Legal fees for lawsuit not only cost to village regarding Garfield
On behalf of Anno Domini IV, thank you for taking the time to update your readers on the status of our lawsuit against the village of Hinsdale (“Lawsuit still in the early stages”-Dec. 14, 2006).
We do wish to make one point of elaboration. While the story notes legal fees of about $85,000 through October 2006, that figure applies only to the fees resulting directly from the suit we filed in April 2006 seeking a court order permitting construction of Garfield 1, as well as $10 million in damages plus attorneys’ fees from the village.
Cumulatively, as the village’s own records show, the village has spent more than $450,000 in legal fees in this matter, and is fast approaching a half-million dollars of taxpayer money. In fiscal year 2005-06 alone, according to Hinsdale’s summary of legal expenses (attached), Hinsdale spent $346,839.17 on “First & Garfield Litigation,” including $315,017.78 on “special counsel.”
Conservatively speaking, we believe the village will have spent at least $700,000 by the time litigation concludes. Whenever that time comes, we are confident the village will be told what we’ve been saying all along: They acted illegally in reversing their initial approval of our mixed-use development.
We appreciate The Hinsdalean’s drawing attention to this issue of major concern. And again, we ask residents to challenge their publicly elected officials, “When will you stop using public funds to wage a private war?” -Matt Baron, spokesman, Anno Domini IV