Lawsuit over: Historical society settles with city

WASILLA -- The lawsuit brought against the city of Wasilla over an unruly sewer system ended last week with a settlement and apparent victory for the city. The Wasilla-Knik Historical Society has dropped its lawsuit and agreed to pay $500 in legal costs to the city's insurance provider, the Alaska Municipal League/Joint Insurance Association (AML/JIA). The historical society has also paid $760 in unpaid utility bills which the city requested in a counterclaim -- that bill was paid before the case got to court.

In January 2001, the sewer system backed up twice into the basement of the Herning-Teeland-Mead building which is owned by the historical society. After unsuccessfully lobbying the city council for relief, the society's president, Leroi Heaven, filed a lawsuit in Palmer District Court last September. Heaven claimed the city owed the historical society nearly $5,000 for clean-up and other costs.

The settlement came last week after the trial call was put off. Heaven told the Frontiersman he initiated the settlement with AML/JIA's attorney.

"This is my initiative," Heaven said. "I was looking at the costs and the chances of whether we could win or not."

Heaven attended the first trial in January with no attorney. Palmer District Court Judge Natalie Finn put the trial off until this week. When asked, Heaven admitted to being a little intimidated at the prospect of arguing his case against an attorney.

"I've been on a jury, and I've been a witness before," Heaven said. "But I've never been in that chair, I'll tell you."

In a memo to Wasilla Deputy Administrator John Cramer, AML/JIA attorney Blake Call wrote that Heaven showed up to trial without witnesses or exhibits. The judge continued the case and "reminded Mr. Heaven of the potential of prevailing party fees," the memo said.

Call told the Frontiersman this week that he was ready for trial and had outlined the city's case for the judge.

"We had a very good case and we were going to prevail," Call said.

Instead, according to Call, the trial was put off because Alaska requires the courts to protect people who represent themselves.

"If I had been facing another attorney and they had showed up unprepared, the case would have been thrown out," Call said.

Call said he asked the judge to remind Heaven that the society could be forced to pay attorney's fees should they lose, and gave Heaven his card. Call said the $500 covered the cost of preparing for trial, and would have gone up considerably, had he argued the case in court.

The historical society threw in the towel Feb. 8, three days before the new trial date. Despite the loss, Heaven and Marjorie Campbell, the historical society's treasurer, said the organization isn't in financial trouble.

"All of us feel that we are in the right, but you can't fight city hall," Campbell said. "It's just that we can't afford it."