Sunday, February 24, 2013
Reviewing some top news stories from the area.
Click on the links below for more information. SUWANEE WINS YEARS-LONG LEGAL BATTLE: "It reaffirms that we were right all along," Suwanee City Manager Marty Allen said of a recent Georgia Supreme Court decision. The city won its appeal vs. developers Settles Bridge Farm LLC, which also voided a $1.8 million jury award. NO CHARGES EXPECTED IN DOMESTIC SHOOTING: A domestic shooting in October 2012 left Charissa Thomas dead in her Chattahoochee Ridge home. Her husband, Steven Thomas, acknowledged pulling the trigger, and told police it was an "accident." Suwanee Police anticipate no charges in the case, although it remains open, typical of a homicide. GUN RALLY AT GJAC: The national gun discussion played out at the Gwinnett Justice and …
Monday, February 18, 2013
Mayor 'pleased' that Georgia Supreme Court ruled for the city against developers Settles Bridge Farm in 2008 case.
Following a favorable ruling from the Georgia Supreme Court, Suwanee's mayor said that the city will "continue to implement appropriate zoning and planning tools" in development matters. The state's high court ruled Monday (February 18) that a lawsuit by developers Settles Bridge Farm LLC was filed improperly, and that the developers should have tested Suwanee's special-use permit process before suing. The high court's ruling reversed a Gwinnett Superior Court jury award of $1.8 million in the developers' favor. Suwanee City Council imposed its permit in 2008 after learning that the developers had a contract to sell 36 acres of residential property to a private school, which wanted to build a multi-grade campus in the Moore Road area. -- …
Citing a Gwinnett Superior Court error, the Georgia Supreme Court rules that Settles Bridge Farm LLC filed its lawsuit prematurely.
Updated 9:25 a.m., February 18 The City of Suwanee has won its appeal of a $1.8 million jury award to developers Settles Bridge Farm LLC, in the final development of a legal battle that dates to 2008. In an opinion released Monday (February 18), the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that the developers filed their lawsuit prematurely, and that the case should have been dismissed and never come to trial. “We agree with the City that Settles Bridge should have exhausted its administrative remedies prior to initiating litigation in this matter, and we therefore reverse the judgment entered against the City,” says the opinion, which was written by Chief Justice Carol Hunstein. --- Reaction: --- The Gwinnett Superior Court erred in finding that it …
Monday, October 1, 2012
Settles Bridge Farm LLC won the Gwinnett Superior Court jury award in 2011, after a legal battle that began in 2008.
The beginning of the end of a multi-year, multimillion-dollar legal battle is at hand for the City of Suwanee. On Monday, attorneys for the city and developers Settles Bridge Farm LLC will make legal arguments to the Georgia Supreme Court in Atlanta. The case is the city's appeal of a $1.8 million Gwinnett Superior Court jury award to the developers in 2011, in a legal dispute that dates to 2008. -- How do you think the state Supreme Court will rule in this case? Do you agree with Suwanee's initial action toward the proposed development? Tell us in the comments below. The jury award concerns the city's actions in a proposed land sale between the developers and Notre Dame Academy of Duluth in 2008. The developers had a contract to sell 36 …
Friday, December 2, 2011
Former Suwanee mayor is 'very happy' about the dismissal.
A Gwinnett Superior Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit by developers Settles Bridge Farm LLC against the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce and VP Nick Masino over a failed 2008 land sale in Suwanee. The lawsuit was filed in June by a development group led by former homebuilders Brad Williams and David Bowling. The plaintiffs said that Masino, a former Suwanee mayor, tried to abort a land deal between the developers and Notre Dame Academy of Duluth. "I'm very happy, and I know the chamber is as well," Masino said Friday morning of the order by Judge Dawson Jackson. "I had said all along in statements to my attorney that 100 percent of the reasons for the lawsuit was fabricated." The lawsuit alleged that Masino, who left office in Suwanee in …
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
A surprise witness and mediation show the intensity of both sides.
The continuing legal battle between the City of Suwanee and land developers Settles Bridge Farm LLC took interesting turns Friday in Gwinnett Superior Court -- for both sides -- before the judge even took the step of ordering mediation. The city, contesting a $1.8 million jury award to the developers, produced an unexpected witness -- Public Works Director James Miller. This matter was just disclosed to the developers' attorney the day before. After the developers' attorney objected, Judge Warren Davis ordered a recess to do legal research. He then would not allow Miller to testify, but let attorney Laurel Henderson give a summary as to what Miller would have testified to. Welcome to a multi-million dollar case where, after three years, no…
