Ravenswood Gets Time To File Brief On Merritt Motion

NEW LONDON — Ravenswood Construction LLC got two weeks July 12, 2005, from Judge Seymour Hendel to prepare and file a brief in support of its motion to set aside a jury verdict that went against the Cheshire developer in the F.L. Merritt Inc. land case.

Judge Hendel had been prepared to rule on the motion when Attorney Michael Bonnano for Ravenswood asked for time to submit a brief. The judge gave Ravenswood a July 25 deadline for the brief, after which Merritt and GOSA, defendants in the Ravenswood suit, will have until Aug. 8 to respond. Ravenswood will have a week to answer the defendants’ response.

The judge then will schedule oral arguments on the matter. If Ravenswood’s motion is denied, the company will have 20 days to decide whether to file an appeal.

On May 18, 2005, a jury rejected Ravenswood’s suit aimed at compelling F.L. Merritt to sell a 75-acre parcel of land atop Fort Hill to Ravenswood for a housing development instead of to GOSA for preservation as open space. The jury did not accept Ravenswood’s argument that it had a valid contract that pre-dated GOSA’s contract of April 14, 2003, to buy the land for $1 million.

Land Acquisitions | July 12, 2005