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Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Ind. Decisions - Toll road ruling to be appealed

Tom Coyne of the AP reports this evening:

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -- A group seeking to block the state from leasing the Indiana Toll Road to a foreign company plans to appeal a judge's ruling that it must post a $1.9 billion bond to keep its lawsuit alive.

Plaintiff Steve Bonney said lawyers who worked through the three-day weekend hope to file the appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court by Friday.

"It's just a matter of decisions on what that appeal is going to look like," he said Tuesday.

St. Joseph Superior Court Judge Michael Scopelitis ruled Friday that the case was a public lawsuit. He said those suing the state must post a $1.9 billion bond within 10 days if they want to continue to challenge the plan to lease the highway across northern Indiana to a private Spanish-Australian partnership for an upfront payment of $3.8 billion.

The plaintiffs would not have to post the bond while the appeal is before the Supreme Court. * * *

Dave Menzer, a member of the Citizens Action Coalition - another of the plaintiffs - said the lawyers will challenge Scopelitis' decision that the case is a public lawsuit. If the Supreme Court overturns that ruling, the challengers would not have to file a bond.

See these earlier ILB entries from May 27th, May 26th (2), and May 26th (1).

The Indianapolis Star ran an editorial today that ended:

They could appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court, but success there appears unlikely and pursuing further legal action at this point would take on even more of an air of nuisance than true concern for the public good. Indiana finally has an opportunity to move forward. It's time to join the caravan.
The Richmond Palladium-Item ran an editorial Sunday that opined:
[I]t was a victory for representative government and a setback to those who would seek to derail democratic processes by way of judicial fiat.
Doug Masson of Masson's Blog had an entry this weekend on the Pal-Item editorial. Readers may also appreciate, or not, the comments that accompany Doug's entry.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 30, 2006 07:00 PM
Posted to Ind. Trial Ct. Decisions