A Gwinnett Superior Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce and vice president Nick Masino that accused them of undermining a potential $4 million land deal in Suwanee.
Settles Bridge Farm’s lawsuit accused Masino, mayor of Suwanee from 1999 to 2007, of advising city officials in February 2008 to block the relocation of Notre Dame Academy in Duluth to the property in the Moore Road area of Suwanee.
But last week, Judge Dawson Jackson ruled Masino was addressing a matter of “public concern” and not “disseminating confidential information” during a phone conversation with Suwanee City Manager Marty Allen about the proposed move.
“We feel very vindicated,” Masino said.
Attorneys for Settles Bridge Farm, which owned the 36.5-acre piece of property, said they planned to file an appeal.
“We believe this is a fairly complicated and rarely developed area of the law that needs some appellate consideration,” attorney Simon Bloom said.
Settles Bridge Farm is embroiled in a similar legal dispute with Suwanee over the same land deal. Superior Court Judge Warren Davis is still considering a Gwinnett jury’s recommendation in August that the developers be awarded $1.8 million.
The city also settled a lawsuit with Notre Dame Academy in August 2010, including a $257,000 reimbursement.
According to legal documents, Settles Bridge Farm reached an agreement with Notre Dame Academy in February 2008 to sell about 36.5 acres.
At the time, the city’s zoning classification permitted the property to be developed as a school without need for approval by the mayor or City Council.
But about two weeks later, the council held an emergency meeting and adopted a moratorium on building or development permits for “large projects located within residential districts.” Then in May 2008, the council approved a special-use permit amendment to the city’s zoning ordinance. That would have required the school to seek a permit to develop the land.
The school ultimately canceled the contract last August. Attorneys for Settles Bridge Farm estimate that cost their client as much as $4 million.
Masino said Brad Williams and David Bowling, owners of Settles Bridge and relatives of Gwinnett Chamber board member Virgil Williams, said Judge Jackson’s dismissal of the suit was a strong signal that the claims were false.
Bloom countered that members of the Gwinnett Chamber should take the lawsuit as a warning, saying that Masino didn’t have respect for the organization’s confidentiality agreement.
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