An appellate court on Wednesday denied Delray Beach developer Anthony Pugliese’s request to disqualify a judge for making an allegedly discriminatory comment against Italians.
Pugliese argued Palm Beach Circuit Judge Donald Hafele should be kicked off two consolidated cases for a remark he made during a pretrial hearing. As a lawyer was explaining the roles of the litigants, Hafele said, “There are so many right-hand men with our Italian folks here.” The comment apparently referred to both Pugliese and the late Subway co-founder Fred DeLuca, whose family is battling Pugliese in court over a failed plan to build a sprawling city near Disney World. Pugliese served jail time earlier this year for swindling DeLuca out of more than $1 million.
