Supporters of Broward judge up for re-election blast opponent’s apparent revenge motive
No one expected Broward Circuit Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips to draw a challenger for her latest re-election campaign.
But one Orlando lawyer with no apparent ties to Broward County qualified to run against Phillips, and the judge’s supporters believe it’s a campaign with an ulterior motive that has nothing to do with wanting to win.
Phillips is currently the administrative judge of the circuit civil division, second only to Chief Administrative Judge Jack Tuter and a likely candidate to assume his office when he steps down early next year. She’s a 21-year veteran on the bench, originally appointed by then-Gov. Jeb Bush.
She was elected to a full term in 2006 without opposition and re-elected in 2012 and 2018, never needing to campaign.
Her opponent, Christina Grace Arguelles, is the daughter of Carlos Diez-Arguelles and Maria Tejedor, the lead attorneys on a case that, until the campaign, was assigned to Phillips.
“It’s one of the most Machiavellian, diabolical things I’ve ever seen,” said Phillips supporter William Scherer, a veteran of local politics and former member of the county’s Judicial Nominating Committee.
Scherer and attorney David DiPietro, who started the Friends of Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips political action committee, say Arguelles filed her candidacy only to force Phillips to recuse herself from the case her parents were involved in.
The plaintiff on that case, Highsmith v. Plantation General Hospital, won a $48 million judgment in May 2023, alleging that the hospital’s negligence resulted in a child being born with birth defects in 2011.
But Phillips ordered a new trial, finding that the “cumulative effect” of “improper conduct” by Diez-Arguelles and Tejedor “warrants a new trial.”
“The court cannot emphasize enough just how many objections were made by defense counsel and sustained by the court concerning plaintiff’s counsel’s conduct,” Phillips wrote.
The plaintiff’s lawyers did not appeal, but in January filed a motion asking Phillips to recuse herself from the case. She rejected the motion. Weeks later, their daughter was a candidate for Phillips’ seat, which forced her to recuse herself.
The case has been reassigned to Tuter.
Judges in Florida have until the day their term begins to establish residence in the jurisdiction, so Arguelles would need to move to Broward County only if she wins.
A representative for Arguelles’ campaign could not be reached for comment despite two telephone messages left at her office, one e-mail, and a telephone message left with the accountant listed as her campaign treasurer.
Judicial candidates are not permitted to engage in negative campaigning. The PAC for Phillips operates independently of her campaign, DiPietro said.
Court watchers believe a similar maneuver was employed in another Broward race. According to court records, Broward Circuit Judge Jessica Marra, who was appointed to the bench last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis, was presiding over a divorce case involving Miami attorney Andres Chavez Sanz, who filed against her as a write-in candidate last month.
Marra was forced to recuse herself from the case, though the court records don’t show why Sanz would have wanted a new judge.
“We have no idea what his intentions are,” said Aron Gibson, Marra’s campaign manager. “Most times when judges get an opponent it’s because they have some bone to pick. But that doesn’t seem to be the case here.”
A call to Sanz’s cellphone was not returned Wednesday.
Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457.