UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

PENSACOLA DIVISION

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

ex rel. ROBERT V. SMITH,

Plaintiff,

v. Case No. 3:20cv3678/MCR/EMT

JAY A. ODOM and OKALOOSA COUNTY,

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS,

Defendants.

______________________________________/

DEFENDANT JAY A. ODOM’S REQUEST FOR JUDICIAL NOTICE IN 

SUPPORT OF MOTION TO DISMISS 

Pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 201, Defendant Jay A. Odom (“Odom”) 

respectfully requests that this Court take judicial notice of the following documents,1

attached as exhibits to this motion and in support of Odom’s Motion to Dismiss:

Exhibit A: Tom McLaughlin, Turbulence at Destin Airport: County looks at 

possible ‘anti-trust violations,’ Northwest Florida Daily News (Mar. 

29, 2014), 

https://www.nwfdailynews.com/article/20140329/NEWS/303299993, 

Am. Compl. ¶ 134.

Exhibit B: FAA, Order 5190.6B, Airport Compliance Manual, Chapter 8

Exclusive Rights (Sept. 30, 2009), 

https://www.faa.gov/airports/resources/publications/orders/complianc

e_5190_6/media/5190_6b_chap8.pdf; Am. Compl. ¶¶ 25, 38-40.

1 Where applicable, Defendant will include the reference to the Amended 

Complaint and paragraph as “Am. Compl. ¶ __.”

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Exhibit C: FAA, Q&As – FBO Industry Consolidation and Pricing Practices

(Dec. 7, 2017), 

https://www.faa.gov/airports/airport_compliance/media/QAs-FBOConsolidation-Pricing-final.pdf; Am. Compl. ¶¶ 95-96.

Exhibit D: Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners Agenda -Request

(Mar. 3, 2015), 

https://onbase.okaloosaclerk.com/pubappnet/Login.aspx; Am. Compl. 

¶¶ 83-86.

Exhibit E: E-mail from Rebecca Henry, FAA Orlando Airports District Office, to 

Mike Stenson, Deputy Director Okaloosa County Airports (Apr. 8, 

2013, 07:44 CST); Am. Compl. ¶ 64.

Exhibit F: E-mail from Deandra Brooks, FAA Orlando Airports District Office, to 

Mike Stenson, Deputy Director Okaloosa County Airports (Sept. 11, 

2014, 11:55 CST).

Exhibit G: Letter from Sterling Diversified, LLC, to Sunil Harman, Okaloosa 

County Director of Airports (Apr. 8, 2014).

Exhibit H: First Amendment to Amended and Restated Lease Agreement for Fixed 

Base Operator Destin/Ft. Walton Beach Airport and Agreement of the 

Parties (Mar. 19, 2013).

Exhibit I: Agreement, Okaloosa County and Miracle Strip Aviation (“MSA”) re: 

purchase of MSA by Regal Capital LLC (Mar. 19, 2013); Am. Compl. 

¶¶ 63.

Exhibit J: Curt Epstein, Destin Airport Works to Resolve Possible FBO Anti-Trust 

Violation, Aviation International News (May 8, 2014),

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aviation-internationalnews/2014-05-08/destin-airport-works-resolve-possible-fbo-antitrustviolation.

Exhibit K: Compilation of Public Records Requests to Okaloosa County by 

Relator. 

Case 3:20-cv-03678-MCR-ZCB Document 57 Filed 09/28/22 Page 2 of 6
ARGUMENT

Under Rule 201 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, “[t]he court may judicially 

notice a fact that is not subject to reasonable dispute because it: (1) is generally 

known within the trial court’s territorial jurisdiction; or (2) can be accurately and 

readily determined from sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned.” 

Fed. R. Evid. 201(b). The Court “must take judicial notice if a party requests it and 

the court is supplied with the necessary information.” Fed. R. Evid. 201(c)(2). 

For purposes of Rule 12(b)(6) review, and particularly relevant to the public 

disclosure analysis in False Claims Act cases, a district court may consider extrinsic 

documents that are central to the plaintiff’s claim and documents that are judicially 

noticed. United States ex rel. Osheroff v. Humana Inc., 776 F.3d 805, 811 (11th Cir. 

