EAST ST. LOUIS - Local leaders, who for two years ignored discovery requests of Centreville area residents suing for better sewers, are now claiming they found 8,748 pages of evidence in a closet in the basement of the former Centreville city hall.
Centreville city, Centreville township, and Commonfields of Cahokia water system delivered the bonanza to plaintiffs Cornelius Bennett and Earlie Fuse in September.
Centreville city and Commonfields stand as defendants although they ceased to exist after their consolidation into the city of Cahokia Heights.
Bennett and Fuse didn’t welcome the overdue delivery and actually asked U.S. District Judge David Dugan to ship it back to the basement.
Their counsel, Nicole Nelson of Belleville, preparing for trial starting in January, moved on Nov. 3 to strike the entire production.
Nelson claimed Centreville city, counsel Erica Spitzig of Cincinnati, explained that the city didn’t produce the documents prior to a discovery deadline because no one searched the closet.
Nelson attached email from Spitzig stating, “It has been over two years since Centreville was in existence and the city did not have sophisticated methods for maintaining its records even when it was a going concern.”
Spitzig claimed locating the documents required three people searching through multiple boxes in an obscure location.
Nelson’s motion for sanctions asserted bad faith.
She claimed there was no evidence defendants made a diligent search despite numerous requests, a court order mandating production, and six extensions of the discovery deadline.
She claimed late production severely prejudiced Bennett and Fuse in conducting a review.
“Plaintiffs are unable to cure this prejudice and the late production will disrupt plaintiffs’ preparation for trial,” she wrote.
She claimed they were unable to question potential witnesses on documents, specifically financial records that included audits for many years.
Audits could shed light on an argument of defendants that the sewer systems deteriorated because they lacked money for necessary maintenance.
Nelson filed a complaint for Bennett and Fuse in 2020, seeking remedies for discharges of raw sewage and flooding and seeking damages for taking of property.
Along with local governments, Nelson named Centreville township supervisor Curtis McCall Sr., Centreville city mayor Marius Jackson, city tax increment financing administrator Lamar Gentry, and Commonfields superintendent Dennis Traiteur as official and individual defendants.
She submitted interrogatories and requests for production of documents in 2021 and moved to compel responses last year.
In January, Dugan gave defendants 30 days to respond.
Nelson wrote in her motion for sanctions that, “Defendants failed to comply with the court’s order and nothing was received by plaintiff within or after that deadline.”
She claimed she detailed all discovery she still needed on Aug. 3, ahead of a discovery deadline on Aug. 22.
On Oct. 12, after defendants delivered the contents of the basement closet to her, local defense counsel Mark Scoggins supplemented his responses to her requests.
He referred her to documents of Sept. 21 and 27 on almost every aspect of the case.
They related to determining assets, liabilities, and total income of defendants.
They related to maintenance, maps, and charts of sewers.
The documents also related to locations of pumps and their bypass schedules.
They related to state and federal funds received, anticipated or desired.
The documents related to tax increment financing and citizen complaints.
Additionally, they related to discussions with East St. Louis about a possibility that East St. Louis sends a surcharge of storm water into Centreville.
A motion remains pending to stay the case while defendants negotiate a consent decree with state and federal environmental agencies.
Defendants claim Dugan might interfere with negotiation or enter contradictory judgment.
He heard arguments in September and took it under advisement.