{"id":410138,"date":"2026-09-25T08:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T08:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/410138\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T08:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T08:34:14","slug":"recently-released-from-prison-aaron-zahn-could-be-entitled-to-damages-from-jea-arbitrator-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/410138\/","title":{"rendered":"Recently released from prison, Aaron Zahn could be entitled to damages from JEA, arbitrator rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 JEA might owe ex-CEO Aaron Zahn damages and attorneys fees for what an arbitrator deemed a breach of his original employment agreement when the board of directors fired him nearly seven years ago amid public controversy, according to a report from our news partner the Florida Trib. <\/a><\/p>\n

The arbitrator\u2019s decision, issued Wednesday and which largely sided with Zahn, represents an extraordinary godsend for a former utility executive who was recently released from prison<\/a> following convictions of wire fraud and conspiracy \u2013 all tied to his highly controversial and unsuccessful effort as JEA\u2019s leader to privatize the agency.<\/p>\n

The arbitrator, Leslie W. Langbein of Miami Lakes, issued a 36-page decision that does not once mention Zahn\u2019s convictions, which followed a years-long federal grand jury investigation.<\/p>\n

Langbein said that instead of firing Zahn without cause, as the board had initially agreed to in December 2019 during a frenzied effort to tamp down public criticism of the agency, city attorneys improperly \u201cfavored a course of action that yielded to \u2026 public clamor and political pressure demanding Zahn\u2019s termination with cause.\u201d<\/p>\n

Molly Farrar, The Florida Trib\u2019s Jacksonville municipal watchdog reporter, said the decision focused on a specific period of time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis really comes down to the 10 days in December of 2019 through January of how the board and the city\u2019s Office of General Counsel went forward with removing him from JEA and terminating him,\u201d Farrar said.<\/p>\n

Without naming her, Langbein was critical of former board chair April Green, a one-time Zahn ally who turned into a fierce critic by the end of his tenure. She had pressed for Zahn\u2019s termination with cause in an effort to deny him months of severance-like pay.<\/p>\n

Farrar said the arbitrator\u2019s decision was critical of the Office of General Counsel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we see is that the OGC ended up kind of just doing what April Green wanted, is what the arbitrator is arguing, and therefore breaking Aaron Zahn\u2019s contract,\u201d Farrar said.<\/p>\n

Zahn was convicted in 2024<\/a> of conspiracy and wire fraud related to his unsuccessful effort to privatize JEA. It\u2019s been described as the biggest scheme to defraud the city of Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

Zahn served 20 months of a four-year federal sentence<\/a> and was recently released to a halfway house in Orlando. He is expected to be released in January.<\/p>\n

A JEA spokesperson noted that the arbitrator\u2019s decision was not final, but otherwise said the agency had no comment.<\/p>\n

News4Jax contacted Michael Fackler with the city\u2019s Office of General Counsel for comment. He did not respond before our deadline.<\/p>\n

Langbein\u2019s decision does not specify how much JEA might ultimately owe Zahn, and JEA attorneys can appeal, though such efforts are rarely successful.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not know how much he could get,\u201d Farrar said. \u201cAttorney fees could be a fair chunk of money, I think that\u2019s fair to say, but we do not know yet. And this is not the final decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nate Monroe is the executive editor of The Florida Trib. He can be reached at nate.monroe@floridatrib.org.<\/p>\n

Molly Farrar is a Report for America corps member and The Florida Trib\u2019s Jacksonville municipal watchdog reporter. She can be reached at molly.farrar@floridatrib.org.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 JEA might owe ex-CEO Aaron Zahn damages and attorneys fees for what an arbitrator deemed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[162756,103432,116,118,117,501],"class_list":["post-410138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-aaron-zahn","tag-florida-trib","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}