Legal fees soar
City, Redevelopment Agency spent $460K in Milligan case
NORWALK — The city and the Redevelopment Agency have spent over $460,000 in legal fees through the end of March associated with their lawsuit against real estate broker and developer Jason Milligan over his purchase of properties on Wall Street.
The agency released the fees on Friday, along with a copy of the nine invoices from Shipman and Goodwin, the law firm representing the parties and a statement about the history of the litigation, which began in last summer. In statement, the agency said the choice to go with the firm was done after review by both Mayor Harry Rilling and the Corporation Counsel’s office, since the firm would be representing “the public parties’ interest in this case.”
The city and redevelopment agency filed suit in June against former Wall Street Place developer ILSR Owners LLC and Wall St. Opportunity Fund LLC, which is controlled by Milligan, of New Canaan. Milligan owns multiple properties in and around the Wall Street area.
The lawsuit stemmed from Milligan’s purchase of the properties at 21, 23 and 31 Isaac St. as well as those at 83 and 97 Wall St. from ILSR Owners LLC, also known as POKO Partners, which were supposed to be part of the stalled Wall Street Place Development.
The properties were a part of a land disposition agreement from 2007,
which provided benefits to the developer and required approval from the Redevelopment Agency before ownership could be transferred.
Because of that, the city and agency pursued legal action to prevent the sale of the properties. In August, the Redevelopment Agency said it retained Shipman & Goodman, specifically Attorney Joseph WIlliams to represent both the agency and the city. In April, Milligan attempted to bring an expert witness to the stand to testify on the legitimacy of the disposition agreement. Milligan also filed a motion to dismiss, hearings on which are set for later this month. None of the April or May fees were included in the release from the agency.
The most costly period so far occurred from the end of November through Dec. 31, which cost $116,117 and from the end of February through the end of March, which cost $112,911 in legal fees.
Williams said in a statement “Milligan’s tactics” are to blame for how long and costly the suit has gotten.
“The Milligan defendants, after causing the need for the action to be filed in the first place, have gone to extraordinary lengths to delay and drive up the cost to pursue not even the underlying case, but a requested temporary injunction,” Williams said in the statement. “Their tactics include filing multiple motions to dismiss, motions for stay, motions to strike and for summary judgment, refusing to comply with their discovery obligations, which caused the need for the plaintiffs to file motions and issue subpoenas, repetitive cross-examination, and now a separate evidentiary hearing on a motion to dismiss after two such motions were previously denied by the court.
Milligan said, when reached by phone on Friday, that he “warned the city” not to file the suit in the first place.
“Do I think it’s a worthy expenditure of our taxpayer dollars?” he said. “Absolutely not.”
Milligan said he believed the costs would continue to rise since they haven’t even gotten to the full lawsuit.
“It’s a preliminary injunction — all this is doing is trying to stop me from taking any further action,” he said. “The full lawsuit has not even began.”
The city placed the blame for the costly fees at Milligan’s feet, according to a statement from Assistant Corporation Counsel Darin Callahan.
“While every effort is being made to contain the legal costs associated with protecting the rights the agency and city have under the LDA for the benefit of the public, the reality is, if the Milligan defendant wants to make this lawsuit expensive, there is only so much the city and agency can do to mitigate against those efforts without undermining the underlying quality of the legal work being performed.”
Milligan, on the other hand, said the city, particularly Corporation Counsel Mario Coppola was to blame for the situation. He accused Coppola and the city for “giving away” the properties that were a part of the Wall Street Place Development to Citibank, which is the owner of the properties and has been in talks to get another developer to take over the site and restart the project. Milligan also has a lawsuit filed against Citibank, arguing he has easements over some of the Wall Street Place properties.
“They need a new independent legal assessment — that’s what they really have needed for a long time,” he said.
The agency said in a statement that “should the public parties prevail on the underlying case they have filed,” the associated legal fees would be reimbursed.
Milligan said he doesn’t expect that will happen.
“I’m making the area awesome and they look like idiots,” he said.
The parties are due back in state Superior Court in Stamford on Wednesday.