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Judge orders county officials to hand over files in airport lawsuit
By Justin Goble
County leaders have one month to produce files pertaining to a previous lawsuit regarding the Jackson County Airport.
Superior Court Judge Marlene Hyatt ruled Monday (Oct. 29) that county officials have 30 days to hand over files and records to attorney Eric Ridenour.
Ridenour filed suit against Jackson County and the Jackson County Airport Authority on behalf of landowners R.L. Ammons and Dewayne Pruett. The complaints contend that slope failure at the airport that sits atop Berry Ridge near Cullowhee is threatening their homes and property.
The lawsuits state that county officials and the Authority share responsibility for addressing these concerns and ask for fair market value for their property, along with damages and interest.
To argue his case, Ridenour said he needs files pertaining to a 1979 lawsuit in which Jackson County sued the contractor (Burton) who built the airport and the engineering firm (Barbot) that supervised its construction. A copy of that suit, located in The Herald’s files, indicates that the county alleged negligence on the part of both Burton and Barbot.
That trial was moved to federal court in 1980, and county officials were found to be contributorily negligent because they had underfunded the airport’s construction, Ridenour said.
The files pertaining to that case, which are believed to be in county attorney Paul Holt’s offices, include depositions, pleas and the original plans for the airport. Ridenour said much of the information was confidential per attorney-client privilege at the time, but should now be available since such privilege expires after three years.
“If they still can’t be found, they’re in the federal archives in Atlanta,” Ridenour said. “We can obtain them for a quarter a page, but there’s so much there that it will certainly cost my clients several thousand dollars. My clients can’t afford that, and I don’t think they should be forced to pay it. It’s not their fault the county didn’t retain their records.”
Hendersonville lawyer Sharon Alexander, who is representing the county in the lawsuit, said those files could not be found.
“I asked him (Ridenour) to tell me what he wants,” she said. “On Aug. 21 he sent me a list of things, and that case wasn’t on there. There was a file from that case he asked for, and that was the closest thing. I sent him everything I had, and made a list of everything I didn’t. I also called Paul Holt’s office and talked to a lady who said they couldn’t find them. She and Paul spent many hours –far too many, from the way she tells it – looking for those records. They’re sorting through 30 years of files that haven’t been sorted in any real order.”
Alexander also said her clients had no objection to Ridenour obtaining the files through the federal archive, but the county should not have to spend taxpayers’ money to provide them.
After hearing Alexander’s arguments, Hyatt said there have been problems with the airport for three decades. With an issue that’s been going on for that long, someone has to know where to find the files Ridenour wants, she said.
“I’ve been familiar with the airport since 1984,” Hyatt said. “The depositions and other information have to be somewhere. I think Mr. Holt has some of this. He’s the county attorney. It’s incumbent upon him to find some of this. He may not have them where he can put his hands right on them, but they have to be in there somewhere. And as far as I know, his office hasn’t burned.
“So I’m putting that burden on the county and it’s attorney,” she said. “If they can’t find those files in 30 days, then we can come back here (to court).”
The Pruetts’ and Ammons’ current litigation was filed last November.
The lawsuits contend that county officials and the authority share responsibility for addressing problems caused by the landslide and ask for fair market value for their property, damages and interest.
In the aftermath of the 2005 slide, the Airport Authority engaged Sylva contractor Paul Lewis to clean out a neglected drainage ditch above the Ammons’ property in an effort to channel the water away from the driveway and to repair damage to the driveway.
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