Attorneys for Duluth's red plan challengers quit

The Twin Cities attorneys who represented a group trying to halt the Duluth school district's red plan say Gary Glass is among the clients who have failed to pay their legal bills and communicate with them.

The attorneys, who represented the Duluth group Petitioners for the Protection of Water and Wildlife, have withdrawn from the case.

Glass, a member of the Duluth School Board, said the attorneys are mistaken in citing him as the representative of the water and wildlife advocacy group.

The petitioners filed a complaint in St. Louis County District Court last May challenging the Duluth Planning Commission's decision to not require the Duluth school district to complete an environmental assessment worksheet on its $293 million long-range facilities plan. The group alleges that the commission was not the responsible government unit to make the decision.

In recently filed court documents, St. Paul attorney Julie Root and Minneapolis attorney Grant Merritt identify Glass as the representative of Petitioners for the Protection of Water and Wildlife. They allege that Glass failed to respond to their repeated attempts to communicate about payments as well as about the litigation itself.

"Beginning on March 14, 2009, communications between the representative of the Petitioners, Mr. Gary Glass, has broken down," Merritt wrote in his court-filed affidavit. "On Monday, March 16, 2009, two billing statements from my law firm addressed to Gary Glass were returned each one with a stamped 'REFUSED' when delivered to the Glass home on March 12, 2009."

Merritt and Root did not return phone messages left for them Tuesday.

St. Louis County court records indicate that Glass and the water and wildlife advocates are plaintiffs in the case and that the case is proceeding without the plaintiffs being represented by an attorney.

However, Glass said Tuesday that the attorneys and the court are wrong. He said he is not the representative of the petitioning group and he has had nothing to do with the case.

"My name is listed in the court records in error and I'm seeking to have it removed," Glass said. "I have not been a petitioner and I have not been associated with that court case."

Glass said his wife was a member of the Petitioners for the Protection of Water and Wildlife.

Deputy City Attorney Alison Lutterman is representing the city in the case. "The status of the case is very unusual and we would hope that at the scheduling conference the status of the case could be clarified," Lutterman said. "Who is the plaintiff and do they want to pursue the case?"

The Duluth school district has joined the city of Duluth in the lawsuit as an intervenor opposing the plaintiffs' claims.

A scheduling conference is set for May 26 before 6th Judicial District Judge Shaun Floerke. Four other Duluth judges recused themselves from hearing the case.

If the case proceeds, Lutterman said, the city will bring a motion for summary judgment seeking dismissal of the matter.