By DAVID A. MANN
The plaintiffs in a remonstrance case against Jeffersonville’s Oak Park annexation charge that their attorneys were negligent when they failed to file needed paperwork on time.
Bruce Herdt, the lead plaintiff, has asked the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission to investigate the matter. New Albany-based attorneys Derrick Wilson and Debra Andry are named in the complaint.
The Jeffersonville City Council passed an ordinance annexing six areas, including Oak Park, in 2007. State law gives those wishing to protest an annexation 90 days to collect the signatures of 65 percent of those within an annexed area in order to remonstrate. In this case, 90 days from the date of the annexation was the Monday after Thanksgiving 2007.
In his complaint, Herdt says that organizers knew they would need every available day in order to collect the needed signatures.
“We knew and repeatedly informed Mr. Wilson that filing before this date would cut us short by at least four days [because of the holiday] for getting signatures,” Herdt said in the complaint. “Mr. Wilson and Ms. Andry were both very aware of this condition.”
Once the signatures were collected, remonstrance organizers hand-carried them to Wilson’s office at about 11 a.m. that Monday.
He found out the next day that the remonstrance was filed without the signatures attached. Two days later, Wilson filed the signatures as an amendment to the annexation.
Wilson argued those signatures should be valid because the remonstrance was filed on time and the late-submitted signatures should be counted as part of that original filing.
However, Clark County Circuit Court and the Indiana Court of Appeals dismissed the remonstrance after a motion from the city argued that not all the materials were filed on time. The Indiana Supreme Court was petitioned, but would not hear the case.
Herdt said in an interview that he remembers immediately being upset with the attorneys upon hearing that the signatures were filed late.
“I figured it was going to be a problem,” he said, noting that he was disappointed and angry with the way it took place.
He and remonstrators wanted a day in court to argue that the fiscal plan that the city council approved with its annexation underestimated the number of people in the Oak Park area.
Herdt said he still plans to make a presentation to that effect to the public. Despite that, he said, “We’ll never have a chance to have a direct impact on the plan that the city approved.”
Wilson explained that he could not comment on the complaint, noting he was bound by attorney-client confidentiality privilege.
Andry could not be reached for comment.
The complaint states that Wilson told organizers that the filing wasn’t made because his office didn’t have time to make copies.
Donald R. Lundberg, Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission executive secretary, said complaints go through several screening processes before any action would be taken.
If a complaint is believed to be legitimate, a nine-member board will hear from each side. After that — if a complaint is still seen as viable — the commission will file a formal proceeding with the Indiana Supreme Court, he said.
That court ultimately makes the decision about whether and what kind of disciplinary action to take. Complaints made to the commission are confidential. Lundberg could not confirm or deny whether it had been received and would not speculate on punishments.
The Oak Park annexation related to the complaint is still pending. State law prohibits a city from annexing the year prior to a U.S. census. The next census is in 2010.
