After drawing the threat of sanctions from the presiding judge, gadfly Jerry Reese has agreed to drop any more lawsuits opposing a new Uptown ballpark for the Charlotte Knights (Class AAA; International League), set to open in 2014.
Lawyer and developer Reese has been a thorn in the side of Charlotte and Knights officials, filing eight lawsuits over the last decade opposing a new Knights ballpark while arguing the city’s efforts should be focused on attracting a Major League Baseball team to the Queen City. He lost the first seven lawsuits and was on his way to losing the eighth before Superior Court Judge David Lee stepped in with the threat of sanctions. With that threat before him, Reese promised to drop the eighth lawsuit and pledged not to appeal his other losses.
Practically speaking, the move really doesn’t affect the ballpark construction already underway, as the team and the city concluded a long time ago there was little threat of the project being derailed by Reese. Still, the move by Reese does mean no more money needs to be spent on defending the lawsuits.
“We are certainly pleased by the court’s ruling to award sanctions against Mr. Reese and thus ending these very costly, lengthy and frivolous lawsuits,” said Charlotte Knights Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer Dan Rajkowski. “These lawsuits didn’t deter our organization from doing what was right for our team, our fans and the community. We continue to focus our efforts on constructing one of the finest Class Triple-A franchises and look forward to our opening of BB&T Ballpark in April of 2014.”
You can view the construction Webcam here.
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