Defendant City Refuses To Cave In To Possible 'Shakedown' By Developer Who Invoked Fair Housing Act In Bringing Lawsuit Seeking $1+ Million In Damages Over Building Permit Denial; Judge To Litigants: If You Don't Settle This Matter Between Yourselves, I'm Booting The Case!

In Macedonia, Ohio, the Nordonia Hills News-Leader reports:

• A federal judge has stated she intends to dismiss a complaint filed in 2013 against the city over a property dispute, while parties in the case have until next week to decide whether they want to meet to mediate their differences with a court magistrate before she makes her decision final.
  
  In a Feb. 10 "memorandum opinion and order," Judge Sara Lioi, of the U.S. Court for the Northern District of Ohio, ruled plaintiff Farnhurst LLC has failed to prove any of its federal claims "that brought this fundamentally local dispute to federal court." Farnhurst is a partnership between brothers Frank and Jorge Pla, according to court records.
  
  Without enumerating them, Lioi said the Farnhurst complaint contains state and local issues the court is not required to decide, adding parties in the case have until Feb. 16 to tell the court if they agree to mediation. If the two sides don't agree to mediation, "the court will enter final judgement," and dismiss the case in the city's favor.
  
  The complaint involves a 2.3 acre vacant property at the southeast corner of Timber Ridge Drive and Shepard Road, just south of Route 82 in the Parkview Estates subdivision, owned by Farnhurst.
  
  The complaint alleges the city and former and current city officials, in denying a building permit requested by Farnhurst to build two homes on the property abused their authority in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act and equal protection guarantees under the U.S. Constitution. The complaint included a demand for unspecified compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages.

For more, see Federal judge plans to dismiss complaint stemming from 2010 lot split in Macedonia. zoning