by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Attorneys representing the Utility Contractors Association of North Florida, Inc. and the City will meet face-to-face Dec. 5. The meeting was arranged in part because the case has been reassigned to United States District Court Judge Timothy Corrigan, who was recently promoted from magistrate judge.
The UCA filed suit against the City last spring contending the City’s Minority Business Enterprise Program is both unconstitutional and illegal. UCA officials contend the program unfairly sets aside a percentage of City business for small and minority-owned business who are also held to different standards than UCA members.
One of Corrigan’s first orders of business was to draft a short order, calling for an “in-person status conference” with the two parties. Christina Milton, an attorney with McGuire Woods who was hired as part of the City’s outside counsel team, said the meeting early next month will have little bearing on the case and is more of an attempt by Corrigan to familiarize himself with the case and the attorneys involved.
Harold Lippes, an attorney representing the UCA, has asked Corrigan to consider either a summary judgment in favor of his client or that the case be dismissed as moot. According to Lippes, the City’s ordinance pertaining to its MBEP expired in October. He’d like the case tossed out of court and the hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Better Jacksonville Plan work laid out on an even playing field for open competition.
“If the law has sunset, then it doesn’t exist anymore,” said Lippes. “We don’t need to have an expired law declared unconstitutional.”
Milton said it was “highly unlikely” Corrigan would dismiss the case and, if by chance he opts for that route, the decision certainly won’t come down on Dec. 5.
“Judge Corrigan is a very careful, experienced, analytical judge,” said Milton. “He’s not going to rule from the bench.”
Milton contends the MBEP has not expired and won’t until after the May trial.
“The ordinance was amended so that it would not expire until July 2003,” said Milton. “So it is very much alive. We are real clear that it doesn’t expire until July, which is 10 years after it was passed.”
Milton also explained that Corrigan could opt to approve the plaintiff’s motion for a summary judgment. In that situation, Corrigan would have to deem a lack of evidence on the City’s part and rule on behalf of the UCA. Milton doesn’t expect either ruling, but Lippes is more optimistic.
“I think there’s a good chance for a dismissal,” said Lippes. “We filed the order and we haven’t seen the City’s response yet.”
The case was originally assigned to U.S. District Judge Ralph Nimmons. However, a reshuffling of judges at both the district and magistrate level, the case was reassigned to Corrigan. Diane Mitchell, a deputy clerk at the federal courthouse, said reassigning cases is fairly commonplace, especially when district or magistrate court gains or loses a judge.
“When Judge Corrigan was appointed to district judge, there were three at the time,” said Mitchell. “The cases were shuffled to share them with Corrigan. This always happens when we get a new district judge or magistrate judge. The cases are randomly reassigned.”