Instead of having the Hearing on the City’s and Developers’ Motion To Dismiss and our Motion For Discovery (requesting more documents because facts are being disputed) the Judge granted the Developers their request of a Traverse Hearing.

However, he also granted us at least a month to prepare, for this hearing where as previously we have had time tables that have not been in our favor.  The developers and the City want this lawsuit to be over quickly, so that they can move forward with the larger development being proposed along the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

One of the most important aspects of a lawsuit is to ensure that the parties that are being sued have been notified.  However, it isn’t enough to prove that a person or entity got the papers or has been notified, the way that you have to notify them is very important, because if a they were not notified according to the law, the case can be thrown out.

Of course there are always exceptions to the rules regarding this rule, but one has to prove either that they followed the letter of the law when serving or that there were mitigating circumstances where they could not but the service should still be upheld.

At a Traverse Hearing witnesses are put on the stand and live testimony is taken to determine if service was done according to the law or via an order of the court.

The only information that the developers gave at the hearing is that we used a mail service provider, instead of personal service (hand delivery by an individual).

We noted on the record that the person who had done the service for us was in the courtroom and she raised her hand, but still if there is a question of service the developers have a right to this hearing.

As we stated outside at our Press Conference we believe this is simply a stall tactic and a way for us to use up our resources, time and energy, but we have to do it.