SHREWSBURY – A Land Court judge has ruled against allowing eight new plaintiffs to the Beal Commons appeal.
Jennifer S.D. Roberts made the ruling during a case management conference on July 14.
The original complaint listed seven plaintiffs, all of whom lived near the proposed Beal Commons development at the site of the former Maj. Howard W. Beal School.
Roughly one month after the complaint was filed, Henry Lane, the plaintiffs’ attorney, asked the court to amend the complaint to include the eight additional plaintiffs.
At the conference, Lane said that the 20day period to file the appeal wasn’t sufficient time to include the eight plaintiffs — Michael Henderson, Carolyn Henderson, Susan Collins, James Collins, James Nagengast, Mary Genetti, Suchit Patel and Michael Binder — in the complaint. All the new plaintiffs also live nearby the proposed development.
“Maybe that’s true. It’s certainly possible,” said Kevin Robinson, the lawyer representing the Planning Board at the conference. “But, I think that it falls woefully short… we know for certain that many of these plaintiffs knew well in advance of this proposed development and the impending decision.”
Roberts said that the additional plaintiffs would not be allowed, noting that the “current plaintiffs [already] adequately represent their interests.” Lane is “welcome” to attempt to bring the new plaintiffs back in if “something changes that is not represented by the current plaintiffs,” Roberts said.
Roberts also ruled against the defendants’ motion to impose a $50,000 bond on the plaintiffs. In court filings, the defendants argued that “the plaintiffs do not have a likelihood of success and they should not be allowed to use the existence of this lawsuit to delay the developer’s project.”
Roberts said she understood Lane’s argument that the plaintiffs are “people of modest means,” but she said she also “appreciates what delay means” to the developer.
The court reached a compromise. Roberts denied the motion to impose the bond, and decided to implement an “extremely short discovery schedule” to help move the case forward. The court settled on a 60-day discovery schedule.
The parties will meet again on Sept. 21.
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