Sued for slander, Miami-Dade’s sidelined animal services chief is told: Get your own lawyer
The director-on-leave of Miami-Dade animal services will have to find herself a new lawyer after a judge granted the county attorney’s office’s motion to withdraw from defending her in a lawsuit that alleges she slandered a well-to-do animal lover.
The county will not cover the cost of the new lawyer.
The county attorney’s office cited “irreconcilable differences” that recently developed between Alison Bronwyn Stanford — now on paid administrative leave from her director duties at animal services — and the attorney’s office.
Yolanda Berkowitz, a founder of the Friends of Miami Animals Foundation, sued Stanford in Miami-Dade Circuit Court in May, alleging that Stanford slandered her with lies about her past, including that Berkowitz had been a “stripper” and an “escort”, after Berkowitz complained to the mayor about Stanford’s performance as the tax-funded shelter’s director.
Stanford, a former prosecutor and administrator at the Florida Department of Children and Families, became animal services director when Mayor Daniella Levine Cava appointed her in November 2021. The Doral shelter has faced a chorus of criticism, some of it relating to its handling of the proliferation of homeless dogs in the wake of the COVID pandemic.
It remains unclear what occurred between the county attorney’s office and Berkowitz that made the legal team backtrack on its decision to represent her.
Levine Cava placed Stanford on administrative leave and named a new interim director on Friday July 15.
Rachel Walters, the assistant county attorney who spoke on behalf of the office, said during the hearing that Richard Schevis, who was representing Stanford, had to go on emergency leave the same day as Stanford herself was placed on leave. The following Monday, his office filed the motion to withdraw as counsel.
Walters stated during hearing that she was only authorized to say that “irreconcilable differences” made it “impossible” for the county to continue representing Stanford.
Circuit Judge William Thomas, who said he had no basis to deny the county’s motion to withdraw, said the county was delaying the case by agreeing to represent Stanford in the first place and then taking it back.
“You’re basically adding an amount of delay onto this and then you’re putting the defendant in a position where they have to scramble for a new lawyer,” he said.
Judge Thomas set Aug. 15 as the date of a status conference, by which time Stanford is expected to have a new lawyer.
Hank Adorno, attorney for Berkowitz, expressed frustration with the county attorney’s office’s decision to initially take on the case before the about-face. He said he expressed objections in vain back in May to the county representing her.
“We’re trying to move this case as quickly as possible because not only are the slanderous statements damaging to the client, but because the case has now garnered publicity. It is continuing to cause injury to us,” he said.
