FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 17, 2007        

A WORD ON MICHAEL MULLETT'S  LATEST LAWSUIT

AGAINST BROWN COUNTY

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           On May 17, 2007, Columbus attorney Michael Mullett once again filed suit.  This time, the object of his ire is the Brown County Board of Commissioners, who had the audacity to grant our neighbor, Dan Bright, the zoning he desired. 

           In April, the Commissioners granted Dan outline plan approval for a low-density mixed-use energy-efficient, green, planned unit development consistent with an equestrian motif.  His land is located about three miles from one of the largest horseman's camps in the Midwest.  We at the Story Inn have studied Dan's proposal, and agree with the Commissioners that it will be good for this area and Brown County in general. 

           Dan has also proposed to build a small, high-efficiency aerobic waste water treatment facility, which will reduce the amount of e-coli being dumped into neighboring Salt Creek.  The Story Inn believes that this waste water treatment plant, which will be quiet, odorless, housed in a barn and located more than 500 feet from the nearest neighbors' property line, is good for the local environment.  The local Health Department concurs.  Several months ago, Mullett filed suit against the Brown County Board of Zoning Appeals as well, for what he claimed to be their arbitrary and capricious behavior in approving Dan's special exception to build this waste water treatment plant. 

          Some of Dan's neighbors believe all of this serves as a precursor to the Wal-Martization of our lovely county, a ridiculous conclusion.  Dan's property is entirely hemmed in by government lands or flood plain.  Further expansion is simply not going to happen.  (Mullett's wife owns unimproved land nearby, which could explain why he appears to be less than objective about this whole matter.)

        It is our view that both of these lawsuits are frivolous and filed in bad faith.  The following is a fair statement of the law on this point in Indiana:                

"Rezoning is a legislative process, and the determination whether to rezone a particular piece of property is a matter left to the sound discretion of the local legislative body. Bryant v. County Council of Lake County, 720 N.E.2d 1, 5 (Ind. Ct. App. 1999), trans. denied. Appellate review of a rezoning decision is accordingly limited to constitutionality, procedural soundness, and whether the decision was arbitrary or capricious. Borsuk v. Town of St. John, 820 N.E.2d 118, 122 (Ind. 2005). A rezoning decision is arbitrary and capricious if the legislative body has taken willful and unreasonable action without consideration and in disregard of the facts or circumstances of the case. Ogden v. Premier Props., USA, Inc., 755 N.E.2d 661, 670 (Ind. Ct. App. 2001). We will not intervene in the local legislative process as long as it is supported by some rational basis. Bryant, 720 N.E.2d at 5. "

    Though Mullett will ultimately fail, the taxpayers of Brown County must nevertheless step in and defend these lawsuits.  According to the local newspaper, Mullett is representing his "clients" for free and has promised that "They (the Commissioners) are going to have a long, hard fight on their hands". 

     Hold on to your wallets, good people of Brown County!