The Observation Deck

Lakewood has prevailed over Rocky River in the Dog Park lawsuit!!!!!!

Mayor Tom George said "We're still fighting for Lakewood right up to the finish."

Assistant Law Director Tom Corrigan handled the case. Details will follow.

Stan Austin--- still the City Council Reporter

Yay dog park - yay legal team.

That is fantastic news!

Yippee!!! Great news.

I met some people tonight who told me that they lived "practically above the dog park". They would have been happy to testify that there's no obnoxious noise and that they love taking their dog to the park!

Good news on the win!

This is an update, especially for all you legal eagles out there.

First of all, Law Director Brian Corrigan pointed out to me that the lead attorney on this case for Lakewood was Assistant Law Director Mary Haas McGraw with assistance from attorney Jennifer Mladek.

I spoke with Mary this morning. She said the essence of the case boiled down to sovereign immunity. Our contention was that Lakewood as a government had immunity and could not be sued and that operating a park was a normal function of government and could not be forced to stop a normal government function.

McGraw said that the Court basically agreed with our entire position and took pains to address each issue point by point instead of just issuing a cursory denial with no explanation.

I asked McGraw about the Judge, whether or not there was any history of reversals on appeal for instnace and McGraw indicated that the Judge was very highly regarded and respected within the legal community.

So, both the quality of the Judge along with the point by point explanation would be in the favor of Lakewood were the case to go in front of an appeals court.

I thanked Mary on behalf of the Dog Park for her hard work and I'm sure everybody else (even if you don't have a dog) would join in that thanks.

Stan Austin

From the Plain Dealer website: cleveland.com

Judge dismisses dog park lawsuit
Posted by James F. McCarty December 19, 2007 11:46AM
Categories: Breaking News
Pooches can continue to romp and frolic without muzzles at Lakewood's popular dog park.

A Cuyahoga County judge threw out a lawsuit this week brought against Lakewood by the city of Rocky River and residents of the neighborhood west of the Rocky River Reservation where the dog park is located.

The plaintiffs sued the city in August, complaining that the dog park was a nuisance -- noisy, smelly and generally bothersome to nearby residents. They asked the court to padlock the park and order it moved somewhere else.

Lakewood's assistant law director, Thomas Corrigan, denied in court documents that the park is noisy or smelly, and insisted the city enforces all of the park's rules. But more importantly, he said, the park is a government-owned facility, that it is not defective, and that the city has not been negligent in maintaining the park. Under Ohio law, that made the city immune from paying damages in a negligence lawsuit.

Common Pleas Judge Carolyn Friedland agreed with Corrigan and dismissed the case.

"The fact of the matter is that the design, construction and operation of the Lakewood Dog Park is a governmental function," Friedland wrote in her opinion, "and the decision on whether to build a dog park, where to locate the dog park, and how to operate the dog park are discretionary acts in nature.

"It would be both illogical and nonsensical to conclude that the Rocky River plaintiffs could interfere with the operation of the Lakewood Dog Park."

When enough adult middle class people gather to play with dogs it creates a field of positive energy. This field wards off nuisancesome cleveland adolescents and lowers the odds of hearing them casually call each other racial slurs and use variations of the F word as adjectives. That is how people know their quality of life is not decreasing.

Someday Oprah will do a show about it.