Federal Lawsuit Update 1

Recently I contacted Kevin Enright, the Director of the Office of Public Information to get an update on the three federal lawsuits that had been filed against the county by the activists favorite attorney, Susan Baker Gray.

I had no way of knowing how timely my request would be. This morning I received an email from a regular Tales of Two Cities commenter, Lotsabogeys, informing me that the lawsuit filed on behalf of Paul Kendall, et al, claiming that the county had deprived them of their First Amendment rights, their right to “substantive due process and equal protection as established by the Fourteenth Amendment” and their right “to petition the government for redress of grievances as protected under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the US Constitution has been “dismissed without prejudice.”

A few months back when Frank Martin asked me why I hadn’t written anything about his lawsuit (he was one of the “et al” parties) I told it was because I thought the whole exercise was ridiculous.

Apparently the judge agreed.

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND

PAUL F. KENDALL, et al., *
Plaintiffs, *
*
v. * Civil No. JFM 09-CV-369
*
HOWARD COUNTY, MARYLAND, *
et al., *
Defendants. * *
*****
ORDER
For the reasons stated in the accompanying opinion, it is, this 30th day of July 2009
ORDERED

1. Plaintiffs’ motion for a preservation order (document 11) is denied;
2. Plaintiffs’ motion and application for preliminary injunction (document 17) is denied;
3. Defendants’ motion to dismiss (document 19) is granted in part and denied in part;
4. Plaintiffs’ claims for equitable or discretionary relief are dismissed;
5. Plaintiffs’ claims for money damages are stayed for a period of at least sixty days; and
6. This case is administratively closed.

J. Frederick Motz
United States District Judge

A big wag of the wordbones tail to Lotsabogeys….here’s hoping you get more birdies!