Fired Anchor Counter Sues the Company

FTVLive was the FIRST to tell you that WINK (Ft. Myers) gad fired popular Weatherman Matt Devitt.

WINK’s owner, Ft. Myers broadcasting then decided to sue Devitt, saying he was not being honest as to why he was fired and talking shit about the station.

Well, Devitt has responded to the lawsuit, by countersuing the company.

This legal battle is turning into an absolute mess, and Matt Devitt’s counter-suit is swinging hard at WINK’s parent company.

In typical television news management fashion, the station looks to have completely mishandled both the initial termination and the public relations fallout, giving Devitt’s legal team plenty of ammunition to fire back.

Looking at the text of the lawsuit, Devitt is tearing apart WINK’s claims piece by piece, starting with the station's corporate hypocrisy regarding off-clock labor. WINK management has spent years happily pocketing the benefits of Devitt’s brand, extracting over 500 hours of uncompensated community events and non-stop hurricane coverage outside of his normal schedule. Yet, the moment the relationship soured, they chose to micromanage his dinner breaks. The filing highlights that Devitt even tried to adjust his schedule in good faith to assist his wife with their newborn baby, but News Director Kathy Reynolds flatly rejected it, according to Devitt.

The defense is also building a massive waiver and estoppel argument against WINK’s breach of contract claims. Devitt’s team proves that management knew exactly how he operated for years and even praised him for it. The suit says that General Manager Jamie Ricks was actively sending emails about building a new contract proposal and thanking Devitt for his commitment well after the station now claims he was in "material breach." You cannot dangle a contract renewal in front of a Chief Meteorologist, tell them everything is fine.

Devitt claims that when it comes to the non-compete and the digital side of things, WINK’s case is showing some massive holes. Devitt complied with the station's 2024 directive to stay off YouTube and didn't touch it again until after he was fired.

WINK's claim that Devitt's exit post defamed them or caused public backlash is also being turned right back on them. Devitt says he was told to his face by Jamie Ricks that his firing was strictly an attendance and dinner break issue, and that nobody outside the room and Jim Schwartzel knew about it.

When Devitt posted that his firing was a "complete shock" to his coworkers, he was literally just repeating the narrative Ricks handed him.

Devitt claims that WINK staff members were actively spreading false rumors that Devitt was terminated for "taking content." The station had an early opportunity to clarify the situation, control their own employees, and de-escalate the drama when Devitt reached out in writing for professional clarity, but they chose to let the speculation burn while aggressively filing a Meta takedown request against his personal Facebook page, according to his counter suit.

Lastly the suit claims that while WINK was aggressively going after Devitt for using his personal brand, they were simultaneously promoting and renewing weekday meteorologist Lauren Kreidler, who was openly monetizing her Facebook and TikTok accounts. The lawsuit alleges Kreidler used WINK software and graphics for her personal reels without consistently identifying the station, and management never blinked an eye.

This continues to get more nasty and we’ll have to sit back and enjoy the show.