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Blockbuster civil trial of Bergeron vs Waste Management finally gets underway – six years after case was filed

waste vs bergeron
Ron Bergeron listens to opening arguments Monday in his civil case against Waste Management and LGL Recycling. Photo: Florida Bulldog

By Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org

Two floors below the courtroom where the high-profile sentencing trial of the Parkland school killer got underway Monday, opening arguments were heard in the blockbuster civil trial about the $525-million trash disposal takeover that preceded the widespread decline of recycling in Broward.

The non-jury trial before Broward Chief Judge Jack Tuter pits defendant Waste Management against Bergeron Environmental and Recycling, owned by wealthy Davie businessman “Alligator” Ron Bergeron, and is expected to cast new light on several matters of public interest.

Most notable, perhaps, is why antitrust regulators at the Florida Attorney General’s Office failed to enforce – and actually hid from Broward’s cities – certain valuable commitments they received from Waste Management in exchange for not opposing its controversial 2016 asset purchase of Southern Waste Systems (SWS) Holdings, including assets of its Sun Recycling subsidiary. Those commitments were described in a Dec. 3, 2015 letter obtained by Florida Bulldog in 2018.

Sun Recycling, now known as LGL Recycling, and Bergeron Environmental were partners in Sun Bergeron, a joint venture which in 2013 upended Waste Management’s long-standing monopoly in Broward’s solid waste disposal business by contracting with 17 municipalities to process their recycled trash.

waste trial
Outside the courtroom Monday are, from right to left, defendant Charles Gusmano, defense lawyers Roy Mrachek and Bruce Rogow, and defendants Anthony Lomangino and, in the foreground, John Casagrande. Photo: Florida Bulldog

Bergeron sued Waste Management shortly after the SWS/Sun deal was struck, contending the Houston-based trash giant destroyed his business when it bought out Sun Recycling. He also sued SWS’s principal owner, Palm Beach businessman and former New York trash hauler Anthony Lomangino, who Bergeron contends sold him out by secretly negotiating the sale behind his back.

Named as defendants along with Waste Management, LGL and Anthony Lomangino as part of a  conspiracy to “tortiously interfere” with Bergeron’s business are LGL executives Charles Gusmano (Anthony’s nephew) and Charles Lomangino (Anthony’s son), and former SWS vice president John Casagrande.

THE ‘ULTIMATE PUPPETEER’

In sum, Bergeron is seeking in excess of $100 million in damages.

In an hour-long opening statement Monday, Bergeron’s Fort Lauderdale lawyer Mitchell Berger reiterated his client’s accusations and sought to paint Waste Management as the “ultimate puppeteer.”

In opening replies, West Palm Beach attorney Roy Fitzgerald, representing the Lomangino defendants, and Miami’s Fred Fein, whose client is Waste Management, fired back that the case that has taken more than six years to get to trial is in fact “pretty simple.” Their key reason: “Bergeron has no damages.”

“The Joint Venture was not a big money maker,” said Fitzgerald.

Attorney Roy Fitzgerald

Last week, the Florida Supreme Court declined to intervene to overturn a ruling by the Fourth District Court of Appeal that upheld Tuter’s August 2021 decision to allow Bergeron to amend his complaint to assert additional claims for punitive damages against both Waste Management and LGL.

Tuter acted after determining that evidence produced for his inspection in court papers and during two days of pre-trial hearings “sufficiently outlines a scheme to put Sun Bergeron out of business by depleting its assets, interfering with or taking control of its government contracts and closing the deal [despite] knowing it needed Bergeron’s approval.”

A COUNTY COMMISSIONER WATCHES

The judge cautioned findings were preliminary. “Nothing in this order should be construed the Court has made any determination as to whether the plaintiff [Bergeron] can actually prove by clear and convincing evidence, their right to recover punitive damages,” he said.

That’s what Bergeron’s lawyers will try to do during the anticipated next five weeks.

Attendees at the trial’s opening day began before a gaggle of lawyers and their clients, including Bergeron, his wife, Ali Waldman Bergeron, Anthony Lomangino, Gusmano and Casagrande.

Broward County Commissioner Mark Bogen

Also attending was Broward County Commissioner Mark Bogen, whose district includes Coconut Creek and its neighbor, the hulking Monarch Hill landfill owned by Waste Management.

Asked why he was there, Bogen replied, “I’m very interested to see if someone pulled the wool over our eyes six years ago.”

In May 2015, before Bogen joined the commission, it held a controversial 7-2 vote to close one of Broward’s two taxpayer-funded waste-to-energy incinerators adjacent to Monarch Hill in Pompano Beach. The plant was paid for by taxpayers, but later given to Waste Management to operate. The closure resulted in more trash being dumped at the landfill.

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Comments

6 responses to “Blockbuster civil trial of Bergeron vs Waste Management finally gets underway – six years after case was filed”

  1. But it’s Broward Avatar
    But it’s Broward

    Both plaintiff and defendant are rather unsympathetic figures…

  2. Carl Buehler Avatar

    Pretty stupid for any city or county official to now excuse themselves by saying “I’m very interested to see if someone pulled the wool over our eyes six years ago.” Everybody understood what Waste Management did was an illegal establishment of a monopoly in local waste hauling and recycling in collusion with the crooked State Attorney Pam Bondi. That has been the history of Waste Management across the nation going back to the 1960s where it used to burn out competitors.
    Local government felt powerless to object given the State had Wayne Huizenga’s back in the crooked the SWS/Sun deal. They were left with only one provider of waste hauling and recycling. Another example of the Governor and State Legislature usurping the responsibility and authority of local government.

  3. A dirt giant and a garbage giant square off.

    My guess is whoever gave the most money to Broward Democrats will win.

  4. I worked for waste management, in the field, and I can tell you their practices are unethical for such a large company with so many resources. They also claim to recycle for the environment which is total BS. They only recycle if there’s a large profit. It’s a company masked and falsely decorated as employee-customer caring and environmentally friendly, but the reality is it’s all about money and whatever it takes to make or save it. They will cut down and remove anything deemed in the way. How they get away with environmental atrocities on their job sites is beyond me.

  5. […] high-income nations produce even more completely dry recyclable waste than low-income countries. In just click the next website -income nations, waste collection is practically global. In low-income nations, the rate is […]

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