Funoe is 0 for 7
Before we begin this article, please be clear that Ali D is Funoe.
Mayor Ali Dennington, aka one of the managing members of Funoe LLC, along with her husband, Dr. Elvin Lephiew Dennington, the other managing member of Funoe LLC, filed the most recent of their seven lawsuits against the Town of Melbourne Beach on 3/28/2025. This lawsuit concerns five separate Public Records Requests (PRR) made by the Petitioner (Funoe LLC/the Denningtons) to the Town made between March 6, 2025 and March 12, 2025.
Case no. 05-2025-CA-23102 went to trial in April 2026. This was a non-jury trial that lasted two full days and examined whether the Town complied with the Public Records Requests under Chapter 119, Florida Statutes.
On July 6, 2026, Brevard County Circuit Court Judge Samuel Bookhart III issued his final judgment. To read, CLICK HERE. Spoiler Alert: 1) DENIED, 2) DENIED, 3) DENIED, 4) DENIED, 5) GRANTED as stipulated by the parties prior to the pre-trial evidentiary hearing.
In the pre-trial stipulation, the Town acknowledged that it failed to totally comply with Chapter 119 FS with respect to PRR-2025-36. However, the PRR Act clearly ascertains that public records requests “must be specific enough for the records custodian to perform the requested action”. If a request is ambiguous or vague, the agency does not violate the Act by failing to produce the records. With regard to this specific public records request, the Town Clerk completed the PRR as interpreted in March 2025. Six documents were provided. CLICK HERE
Apparently the six documents provided weren’t enough to prevent the Denningtons from suing the Town. Neither the PRR Act nor the Florida Constitution “requires agencies to pore through their own records to answer specific questions”. On March 28, 2025 Funoe filed its Petition for Writ of Mandamus as to all of their public records requests.
The Denningtons/Funoe’s completely unnecessary and unwarranted lawsuit should have never been filed. A Mandamus “is an extraordinary remedy, usually available only when the duty is non-discretionary and there is no other legal remedy”. If something was missing from the initial PRR-2025-36, why not just ask the Town Clerk more specifically for what you are looking for before suing the Town? Apparently, they sued for a couple of emails they thought were missing and the front desk Sign-in/out Sheet for mailboxes and other keys. Why didn’t they just ask for that in the first place?
The Town provided ALL records requested by the Denningtons/Funoe. Even though they received everything, they still sued the Town.
The question has been raised by some individuals on social media, “Why didn’t the Town settle?” Those of us who have followed this case, along with the other six lawsuits filed by the Denningtons against the Town of Melbourne Beach, were at the courthouse on the first day of the trial. The trial was delayed two hours as we sat and waited for a last attempt by the Town to negotiate a settlement with the Denningtons. These negotiations took place in the public hallway outside of Judge Bookhardt’s courtroom. Alison Dennington was overheard by many, stating, “I’m NOT going to settle. This is going to trial.”
After the first day of trial, the Dennington’s attorney, Nathan Maloon, informed our Town Attorney, Ryan Knight, that the Denningtons/Funoe would settle for $167,000.00. Read more: CLICK HERE
The trial continued to day two…
On the 6th of July, the Honorable Judge Bookhart issued his 19 page final judgment. This is a snapshot of his CONCLUSION:
To read the entire final judgement, CLICK HERE
Mayor and Dr. Dennington, PLEASE stop with your lawsuits. Enough is enough! No one is benefitting from your personal vendetta against our Town of Melbourne Beach… not even you.
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