Real Estate Lawsuit Score: SeaGate Homes 2, Palm Coast 0
City Council and City Manager must give depositions in Ryan’s Landing Lawsuit
Palm Coast, Florida – June 24, 2008 – Another decision in the legal dispute between local real estate developer, SeaGate Homes and the City of Palm Coast favors SeaGate. The lawsuit is the result of an unfavorable land use decision by the city where they denied SeaGate’s plans for its Ryan’s Landing development because the developer refused to cave into extortion demands by the city to build a city park. See Related Stories for case history and background. Monday’s Circuit Court ruling will allow SeaGate Homes’ attorney to depose City Manager Jim Landon and City Council members.
The following statement was released today by SeaGate (emphasis mine):
Three current and one former City of Palm Coast Council members and City Manager Jim Landon must give depositions in the on-going litigation between the City and SeaGate Communities over the Ryan’s Landing development, a Circuit Court Judge ruled today (Monday). The City had filed a Motion asking the Court to prohibit SeaGate Communities’ attorney from questioning the City Council members and the City Manager under oath in depositions that are part of the discovery process prior to trial. The City’s attorneys argued that the testimony of the City officials was legally irrelevant and that they could not be questioned about their reasons for why they voted down the development. SeaGate Communities’ lawyer argued that State law prohibits anyone from refusing to give a deposition and that the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach last year refused to block the deposition of a member of the City of Longwood’s City Council in a case where the Council’s reasons for turning down a developer’s plans were being questioned. The City of Longwood is near Orlando and is in the same appeals district as Flagler County. The rulings of the Fifth District Court of Appeals are binding on the Circuit Court in Flagler County. SeaGate Communities sued the City of Palm Coast last year when the City Council refused to approve SeaGate Communities’ development plans for Ryan’s Landing. According to the suit, the Council turned down the development plans because the developer would not give in to demands of the City that, according to the suit, amounted to illegal contract zoning. A trial date has not been set.
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