TND Lawsuit Headed for Appeal

    Friday’s trial, in which Central citizens claim that the City of Central has violated its own zoning ordinances, ended a short 15 minutes after it began.
    A hearing was scheduled on Monday, just four days before trial, to rule on the City’s Motion for Summary Judgment requesting that the court find in favor of the City with no trial.  At the hearing, the motion was “passed without date,” allowing the trial to proceed on Friday.
    The plaintiffs then immediately filed a motion to have all witnesses served by private process server in order to try the case on Friday.  The City opposed the motion, and Judge Fields ruled not to allow the private service of the subpoenas.     On Thursday, immediately after learning that the court would not allow the witnesses to be subpoenaed by a private process server, Seth Dornier, attorney for Central citizens Dave Freneaux, Mike Mannino and Mike Stephens, filed a request to continue the trial set for Friday.  The Motion to Continue the trial was also denied.
    Furthermore, the judge also denied plaintiffs’ Request for Stay of the matter, Request for Emergency Consideration by the First Circuit Court of Appeal of the unfavorable rulings, as well as Dornier’s request for a brief recess to consult with his clients after the trial began and prior to resting their case.
    With no witnesses available to testify and introduce new evidence, plaintiffs' attorney Dornier made opening arguments and rested the case.  Judge Fields, with no new evidence or testimony to consider, ruled in favor of the City.  The plaintiffs maintain they will request the First Circuit Court of Appeals to rule on the matter.