A jury verdict that ordered Tooele City to pay $20.7 million in damages to the developer of Overlake has been thrown out by the judge that originally presided over the case.
On Thursday, 3rd District Court Judge Randall Skanchy declared a mistrial in the Tooele Associates vs. Tooele City lawsuit, saying in a 47-page memorandum decision that the verdict reached by a Salt Lake City jury last year was “irreconcilably inconsistent.”
Although the jury returned a verdict in the case, the case was not settled until the judge rendered a judgment. Skanchy issued his decision after reviewing motions filed by both parties after the trial and hearing oral arguments from attorneys on both sides.
Skanchy’s decision effectively resets a lawsuit that has been hanging over the city’s head for a decade.
“The case is back in the status it was in prior to the 2009 jury trial,” said Tooele City Attorney Roger Baker. “Despite the expense of the 2009 jury trial, Tooele City is pleased that the court recognized, as the city has always recognized, that the $20 million jury verdict in favor of Tooele Associates was wrong and should not be allowed to stand. Tooele City is prepared to retry the case to again present its evidence that Tooele Associates, not Tooele City, breached the development agreement. The city’s course of action, however, will largely depend on how Tooele Associates chooses to proceed in the case. We anticipate that a new trial would be held sometime in 2011.”
The original suit was filed in 2002 by Tooele Associates alleging that Tooele City had violated the Overlake development agreement and intentionally slowed down progress at Overlake effectively ending construction. Tooele City countered by claiming that Tooele Associates had violated the development agreement by failing to complete required infrastructure.
In June 2009, after six days of trial and two days of deliberation, an eight member jury returned a verdict that found Tooele Associates owed Tooele City $1.8 million in damages, but that also found Tooele City owed Tooele Associates $22.5 million. The difference left Tooele owing $20.7 million.
The jury verdict was in the form of a six-page special verdict form containing 33 questions that the jury checked either yes or no.
In a post-trial memorandum filed in February 2010, Tooele City pointed out several contradictions and inconsistencies in the answers on the special verdict form. Skanchy went through 28 pages of his decision trying to reconcile the contradictions. Skanchy tried to develop a decision that would reconcile such differences as why the jury in section I of the verdict form stated that Tooele City had failed to prove that Tooele Associates had breached the development agreement and then in section II they stated that Tooele City had proved that Tooele Associates breached the agreement. When Skanchy was unable to reconcile this and other internal inconsistencies within the verdict form, he struck the jury verdict and declared a mistrial.
“We are still reviewing the decision and awaiting other decisions from the court,” said Bruce Baird, a Salt Lake-based attorney representing Tooele Associates.
Tim Gillie: tgillie@tooeletranscript.com
Let us get this straight; you are comparing a very conservative group of city government officials, with a very conservative agenda to the Obama Administration… how ignorant are you? Incase you haven’t noticed, the current Administration didn’t receive the country on the greatest terms or in the greatest condition. The previous eight years hindered there chances to succeed. It is apparent, as a republican, that it is time for us to stop blaming the dems/libs when we are NO BETTER! Quit acting like uneducated, immature children and DO SOMETHING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!! In your case, an education would be beneficial.
we all agreed that both sides were at fault but the city used its power to bully the developer to what they wanted after the fact. The judge said that this would be appealed after he released us from jury duty. Glad that I could waste 2 weeks of my time to find out that it didn't mean anything
Tooele City needs to humble itself and admit that it has overstepped its bounds. It should just settle all of these ridiculous lawsuits and stop wasting OUR money trying to avoid saying that it messed up. I am so sick of Baker and the fools on the city council.