BRUNSWICK COUNTY — In about two weeks, Judge Charles Henry will issue a ruling that could finally end the messy northern Brunswick County battle over utilities and allow the construction of the aquifer-based reverse osmosis plant. That is, if things go Belville and H2GO’s way.
If it goes Leland’s way, H2GO and Belville should be directed to arrive at a cleaner settlement with no strings attached.
Related: Belville to withdraw appeal, ending bulk of yearslong H2GO lawsuit
Even after Judge Henry’s upcoming ruling, there are still items left to be adjudicated. Leland is entitled to file for legal fees from Belville and the Court of Appeals may take up Leland’s appeal on Henry’s April 2019 order (filed as a response to Belville’s appeal that the town has since withdrawn), objecting to four claims dismissed. Leland was successful overall in that order, with Judge Henry ruling the 2017 H2GO-Belville $60 million transfer illegal, null, and void.
Lifting the construction freeze
Friday, parties met in a telephonic court hearing regarding a joint motion filed by Brunswick Regional Water and Sewer H2GO and Belville, which Leland objected to.
Strangely, Leland and H2GO are co-plaintiffs, but because of a recent swing in political power, H2GO is now more aligned with Belville, the defendant.
If Judge Henry rules in H2GO and Belville’s favor, the court will lift a stay on a permanent injunction filed July 2019 (requiring Belville to finally hand H2GO its assets back) and amend the December 2017 preliminary injunction, still in effect under the recent permanent injunction.
The December 2017 preliminary injunction stipulates all things stay as they were in the days following the illegal November 2017 transfer. It also bars H2GO from continuing the construction of its planned reverse osmosis plant. If lifted, presumably, H2GO and its new board could move ahead with their plans.
If things go Leland’s way, Belville and H2GO will have to draft a new and more simplified settlement agreement (possibly accomplishing the same goal of constructing the plant).
Settlement disagreements
Ahead of the arguments, Judge Henry asked Dowdy “to keep the personalities out of it,” stating he had concerns with certain references in the town’s written objection to the motion (the 29-page brief describes H2GO’s new board throughout as the “Belville Faction” and the H2GO-Belville settlement agreement as a “Side Deal,” along with other pointed language).
Notably, Leland released the entirety of the hotly debated and previously private “Regional Compromise Agreement” in its exhibits along with several other settlement-related documents already made public. Judge Henry questioned whether the court should review these materials and strongly encouraged the parties to work it out themselves.
The settlement agreement fell apart October 2019 when parties took issue with Leland’s annexation provisions (read the whole agreement online, starting on page 155, with the annexation agreement beginning on pg. 311)
As presented in the February 2019 H2GO-Belville settlement, H2GO has agreed to join Belville in fighting Leland on yet-to-be requested legal fees — a provision Leland attorney Jo Dowdy finds unacceptable. Belville should pay for Leland’s legal fees on its own, Dowdy argued, stating H2GO jumping in on that fight would be “strange.”
Plus, the language in the joint motion appears to legally bind H2GO into building the plant, a requirement that would again strip H2GO of its political independence, Leland argued. Verbally, H2GO’s counsel Donalt Eglinton explained no such requirement is expected.
Objecting to the joint motion, Leland argued that Belville has come to the court with unclean hands. “Can I have a do-over with no consequences?” Dowdy described Belville’s joint motion as saying. It’s a theme common in many of Leland’s arguments against Belville: the ends don’t justify the illegal means.
Still, all parties have routinely characterized the other as acting unethically throughout the course of this litigation.
If H2GO and Belville are successful, the basic effect is more than two years of legal efforts with infrastructure being “held hostage” through “a tie-up and hold strategy” Dowdy said. During the hearing, Dowdy played a news clip and read recorded statements of Mayor Mike Allen admitting the town’s appeal process was a delay strategy until the public “put the right people on that [H2GO] board.” Charles Baldwin, Belville’s counsel, argued Mayor Allen was only speaking on behalf of himself and not representing the full board or town.
But if the motion goes through things wouldn’t go back to square one, Dowdy said, because Leland has had to foot more than $900,000 in legal fees to fight the 2017 illegal H2GO-Belville transfer (by now, legal fees for all parties combined far exceed $2 million).
Send tips and comments to Johanna Ferebee Still at johanna@localvoicemedia.com
