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Thursday, May 01, 2008

Claimant's Search Comes Up Empty

By Laura Nesbitt /
Mountain View Telegraph
      Although Judge Edmund Kase III gave John Romero until the end of last December to find the almost two dozen residents he said had similar claims against current Mountainair Mayor Velta Gilley, his attorney has been unable to do so.
       “They're not pursuing” the claims, Romero's attorney, René Ostrochovsky, told Kase at a motion hearing in Estancia District Court on April 24.
       Romero is the former Mountainair mayor and was a councilman, and is a plaintiff in a lawsuit against Gilley and the town of Mountainair.
       He lost to Gilley in a 2006 bid to regain the mayor's seat.
       Romero is alleging discrimination against him by Gilley and the town on the basis of age, race and physical disability; retaliation and negligence in maintaining town utilities; intentional infliction of emotional distress; and negligence in serving in the position as mayor.
       Last week in state District Court, Kase spent 2½ hours reading through the 20 requests for different documents and records that Romero had made to Gilley and the town.
       “We want to compare the billing of Mr. Romero with other residents for the last three years to make sure it's billed similarly,” Ostrochovsky said.
       “So for each customer receiving gas you want 48 separate billing records?” Kase asked.
       “We'd be happy to pay for that. It should just be a matter of pushing a button,” Ostrochovsky said.
       Kase then looked down and read aloud from the plaintiff's request.
       “This is a fishing expedition,” Kase said.
       Later in the proceeding, Ostrochovsky explained.
       “This is a not a fishing expedition. Mr. Romero is trying to prove disparate treatment,” she said.
       Kase partially granted several of Romero's demands including requests for customer lists of gas service as of June 2006 and June 2007, and customer lists for water service as of June 2006 and June 2007.
       “The judge ordered the town to produce a list of customer names, but not to provide any other information” like addresses, phone numbers, accounts and so forth, explained Gilley's attorney, Jeffrey Baker, in an e-mail.
       Other requests from Romero were denied, including requests asking for three years of receipts for cash payments of utility bills, gas utility billing records and water utility billing records, plaintiff's request for production states.
       Romero claims he has been treated differently from other town residents and therefore needs to see receipts, Ostrochovsky said, adding that she wants to prove that “they've done away with” bills.
       Another request asks the town to provide documents pertaining to criminal charges filed against Romero by Gilley, the town or any town councilor, and Kase ordered that the town provide those documents.
       “Romero was convicted of illegally turning on his water after it was cut off for non-payment of his water bill,” Baker explained.
       Baker intends to file a motion to dismiss certain claims made against Gilley and the town sometime in June.
       Ostrochovsky told Kase she may attach up to 50 exhibits to a response to that motion.
   

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