DOVER — On April 4, 2025, Morris County Superior Court Judge ruled that enough was enough, and ordered that Dover gadfly and former police officer Richard “Rico” Gonzalez could no longer post disparaging material on social media against Dover and its officials. Gonzalez had no fewer than three attorneys at the April 4 hearing, all from the law firm of Richard Flaum at DiFrancisco Bateman. Flaum, himself, did not attend the April 4 hearing at which Judge Franzblau sternly advised his partner Lisa Fittipaldi that Gonzalez was bound by the non-disparagement agreement in his 2015 settlement agreement.
Even though Flaum did not attend the April 4 hearing, he nevertheless filed a “motion to reconsider” with Judge Franzblau. In it, he argued the exact same points that Franzblau rejected on April 4 and that his partner, Ms. Fittipaldi, boisterously argued in person. Flaum’s submission to the Court to support his motion for reconsideration included a 24-page brief and hundreds of exhibits.
Today, Judge Franzblau decided the motion against Gonzalez in an Order and a two-page statement of reasons. Franzblau did not deem Gonzalez’s lengthy submission worthy of the court’s time and therefore declined to hold an oral argument before deciding on the motion.
The Town attorney, Jonathan Cohen, stated that the judge’s ruling was no surprise and that the Town of Dover plans to pursue a recovery of the full $175,000 of contractual payments it made to Gonzalez because of his failure to honor the terms of the agreement, which included the non-disparagement clause in question.
