The Uran administration has already spent over $200,000 on legal fees to lawyers who almost all contribute to Uran's war-chest.
Plasmatronics settlement judgment delayedBY SUSAN ERLER
susan.erler@nwi.com, (219) 662-5336 nwi.com | Posted: Saturday, September 25, 2010 12:00 am
CROWN POINT | City officials' legal request for a final judgment against New York-based Plasmatronics has been delayed until a new judge is appointed to handle the case.
The lawyer who'd represented Plasmatronics sought a new judge after the previous judge failed to rule in a timely manner on several motions, City Attorney David Nicholls said.
Resolution of the matter in Marion Superior Court could take another month or two, Nicholls said.
Final judgment of $379,746 was sought by the city early this month after Plasmatronics allegedly breached a loan agreement with the Crown Point Development Corp.
The nearly $380,000 is what the city already had paid to Plasmatronics of a $500,000 loan it offered the company as part of an economic incentives package to locate in Crown Point, where the company said it planned to manufacture its Plasma Drive Ignition System.
The Development Corp. sued in July 2008 to recover the money after Plasmatronics terminated its relationship with the city.
The corporation also on Friday agreed to a $7,000 settlement from Moress LLC, which was to lease space to Plasmatronics for a company headquarters.
Members of the Development Corp. met Friday and agreed to begin legal proceedings to dissolve the corporation.
The corporation was created to be the lending body for the Crown Point Redevelopment Commission, which granted public money to the corporation so it could issue loans for development purposes, including to Plasmatronics.
The corporation Friday authorized its president, Sarah Polman, to assign any legal rights, duties or responsibilities the corporation may have to a new entity, the Crown Point Community Development Corp. The existing development corporation currently holds no assets or liabilities, member Kent Jeffirs said.
Mayor David Uran is listed as the sole principal of the new entity, the Crown Point Community Development Inc. on incorporation articles filed on Sept. 18, 2009, with the Indiana secretary of state's office.
Directors listed on the incorporation articles are Keith Stevens, who is Uran's chief of staff, along with Aaron McDermott, John Mullins, Stephen Figurski and Polman.
Stevens and Figurski, like Polman, are members of the existing Development Corp.
Polman said Friday she intends to let Uran know she won't be serving on the new development corporation. Mullins said he agreed a year ago to be a corporation director at Uran's request.
Uran said Friday the new corporation has not yet met, and that while not all future meetings will be open to the public any meetings where public money is discussed will be open to the public.