The Twin Cities attorneys who represented Petitioners for the Protection of Water and Wildlife, a Duluth group trying to halt the Duluth school district's red plan, have withdrawn from the case, citing nonpayment of their legal bills and several failed attempts to communicate with their former client.
Duluth School Board member Gary Glass 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.''
ADVERTISEMENT
Merritt and Root did not return recorded phone messages left for them on Tuesday.
St. Louis County court records indicate that Glass and the water and wildlife advocates are the 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.''
When asked how that squared with the claims of the plaintiffs' former attorneys that he was the representative of the Petitioners, Glass said: "I have no correspondence with them that would put me in that position. I've never played any role in that regard.''
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?''
ADVERTISEMENT
The Duluth school district has joined the city of Duluth in the lawsuit as an intervenor in resistance of the plaintiff's 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.