2015); see also Jacobs v. Bank of Am. Corp., No. 1:15-CV-24585-UU, 2017 WL 

2361943, at *4 (S.D. Fla. Mar. 21, 2017), on reconsideration, No. 1:15-CV-24585-

UU, 2017 WL 2361944 (S.D. Fla. Apr. 27, 2017). “In the FCA context, courts may 

take judicial notice of documents such as newspaper articles and information on 

publicly available websites . . . .” United States ex rel. Bernier v. InfiLaw Corp., 

311 F. Supp. 3d 1288, 1291 (M.D. Fla. 2018).

Notably, the State of Florida’s public record laws are very broad. “It is the 

policy of this state that all state, county, and municipal records are open for personal 

inspection and copying by any person. Providing access to public records is a duty 

Case 3:20-cv-03678-MCR-ZCB Document 57 Filed 09/28/22 Page 3 of 6
of each agency.” Fla. Stat. § 119.01(1). Absent an exemption, records held by the 

County are public records. See Chapter 119, Fla. Stat. Indeed, this Court has taken 

judicial notice of minutes of city council meetings. See Ladies Mem'l Ass'n, Inc. v. 

City of Pensacola, Fla., No. 3:20CV5681-MCR-EMT, 2020 WL 5237742, at *2 n.5 

(N.D. Fla. Sept. 2, 2020). 

Here, Odom has attached as Defendants’ Exhibits A through J the publicly 

disclosed documents that form the basis of Relator’s allegations, including 

documents in the possession of the County. Odom respectfully requests that the 

Court take judicial notice of the above-referenced documents “for the limited 

purpose of determining which statements the documents contain.” Osheroff, 776 

F.3d at 811 n.4. 

Dated September 28, 2022

Respectfully Submitted,

Counsel for Jay A. Odom

A. Benjamin Gordon

A. Benjamin Gordon, III

Florida Bar No. 528617

AnchorsGordon, P.A.

2113 Lewis Turner Blvd., Suite 100

Fort Walton Beach, Florida 32547

Phone: (850) 863-1974

Fax: (850) 863-1591

Email: bgordon@anchorsgordon.com

cyndi@anchorsgordon.com

Case 3:20-cv-03678-MCR-ZCB Document 57 Filed 09/28/22 Page 4 of 6
and 

By: /s/ Peter J. Kirsch

Peter J. Kirsch

Sarah Wilbanks

Nathaniel Hunt

KAPLAN KIRSCH & ROCKWELL LLP

1675 Broadway, Suite 2300

Denver, CO 80202

(303) 825-7000

(303) 825-7005 Facsimile

pkirsch@kaplankirsch.com

swilbanks@kaplankirsch.com

nhunt@kaplankirsch.com

Co-counsel for Defendant Jay Odom

Appearing Pro Hac Vice

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

I CERTIFY that a that a true and correct copy of the foregoing has been 

electronically filed on the CM/ECF system for the Northern District of Florida, 

which will send notification of such filing to the following attorneys of record: Mark 

Davis, Clark Partington, 125 East Intendencia Street, Pensacola, Florida 32591-

3010, and Elizabeth Billhimer, Clark Partington, 4100 Legendary Drive, Suite 200, 

Destin, Florida 32541, attorneys for Relator; and to Lynn Hoshihara, Nabors Giblin 

& Nickerson, P.A., 1500 Mahan Drive, Suite 200, Tallahassee, Florida 32308, 

attorneys for Okaloosa County, and to David M. Sobotkin, U.S. Department of 

Justice, Commercial Litigation Branch, 175 N. Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002, 

attorney for the United States of America, this 28th day of September, 2022.

A. Benjamin Gordon

A. Benjamin Gordon, III

Florida Bar No. 528617

AnchorsGordon, P.A.

2113 Lewis Turner Blvd., Suite 100

Fort Walton Beach, Florida 32547

Phone: (850) 863-1974

Fax: (850) 863-1591

Email: bgordon@anchorsgordon.com

Case 3:20-cv-03678-MCR-ZCB Document 57 Filed 09/28/22 Page 5 of 6
cyndi@anchorsgordon.com

and 

By: /s/ Peter J. Kirsch

Peter J. Kirsch

Sarah Wilbanks

Nathaniel Hunt

KAPLAN KIRSCH & ROCKWELL LLP

1675 Broadway, Suite 2300

Denver, CO 80202

(303) 825-7000

(303) 825-7005 Facsimile

pkirsch@kaplankirsch.com

swilbanks@kaplankirsch.com

nhunt@kaplankirsch.com

Co-counsel for Defendant Jay Odom

Case 3:20-cv-03678-MCR-ZCB Document 57 Filed 09/28/22 Page 6 of 6