Legal Update
In January of 2008 Herb Adelman, Co-Founder of SaveSurniver.org, and his wife filed suit in the Oregon Courts against the SROA and SilverStar. There are a number of issues involved and Herb has drafted the following letter to outline the specifics of the legal actions taken to date and there current status. There was an initial mediation hearing held on May 16th to seek a compromise that would end the suit. Below is an outline from Herb on the state of the process at the close fo the May 16th hearing. It should be noted that although the judge overseeing the mediation called for all parties to meet after the May 16th hearing in advance of another hearing neither SilverStar nor SROA Board representatives would respond to requests for these meetings. As such the next scheduled hearing in June was canceled and no future hearings or meetings have been scheduled. This is very disturbing as we have consistently just sought dialogue among the parties to try to achieve a more moderate proposal. At no time has either the SROA Board or SilverStar made any indicatin that they are open to any compromise or other change to the proposal they have jointly supported since the initial proposal was submitted to Deschutes County, and before any public input was ever solicited by either party, over one year ago.
Litigant’s perspective
Herbert Adelman, Sunriver
This is a summary of settlement efforts with respect to the Adelman litigation contending that under Section 3.06 of the Sunriver Consolidated Plan no residential units may be built in the mall.
- By agreement on May 16, 2008 the parties (the Adelman’s, the SROA, and SilverStar) and their counsel engaged in mediation before Judge Lipscomb, the presiding judge of Marion County. The mediation commenced at 9 a.m. and concluded at 5 p.m.
- Progress was made, and a further mediation conference was tentatively scheduled for June 13, subject to the availability of the Judge.
- Judge Lipscomb issued a report, which will be found on page 1 of the June Scene.
- The basic concept is the negotiation of a comprehensive Development Agreement between the SROA and SilverStar.
- If the process results in a Development Agreement satisfactory to Save Sunriver members, the Adelman’s will, subject to a settlement stipulation, withdraw their lawsuit.
- While the process of preparing the Development Agreement proceeds, the litigation by the Adelman’s will be stayed without prejudice.
- Proceedings before the CountyCommissioners will proceed, with the parties free to take such positions as they deem appropriate.
- As indicated, progress was made. However, it is clear that a great deal of work remains to be done.
- I have practiced law for 50 years. I have always believed the adage that “a poor settlement is better than a good lawsuit.” I am proceeding with this in mind and believe that the SROA and SilverStar are also proceeding in good faith to a compromise of this dispute.
NOTE: Also linked we have an earlier letter from Herb Adelman with his thoughts on the suit and other related matters. This letter is Herb Adelman's personal opinions and do not necessarily represent those of SaveSunriver.org or all of its Co-Founders