JANUARY 2006 UPDATE

Last month, the 2005 complaint was filed with the court contesting taxation of leasehold improvements on Pensacola Beach as real property. A copy of the 2005 lawsuit and Schedule A which lists plaintiffs to the 2005 complaint have been posted to this web site. Keep in mind that many of the plaintiffs named in the 2004 complaint could not be parties in 2005. Any plaintiff in the 2004 complaint with a $0 valuation assessed on the improvements on the leasehold property for 2005 could not be named as a party in the 2005 complaint. This alone does not affect participation in the 2004 lawsuit. Our attorneys advise us that the cases will likely be consolidated by the trial court into one action to avoid unnecessary duplication of efforts by the parties.

In November, a status report and request for production of additional documents was mailed to all plaintiffs in the 2004 lawsuit. A cover page and applicable documents were to be returned to Shell, Fleming, Davis & Menge by January 6, 2006. This deadline was not met by all parties. We have tried to stress the importance of providing discovery materials that the court has ordered be produced. Failure to comply with discovery requests may result in a motion by the Defendants to have certain plaintiffs dismissed as parties to the 2004 lawsuit. Although the deadline has passed, the law firm will continue to process the requested documents until such time as the opposing attorneys take action in the court on failure to comply with the request. Anyone who did not file the 2004 tax forms requested and cannot produce a copy of the closing statement should still return the 1 page form titled “Supplemental Information Request” with the appropriate responses checked. A copy of this form is also posted to this website along with some frequently asked questions and answers.

Our attorneys are hopeful that discovery in the 2004 lawsuit will be finalized by the end of February and they will be in a position to file a motion for summary judgment at that time. We encourage you to monitor this website for reports on the progress in this litigation.