Plaintiffs Delay Century Case Again
After demolition of the historic Century Building began in the Fall of 2004, the lawsuits by two downtown residents seeking to prevent the demolition became a moot point. On April 19, 2005 the State of Missouri and the City of St. Louis, through entities, joined with the developer of the Ninth Street Parking Garage and filed a Malicious Prosecution claim against Marcia Behrendt & Roger Plackemeier. The plaintiffs are seeking $1,000,000.
After numerous delays the trial was scheduled to finally get underway tomorrow ( 9/14/2009) at 9am. But last Friday, at the request of the Plaintiffs, the case was again delayed. The parties have a new date of 10/26/2009 — that date is just to determine the future trial date. Most likely we are looking at 2010 for the trial.  When your motivation is to discourage public participation it makes sense to drag these things out.
I should disclose that I personally know both Marcia Behrendt & Roger Plackemeier. Marcia was the person that found me after my stroke on 2/1/2008. So I’m not an impartial observer in this issue. To file such a claim and then delay for years is just wrong.
MISSOURI DEVELOPMENT FINANCE BOARD VS BEHRENDT, Case #22052-01373, can be viewed at http://www.courts.mo.gov/casenet. The poll this week asks your view on the city & state suing these two for the last four + years.  Right or wrong?
– Steve Patterson
I don’t know enough about the details to say who is or isn’t wrong here, but, if there is really no good reason for the delay, why is the judge allowing it?
The justice system is part of the problem, it is the system of buddies in government and business, and they make the decisions for us poor saps. Naturally the efforts of the Schnucks family undermine democracy. But hey lets give them another tax credit, everybody raise your hand. Okay I’m the official counter and the Schnucks family gets more tax credits and we’ll throw in a few more for Paul McKee too. Done deal, where is my payoff?, damn, I’m not part of the system. Only the insiders benefit, I should have known.
Is there a representational government? It is Comedy Central, except they are corrupt and stealing America.
“When your motivation is to discourage public participation it makes sense to drag these things out.” Not to mention to wear out the defendants, and to eventually force them into a settlement. These scumbags are attempting, through our courts, to drive the two activists into penury, and to discourage more of such hell-raising behavior. It’s what businesses do these days. Long live the corporatocracy. Oh, wait, this is just free-market capitalism in action.
Is David Dowd, the judge in this case, any relation to the Judge Dowd who publicly advocated for the Old Post Office project/Century demolition?
Instead of delaying this case, the judge should simply throw it out. Ms. Behrendt and Mr. Plackemrier have heart and soul unlike the plaintiffs.