Governor Seeks Dismissal Of Suit Over Terri's Law

CLEARWATER - Gov. Jeb Bush cried foul in the dispute over Terri Schiavo's fate Wednesday, moving to block any rapid court action in the case. A lawsuit filed against Bush by Michael Schiavo should not go forward because the governor was not served legal notice he is being sued, said Kenneth Connor, special counsel for the governor.

Also, all such suits against the governor must be filed in Tallahassee, Connor said.

``The governor has a right to a home venue privilege,'' Connor said. Otherwise, Bush would have to ``trot all over the state'' every time someone sued him, Connor said.

Bush will not file a response to Michael Schiavo's constitutional challenge to Terri's Law until the case is put on a proper footing with proper notice in the proper venue, Connor said.

``This is one of the most shameful delaying tactics I've ever seen,'' Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, said.

Michael Schiavo filed his lawsuit against Bush and Attorney General Charlie Crist on Oct. 21, the same day the Legislature enacted a measure dubbed Terri's Law. The law gave Bush the power to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case.

That evening, Bush ordered that a feeding tube be reinserted into Schiavo's stomach so she could begin receiving liquid nutrition after almost seven days without food or water.

Schiavo's feeding tube had been removed on court orders Oct. 15 after almost 5 1/2 years of litigation between her husband and her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler.

Schiavo, 39, has been in what some doctors term a persistent vegetative state since suffering heart failure in 1990.

After a January 2000 nonjury trial, a judge ruled Terri Schiavo made statements prior to her illness indicating she would not want to be kept alive in her current condition with no hope of improvement. The judge granted Michael Schiavo's request to discontinue feeding his wife, a ruling that has been upheld under repeated appeals by the Schindlers.

The St. Petersburg couple say their daughter reacts to them and could improve with therapy.

Bush first tried to intervene in the case in August, when he asked that Terri Schiavo be assigned an independent guardian ad litem to ensure her rights and interests were being protected. Bush said then he was acting in response to more than 25,000 e-mail messages and phone calls from people who want Schiavo kept alive.

Michael Schiavo's attorney has complained for years that the Schindlers and their supporters are engaged in delaying tactics designed to discourage his client and cause him to give up on what Michael Schiavo maintains is a quest to honor his wife's wishes.

On Wednesday, Felos accused Bush of using delay tactics to avoid the inevitable court ruling that Terri's Law is unconstitutional because it allowed the governor to violate the separation of powers and intrude on Terri Schiavo's right to refuse medical treatment.

``He is trying to avoid the day of reckoning by some niggling procedural grounds,'' Felos said.

Bush waived any need to be formally served with the lawsuit the night it was filed, when a member of his legal staff participated by telephone in an emergency hearing over whether Schiavo's feeding tube should be reinserted, Felos said.

The governor's attorney made no mention of the need to file the lawsuit in Tallahassee, he said.

``Why didn't they raise those objections at that time? It's shameless,'' Felos said.

Circuit Judge Douglas Baird said late Wednesday that he had not read the governor's motion to dismiss the lawsuit over Terri's Law. He said he will take no action until Felos has a chance to respond.

The attorney general is following the lead of the governor's office and will not be filing a response to the lawsuit, Crist spokeswoman Joann Carrin said.

Terri's Law defender lashes out

The lead counsel for Gov. Jeb Bush files a motion to dismiss Michael Schiavo's challenge to the law that keeps his wife alive.

By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE, Times Staff Writer
Published November 6, 2003

Ken Connor, once considered the leader of Florida's right-to-life movement, will be Gov. Jeb Bush's lead counsel in the defense of Terri's Law, a measure that forced doctors to reinsert Terri Schiavo's feeding tube last month.

Connor, who works in a Tampa law firm, filed a motion Wednesday to dismiss Michael Schiavo's Pinellas-Pasco lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the law.

In an interview with reporters, Connor described Terri's Law as a necessary safeguard of Mrs. Schiavo's rights, one that doesn't threaten the independence of the courts.

"The Legislature often passes legislation in response to court decisions," said Connor, a one-time candidate for governor who is working free of charge. "We don't believe this is an infringement of any patient's rights. We believe (Terri's Law) is an extra layer of protection afforded an incompetent patient unable to express her wishes."

Terri's Law was drafted over two hectic days in Tallahassee and adopted Oct. 21. At that time, Mrs. Schiavo's feeding tube had been out and she was without food and water for six days.

Earlier Wednesday, a judge refused to dismiss an effort by Mrs. Schiavo's parents to remove Michael Schiavo as his wife's guardian.

Connor resigned in July as president of the Family Research Council, a Washington think tank, as he contemplated a run for the U.S. Senate in Florida.

He rose to prominence in 1989 when he led an unsuccessful campaign to persuade the Florida Legislature to enact new restrictions on abortion.

The same year, he led a failed effort to oust Florida Supreme Court Justice Leander Shaw after he wrote an opinion upholding the privacy rights of women to have abortions.

Connor's motion in the Schiavo case said the governor was not properly served with the suit. Connor also said that the proper place to file a challenge against a state law is Leon County Circuit Court in Tallahassee, not Pinellas.

In addition, the state questioned the expedited process a Pinellas-Pasco judge has set up to rule on the suit, a process without a trial that does not allow Bush's lawyers to collect evidence.

"Given the life and death nature of the issues before the Court, Mr. Schiavo's attorneys should not be allowed to create a rush to judgment by circumventing standard legal practice," Bush said in a statement.

George Felos, the attorney representing Michael Schiavo, said Bush was engaged in "one of the most shameful delaying tactics" he had ever seen.

Felos said the governor's staff was properly served on Oct. 21, the day Terri's Law was adopted and the legal challenge filed. Bush's lawyers were faxed a copy of the lawsuit the same day and even appeared via telephone at an emergency hearing later that night, Felos said.

And Felos said the law allows the judge in the case, Circuit Judge Douglas Baird, to set up an expedited process, without a trial, to rule on the constitutionality of the law. Felos said Baird can do so because the case involves legal, not factual, issues.

"As an attorney, as an officer of the court, as a lover of the law, to see the governor of our state just playing such low ball, in the gutter, trashy legal maneuvering, it's pathetic," Felos said.

A Pinellas-Pasco judge has previously ruled that Mrs. Schiavo's wishes were not to be kept alive by artificial means.

Mrs. Schiavo, who is severely brain damaged, has been kept alive by a feeding tube for more than 13 years. Many doctors say she is in a persistent vegetative state and cannot recover. Her parents disagree with that diagnosis.

Mrs. Schiavo's parents have previously sought to remove Michael Schiavo as guardian, though earlier efforts were unsuccessful. Now attorneys for Michael Schiavo must respond to complaints that he has abused his role as guardian, including charges that he has withheld vital treatment to his wife and has a conflict of interest because of his relationship with another woman.

"It's very important because the fact of the matter is, Michael should not be her guardian," said Pat Anderson, attorney for the parents, Bob and Mary Schindler. "He has a gross, gross conflict of interest."

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