Post by concerned2 on Jun 19, 2008 6:08:35 GMT -6
Indian Prairie counters claims of damage costs
June 19, 2008
The Beacon
By Tim Waldorf
The back-and-forth courtroom bargaining in the Brach-Brodie condemnation battle continued this week with the Indian Prairie School District countering the trusts' claim the district owes them more than $5 million in fees and damages.
Indian Prairie filed a motion Tuesday to strike roughly $3 million from the costs being sought for reimbursement by the Brach-Brodie trusts as a result of the district's decision to abandon its effort to condemn the 55 trust-owned acres upon which it originally wanted to build Metea Valley High School.
Among the costs the district is asking the court to strike:
• $7,905 in fees associated with the Brodie trust's "participation in telephone calls with Tall Grass residents and Shawn Collins, an attorney who sued the district unsuccessfully on behalf of the Neighborhood Schools for Our Children organization."
• $53,756 charged by the Brach trust as fees incurred during the Brodie trust's litigation of its motion to dismiss, which the Brach trust never joined.
• $82,326 in costs related to the sale and development of the property sought for condemnation.
• $116,487 in fees incurred before Indian Prairie filed the condemnation case.
• $198,176 in "fees for pursuing fees" -- in other words, costs associated with seeking these damages.
• $293,813 spent on lobbyists in response to the district's efforts to acquire "quick-take powers."
• $695,388 in both "fees for trust administration" and "awards for trustee compensation."
But the district is also contesting the validity of all of the roughly $5 million in fees it is being asked to reimburse because attorneys and expert witnesses secured by the trusts used "block billing" rather than a "task-based billing" approach that would allow their charges to be scrutinized for "reasonableness."
Similarly, the district is asserting the fees they're being asked to repay are "bloated" because both the Brach and Brodie trusts, who "held the same interests in the same parcel," hired "separate legal teams." The district claims those teams failed to cooperate in defense of the condemnation suit, and thereby "more than doubled the reasonable expense of defending this action."
Also, the Brodie trust has filed suit seeking a judge's order to require the school district to purchase the originally intended site for the high school. If that fails, the Brodie trust attorney intends to seek $12 million in damages, while the Brach trust is set to seek an undisclosed amount.
But Rick Petesch, attorney for the school district, said "there's nothing in the statutes that allows these damages."
June 19, 2008
The Beacon
By Tim Waldorf
The back-and-forth courtroom bargaining in the Brach-Brodie condemnation battle continued this week with the Indian Prairie School District countering the trusts' claim the district owes them more than $5 million in fees and damages.
Indian Prairie filed a motion Tuesday to strike roughly $3 million from the costs being sought for reimbursement by the Brach-Brodie trusts as a result of the district's decision to abandon its effort to condemn the 55 trust-owned acres upon which it originally wanted to build Metea Valley High School.
Among the costs the district is asking the court to strike:
• $7,905 in fees associated with the Brodie trust's "participation in telephone calls with Tall Grass residents and Shawn Collins, an attorney who sued the district unsuccessfully on behalf of the Neighborhood Schools for Our Children organization."
• $53,756 charged by the Brach trust as fees incurred during the Brodie trust's litigation of its motion to dismiss, which the Brach trust never joined.
• $82,326 in costs related to the sale and development of the property sought for condemnation.
• $116,487 in fees incurred before Indian Prairie filed the condemnation case.
• $198,176 in "fees for pursuing fees" -- in other words, costs associated with seeking these damages.
• $293,813 spent on lobbyists in response to the district's efforts to acquire "quick-take powers."
• $695,388 in both "fees for trust administration" and "awards for trustee compensation."
But the district is also contesting the validity of all of the roughly $5 million in fees it is being asked to reimburse because attorneys and expert witnesses secured by the trusts used "block billing" rather than a "task-based billing" approach that would allow their charges to be scrutinized for "reasonableness."
Similarly, the district is asserting the fees they're being asked to repay are "bloated" because both the Brach and Brodie trusts, who "held the same interests in the same parcel," hired "separate legal teams." The district claims those teams failed to cooperate in defense of the condemnation suit, and thereby "more than doubled the reasonable expense of defending this action."
Also, the Brodie trust has filed suit seeking a judge's order to require the school district to purchase the originally intended site for the high school. If that fails, the Brodie trust attorney intends to seek $12 million in damages, while the Brach trust is set to seek an undisclosed amount.
But Rick Petesch, attorney for the school district, said "there's nothing in the statutes that allows these damages."