Hector Medina is going to take the weekend to decide whether he wants to move forward with what could be an expensive appeals process after a court ruling booted him from North Miami’s coming election.

Judge Christopher Green disqualified Medina, a retired medical professional and repeat candidate, after deciding that Medina failed a mandatory candidate-qualifying requirement.

It’s a technicality, but it stuck: Florida law provides that a Treasurer or Deputy Treasurer must be the person who makes a qualifying payment on behalf of the candidate. In Medina’s case, that was his wife, Alina Medina. But he signed the checks instead.

Green, citing the Florida Supreme Court’s August decision in Amador v. Secretary, Florida Department of State, ruled that North Miami acted properly when it disqualified Medina from eligibility on Aug. 25, five days after the qualifying period closed.

The city still put Medina’s name on the ballot, however, after his lawyer, former state Rep. J.C. Planas, threatened litigation.

On Aug. 27, both the city and Medina’s incumbent opponent, Vice Mayor Kassandra Timothe — who notified North Miami Clerk Vanessa Joseph of the signature discrepancy, which she said her staff found while surveying her opponents’ paperwork — filed lawsuits to resolve the matter.

Both sought declaratory relief confirming Medina’s disqualification was proper. Timothe’s complaint also sought to formalize the disqualification through injunctive relief.

Medina’s defense leaned on the ministerial responsibility of the Clerk’s Office to confirm his paperwork was in order, noting the city accepted the payment Aug. 11 — nine days before the qualifying deadline — and later cashed his checks.

That argument failed to sway Green, who entered a final judgment for Timothe and declared Medina unqualified on Friday. Because ballots have already been prepared, Medina’s name won’t be removed; instead, election officials must notify voters that he is disqualified, post notices at voting sites and ensure that votes for him aren’t counted.

Green temporarily stayed those measures until 5 p.m. Tuesday so Medina can seek expedited appellate relief — a prospect that Medina, 66, said he’s inclined toward, but not fully decided on.

“The plan is to file Monday, but before I do that, I need to speak to my rabbis and my priests and my pastor,” he said. “There’s several lawyers looking into this. It can get pretty expensive.”

He estimated the cost of pursuing an initial appeal would be about $7,000, but that the expense would grow exponentially from there. And it would take years, meaning that even if he ultimately wins, the elected term he wanted will have substantially elapsed.

Medina, who previously ran for Mayor in 2017, 2019 and 2024, and for District 2 in 2021, when he lost to Timothe, suggested the Clerk’s Office and Timothe’s campaign colluded to remove him from contention.

“It’s very hard for me to believe that Ms. Timothe was able to, in the four to six hours after they released my paperwork, that she had filed this case already,” he said. “This was a very well-orchestrated, very well-planned and very well-executed plan. This just doesn’t happen.”

Timothe, 33, rejected that premise, saying there is “absolutely not” any truth to Medina’s accusation and pointing out it was her campaign’s notifying the Clerk’s Office about the issue that prompted Medina’s disqualification, not the other way around.

“It’s unfortunate,” she said. “I do wish Hector Medina well. He did endorse me in my first run. We ran against each other before, and I always wish him well. But you know, the rules are the rules.”

Timothe still has one other opponent to get by: Brian Jinks, 64. She doesn’t consider him much of a threat.

“(He’s) a registered Republican, and I’m a Democrat,” she said. “The district is very Democratic. So, it’ll still be a race, but nonetheless, I look forward to serving the residents of District 2.”