FRANKLIN TWP. — A legal battle over filling a vacant township committee seat won’t go to trial next week as planned and both sides blame the other for the delay.
The township’s Democratic executive committee and chairwoman Rene’ Pistilli-Leopardi sued last October to block the appointment of a candidate to fill the position left vacant by the death of Leopardi’s husband, Ed.
Superior Court Assignment Judge Georgia Curio granted an injunction in October blocking the appointment of Heather Flaim to fill the post. A planned December hearing was pushed back to Feb. 14.
In the meantime, the plaintiffs tried to block the township committee from holding its January reorganization meeting until the court case was settled, but that motion was denied.
A new trial date of April 24 has been set.
The discovery process has taken longer than was anticipated and is still not complete, township administrator Nancy Brent said Friday.
The delay is largely due to lack of cooperation from the plaintiffs, according to attorney Stuart Platt, who is representing the township and Flaim.
Between Pistilli-Leopardi and the Democratic committee, there are about 20 plaintiffs, Platt said, and several refused to give depositions.
“There was a lack of cooperation from the very get-go,” Platt said. “It’s been a lawsuit-long issue.”
The defense had to subpoena several plaintiffs to get them to cooperate and two continue to refuse, Platt said.
“In my opinion, they are ignoring a court order,” he said. “That’s been one of the major holdups.”
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Frank Guaracini III, attorney for the plaintiffs, said his clients are cooperating.
While he said his office doesn’t normally comment on pending litigation, he felt the need to respond to Platt’s statements.
Guaracini said the delay resulted from the defense filing a motion for a protective order that would prevent the plaintiffs from deposing certain people in the case, including Flaim and some township committee members. Curio denied that motion, he said, and now depositions can continue.
In addition, Guaracini noted that the sheer number of people the defense is trying to depose takes time. He indicated that court documents reveal the defense is trying to depose 20 to 30 people.
“We are confident in our position and we will keep plugging away,” he said.
In suing to block Flaim’s appointment, the plaintiffs argued that the committee should have selected from one of three names the Democratic organization submitted to fill the seat. Those three candidates were Pistilli-Leopardi, Theresa Ziegler and Ted Reimel.
Township officials claimed they did not receive that list and appointed Flaim instead.
Under statute, the Democrats had 15 days from Leopardi’s death in September to submit three names for the committee to consider as replacements. The township committee had 30 days from Leopardi’s death to fill the vacancy.
Discovery has been extended until Feb. 28 and all motions must be submitted by March 31. If the parties haven’t resolved the dispute by then, a trial will be held April 24 in Bridgeton.
The candidate ultimately chosen to fill the seat will serve for the next year and voters will decide in November who serves the final year of Leopardi’s term.
The current five-member committee consists of two Democrats and two Republicans.
Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattGraySJT. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.
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