After the September Town meeting Weddington Town Council met in Closed Session and voted to APPEAL the Union County judge ruling from August, on the grounds of “governmental immunity”. The Town is not appealing the facts of the lawsuit but, instead, claiming they are immune from litigation because of governmental agency”, which comes from the Old English common law that “The King can do no wrong”. What this means for the lawsuit: Depositions from key participants cannot be taken until a decision on the appeal has been issued. Also, the Injunction preventing the sale of the land and building on Hemby Road stays in effect until at least after the Court of Appeals renders its decision. I am not an attorney but from what I understand there are two kinds of appeals – Final judgment Appeal - happens after a ruling by a judge and/or jury, which effectively ends the litigation. Interlocutory Appeal – happens during the litigation process from an order delivered by a judge. (This is the type of appeal filed by the Town.) – The lawsuit or case is not over during this appeal process, but it stops until there is a decision on the Appeal. It happens when a “substantial right” is affected. Courts have determined that a claim of governmental immunity is a substantial right entitled to immediate appeal. We are prepared to oppose the claim of governmental immunity as the Courts have determined that governmental immunity does not apply when the Town was acting in its proprietary capacity during the transaction for the transfer of the property, which we maintain is when the fraud was committed. What’s the time period involved? It could take a year or even hear an appeal, and could take up to 2 years before a decision is issued. The appeal will be heard in Raleigh by a panel of three judges sitting on the State Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals chooses from all the cases under appeal, which cases they will ask for oral arguments in Raleigh and which cases they take on the briefs submitted.. They are very selective in the number of cases heard and only hear a small percentage of cases under appeal. Here’s a brief (NO PUN INTENDED) timeline of the appeal process and why it can take a very long time: Town: 30 days to appeal the decision Town: 14 days to submit ordering transcript notice (Done) Town: 35 days to submit proposed record (from receipt of delivery of transcript) PVFD: 30 days to respond to propose record Town: 10 days to request judicial settlement of record if parties cannot agree If they don’t agree on the record than we’ll go back to court: Once record is finalized: Town: 15 days from settlement of record, filing record on appeal Town: 30 days to put in Brief PVFD: 30 days to respond to Brief Town: 14 days reply Brief Wait at least 30 days before Court of Appeals decides where is goes on the calendar and on and on and on. There is no requirement as to how long the Court has to make a decision. Over the past few weeks many emails, flyers and mailers have bombarded residents in Weddington. Many of the writers of these mailers claimed to have inside knowledge about Providence VFD, the Board of Directors, operation practices, and improprieties going back years and years. It is shocking at the lengths some people will go to further an agenda. We are still seeking donations to help with the cost of legal expenses. Please go to: www.ProvidenceVFD.com to contribute to our cause. Thank you. Judy Johnston Secretary on the PVFD Board of Directors