Dismissed (and Dissed) - The ALA Lawsuit

For two and a half years, the ALA dragged the City of Alachua through a lawsuit. That lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice. The excuse being used today by ALA supporters is that lawsuit was never heard on its merits, but was dismissed by the judge because of a technical error by a sick attorney.

The dismissal documents and that the suit was dismissed with prejudice suggests otherwise. In his dismissal documents, Judge Roundtree took the plantiffs and their attorney to task for baseless and willful delay. In the summary of his decision (item 17), the judge said:

17. Throughout this litigation, Plaintiffs and their counsel have shown no regard for the rules of civil procedure, orders of this court or the impact their actions have on the litigants or the judicial administration of this case and the other cases this court is required to administer. Plaintiffs have engaged in a pattern of delay, obstruction, and disregard for orders of the court. This case has already exceeded the Supreme Court time guidelines and there is not yet a good complaint filed. This court is convinced that if Defendants had not filed their joint motion to dismiss because Plaintiffs failed to timely file a fourth amended complaint, Plaintiffs would not have filed it in an effort to further delay this litigation.

The ALA then appealed the case. The appeals court upheld Judge Roundtree's decision.

The entire PDF dismissal document can be found by clicking here. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view it.


Posted by SJ