The never-ending, budget-draining water war between Georgia and Florida took another head-shaking turn Monday when the presiding judge moved the upcoming trial to … Maine.
Ralph Lancaster, appointed by the U.S. Supreme Court to settle the 27-year-long dispute over a fair apportionment of the Chattahoochee, Flint and Apalachicola rivers, ruled that the trial once-scheduled for Washington, D.C. will now take place in Portland. The trial is set to begin October 31 — Halloween.
“It will be located, appropriately enough, in the bankruptcy court,” said Lancaster the so-called special master whose office is in Portland.
Georgia has spent more than $40 million litigating the watery legal mess. Recently, 70 lawyers were on the Georgia payroll.
Lancaster said in a teleconference last week with attorneys for both states that the U.S. District Court, where the trial was initially scheduled, “cannot provide staffing for us.” Personnel, presumably, won’t be a problem in Portland.
Read here for an in-depth look at the water wars.
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