News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
A federal judge has ruled in favor of the City of Sisters and several current and former City officials in a lawsuit stemming from a business dispute that roiled the City in 2012-13.
On January 2, United States District Judge Ann Aiken upheld another judge's findings and recommendations granting a motion for summary judgment and denied the plaintiff's sanctions in a civil rights lawsuit filed by Ky Karnecki, former proprietor of the Wild Mountain food stand in Sisters. Judge Aiken noted that the plaintiff's objections to Judge Thomas Coffin's findings and recommendations were filed three weeks past the court's deadline of November 8, 2017.
Coffin had earlier concluded that Karnecki's federal claims should be dismissed and that "The court should decline to exercise jurisdiction over plaintiff's state-law claims and the action should be dismissed."
Karnecki had accused the City of Sisters and several officials of discriminatory treatment in enforcing City requirements for a temporary-use permit and in requiring him to remove his building.
The federal court found that a Deschutes County Justice Court trial on two citations issued to Karnecki in that regard had addressed the issues raised and that "This court has no jurisdiction to review or set aside that State Court finding."
Judge Coffin found that the "plaintiff had a full hearing at trial in State Court regarding his claims that the City and its officials discriminated against him in the enforcement of its Temporary Use Permit Code and the Court found that there was no discrimination. That finding is preclusive in this action."
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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