Town needs every minute in VF case
Published: Thursday, March 1, 2007 2:04 PM CST
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In legal papers, town asks for more time and mulls 'possible abandonment' of condemnation
By Pat Healy
When preservationists or town council members meet to discuss the Hail Mary effort to raise $50 million to buy the Valley Floor, the one subject that often goes unmentioned is this: What will happen if the fundraising falls short?
But new legal filings say that Telluride and its lawyers are investigating "issues regarding a possible abandonment of this condemnation action" if the town cannot raise the money it needs to buy the Valley Floor.
In the filings, Telluride argues that it needs more time to file various post-trial motions.
"Obviously, if this case is abandoned, it could impact the filing of post-trial motions," says the motion by Leslie Fields, a Denver lawyer representing Telluride in the Valley Floor case. A flurry of competing legal arguments about deadlines and extensions were filed last week.
With the Valley Floor's price tag now set in indelible ink, the filings limn the new stances of either side. The landowners are impatiently tapping their feet and demanding their money; the town, still short at least $11.5 million, is scrounging for as much time as possible.
"It is only reasonable that (Telluride) be afforded an adequate amount of time to consider all of its legal options," Fields writes.
Advocates for preservation have raised a hefty $5 million since jurors handed down their verdict two weeks ago. They have set a self-imposed deadline of March 15 to raise the additional millions.
A judge is expected to soon set a deadline declaring when the town must have the $50 million ready to pay the landowners. Telluride will also be responsible for paying millions in landowners' legal fees.
Under rules that govern Colorado courts, each side must file its post-trial motions within 15 days of a judgment in a civil case. That means Telluride and the Valley Floor's owners, the San Miguel Valley Corporation, have until March 7 to file motions.
Fields asks for an extension until March 22.
In her filing, Fields says the town needs more time because of the "significance" of the jury's $50 million award and the complexity of any post-trial motions. She says that a short extension would not hurt the landowners.
According to the filing, the town also needs to investigate "certain matters that may be relevant to the filing of the post-trial motions."
That's a cloudy sentence, but the landowners believe the town wants to investigate reports that the Delta County jurors who valued the land at $50 million -- the precise amount SMVC wanted -- were biased against Telluride's case.
After the trial, an alternate juror told the Planet that others on the jury had seen their deliberations as a chance to punish Telluride for attempting to take the Valley Floor through the eminent-domain process. But other jurors said they rejected the town's $26 million valuation based simply on the evidence.
Lawyers for the landowners scoff at the idea of jury bias, saying that jurors "sat attentively in Delta for two weeks" before reaching their $50 million verdict.
"This court should not condone or facilitate any 'investigation' (Telluride's) counsel or its agents or others affiliated with the town or the condemnation effort intend to make about the integrity of the jury," SMVC argues in a legal filing.
Lawyers for the landowners say that the town has been contacting jurors directly to sniff out evidence of juror prejudice. Telluride responded by saying that the town and jury have every right to talk to each other, now that the trial is over.
Lawyers in criminal and civil cases often interview juries after a trial to understand which arguments worked, which failed, and how a jury reached its verdict.
Telluride does not deny that the town and jurors have conversed, but it says it has still "made no decision related to either jury issues" or any other post-trial motions.
To see copies of the legal papers, click on the respective links below.
Motion for extension of time to file post-trial motions
Response to petitioner's motion for extension of time to file post-trial motions
