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Bergeron loses appeal against Waste Management in recycling case; huge legal fees loom

bergeron
Former business partners Ron Bergeron, right, and Anthony Lomangino

By Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org

Politically connected Davie businessman “Alligator” Ron Bergeron has lost his appeal of a Broward judge’s ruling that trash disposal giant Waste Management conspired with Bergeron’s former business partners to destroy his recycling business.

“After a lengthy non-jury trial in a case arising out of a joint venture agreement (JVA), involving multiple parties and multiple counts, the trial court wrote detailed and thoughtful final judgments that found in favor of all defendants on all counts,” a three-judge appeals panel unanimously wrote. “We affirm the final judgments in all respects and write to address issues surrounding a waiver of jury trial contained in the JVA.”

Bergeron, who has said he lost millions of dollars in the deal, will likely lose millions more. The appellate court last month also ordered him to pay Waste Management’s attorneys’ fees, as well as the fees of its co-defendants, LGL Recycling, formerly known as Sun Recycling LLC, and LGL officers Anthony Lomangino, Charles Lomangino, John Casagrande and the late Charles Gusmano.

Bergeron had eight lawyers actively prosecuting his case. Waste Management and its co-defendants were represented by 14 lawyers, court records show.

Bergeron, a member of the governing board of the South Florida Water Management District, has until tomorrow to file post-opinion motions that will likely include asking the full 12-member Fourth District Court of Appeal to reconsider the three-judge panel’s decision.

bergeron

THE DEAL THAT FELL APART

Back in 2011, Bergeron and Anthony Lomangino, a Palm Beach resident, together formed Sun/Bergeron, a 50-50 joint venture for the purpose of bidding on municipal contracts in Broward to dispose of solid waste and recyclables.

Sun, part of Lomangino’s Southern Waste Systems (SWS), provided the infrastructure, trucks and disposal facilities. Bergeron provided the political clout to obtain the municipal contracts amid widespread unhappiness by cities with the monopolistic prices Waste Management was charging.

The joint venture of Sun/Bergeron succeeded in breaking Waste Management’s grip on disposal in Broward, signing contracts with 17 municipalities for five years. But half-way through, Bergeron has said that he found out that Lomangino was shopping his assets to the highest bidder. Waste Management bought SWS in 2016, in a deal called an asset purchase agreement, for $525 million. The deal did not include Sun’s stake in Sun/Bergeron.

The sale gave Waste Management, owner of the bulging Monarch Hill dump in North Broward, control of the recycling waste stream. The result was a significant decline in recycling in Broward as waste that could be recycled was instead disposed of in a much cheaper way by dumping it in the Monarch Hill landfill.

(Today, Waste Management is seeking the approval of the Broward County Commission to allow the height of the dump to rise from 225 feet, the current cap, to 325 feet. That’s the size of the Statue of Liberty. On Nov. 12, commissioners delayed that vote until 2025 after city officials and residents of nearby Coconut Creek and Deerfield Beach turned out in opposition.)

Bergeron quickly filed suit against Waste Management, Lomangino and the other co-defendants claiming they had ruined his business. The case took six years to get to trial. But in May 2022, after a 10-week trial, Broward Chief Judge Jack Tuter ruled against Bergeron and his company Bergeron Environmental.

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