization CityPAC. Her defamation suit claims Battie and Borysiewicz coordinated an attack on her character and were aware in mid-December that the alleged social media post was a hoax.

Goodrich told the Observer Kashden appears to be leveraging the continuation of legal action for political gain, citing the Unconditional Surrender companion sign and Corona Cigar code violation as irrelevant to the lawsuit.

“Mr. Kashden’s (list) demonstrates that he does not understand how city business operates,” Goodrich wrote in an email. “Even if the city was inclined to help settle Mr. Battie’s lawsuit, I do not believe it could simply barter a code violation against a third party in exchange for a dismissal of the lawsuit. Nor could the city simply direct the SPD to conduct an investigation on a non-criminal matter.”

City administration confirmed via Communications General Manager Jan Thornburg that the city cannot instruct the Sarasota Police Department to investigate the origin of the alleged hoax post printout because it is not a criminal matter.

Criminal or not, Franklin maintains changes need to be made, starting with the list of conditions.

“In addition to seeking enforcement of the code violation, I was asking for changes and improvements to the city’s processes to ensure that no other innocent resident sitting at home could ever be framed and attacked like this again,” she told the Observer. “I have repeatedly called for positive measures and conciliation — yet the city maintains and adversarial posture.I am at a loss for what an innocent victim of someone else’s planned attack is supposed to do. My name matters to me, and I will continue to defend my reputation.”