"True JACC" Lawsuit, The Case That Never Dies! Fat Lady Who Sang Now Does Encore Performance For Legal Fees From Extensive Appeal...

Creative stock photo, a cemetery in Louisiana, blog post by John Hoff


I would have thought the "True JACC" lawsuit over control of the Jordan Area Community Council was really, finally, truly and for sure OVER AND DONE after my last blog post on the subject, with a link to the Court of Appeals ruling.

Turns out that even when the legal fat lady sings, sometimes she does an encore...


Word reaches me the resoundingly successful defendants in the case have filed a Motion For Attorney Fees On Appeal. The motion was filed approximately July 17 by Diane B. Bratvold of Briggs and Morgan.

I know what you're thinking. Didn't the "True JACC" defendants ALREADY win their attorney fees? It's the same question I asked when I heard this news. Well, it turns out the defendants were awarded attorney fees INCURRED DURING THE TRIAL.

But what about all the attorney fees FROM THE APPEAL? That is separate, and covered by this motion. Defendants are requesting $26,698 in attorney fees. Of course, with plaintiff attorney Jill Clark on inactive disability status, and facing the possible loss of her law license, it's an open question who will even oppose this motion.

Another open question is whether any of these monetary judgments will attach to tangible plaintiff assets or is this whole "we want attorney fees" thing merely a legal exercise for the insurance company?

In any case, I've decided to stop writing the "True JACC" case is "over." While the legal case may draw to a close with the resolution of this motion, its reverberations in neighborhood politics never seems to end.

"True JACC" was a sea change moment in the neighborhood, when the question was forcefully asked: Who will have power in Jordan? Decent people? Or bad actors? The question is, of course, larger than Jordan. It encompasses all of North Minneapolis. It may be a question for the whole world, but the focus of this blog is not the whole world. Most of the time, I restrict my focus to North Minneapolis.

Who will have power in our world? Decent people? Or bad actors?

Every day, it appears, we must ask that question anew and fight our way to the more desirable answer.

But in the "True JACC" lawsuit, the decent people won.