MIAMI (CBS4) - Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez is suing over the campaign to remove him from office.

Alvarez, furious over the effort financed by billionaire Norman Braman, has moved to have the more than 112 thousand recall petition signatures wiped out of existence citing a legal technicality.

He claims one signature - the signature of the person who approved the petition form - is invalid. He said a letter approving the petition was signed by a deputy courts clerk, not the clerk himself.

The mayor's lawsuit came just hours after Miami auto magnate Norman Braman delivered the more than 112 thousand signatures to the Clerk of Court's office.

"I think it's shameful," Norman Braman said. "I think it's shameful that the mayor is hiding behind his attorney's skirts. The mayor always speaks that he's anxious to present his positions before the people and then when the time comes its a lawsuit that's designed to prevent the people in our community from voting on whether he should remain in office or not."

The lawsuit aimed at blocking the recall had been expected but the reasoning was a surprise.

Alvarez led his own petition drive in 2005 to help place a "strong mayor" proposal on the ballot, a proposal that eventually passed. That letter approving the petitions also was signed by a deputy clerk.

"To use a technicality, something that he himself did on his strong … when he wanted to become strong mayor," Braman said. "His petition was signed by the deputy clerk under the authorization of the clerk."

The lawsuit names Braman and Miami-Dade Clerk Harvey Ruvin.

"With regard to this lawsuit, I want to assure you that in fact I did personally review and approve the formal petition," said Harvey Ruvin, Miami Dade Clerk of Courts.

"The lawsuit refers to a non-required courtesy letter covering the transmittal of the approved form. The deputy that signed it under my direction did so under my salutation, the letter is clearly from me and I did personally approve the form of petition."

Already Braman said his legal team will head to court Monday to try and expedite the process. He will not be deterred by the Mayor's lawsuit.

"If its successful, we'll go out and get the signatures again, this is not going to defeat us," Braman said. "We intend to give the people of this community the option to say we're happy with Mayor Alvarez he should stay in office or he should be removed."

*Braman only needed a little more than 50,000 signatures to recall Alvarez, but wound up with more than twice that many. All total, there were 113 boxes with roughly 1,000 signatures in each one.

But, Ruvin said the verification process will incur a mountain of paperwork for his office.

"Due to a fairly recent amendment in the recall ordinance, which used to allow 21 signatures a page; we are now going to see one signature per page," Ruvin said. "Which of course just amplifies the amount of paper involved and makes it a little bit more of a challenge in terms of dealing with the process."

Braman launched the recall effort in October after county commissioners approved Alvarez's budget for the coming year that raises the property tax rate and raises the salaries of most county employees.

"$174 million in property tax increases to fund $132 million in salary increases is not acceptable," Braman said as he launched his signature-collecting efforts.

When the South Florida auto magnate started his campaign, some questioned whether he would be able to collect the required 52-thousand signatures in 60 days. But momentum built quickly and lines soon formed at three sites across the county where petitions could be signed.

If Alvarez is recalled before his term ends in 2012 it would only happen after petitions have been certified, legal challenges, and a hotly contested recall election which the mayor vows he would wage.

"I think people have reached a point where they are tired of complaining and they are ready to do something about it," Braman said in October two weeks after he launched his effort. "I think that's been the universal reaction. It's interesting. It hasn't been a reaction of anger as far as the mayor is concerned. It's a feeling that they've been empowered. That they have a right to change government."

The mayor has collected $200,000 so far through a political action committee. Who's donating though is raising eyebrows. From the firms building the new Marlins stadium for $5,000 to the actual Marlins baseball team that kicked in $20,000.

Marlins president, David Samson, even cut a personal check for another $10,000. One could see that as a conflict since the mayor pushed the stadium deal through.

Norman Braman thumbed through the list Friday and put it bluntly, "Kind of stupid."

The list goes on and on including stadium contractors as well as lobbyists and lawyers who have done plenty of business with the county.

"I'm surprised at the audacity of it and the lack of smarts because it's so obviously a payoff." Braman said. "Every single one of the contributors including the Marlins has received something substantial from the county."