Monday, December 12, 2011

Appeals Court Decision Again in Favor of MDOT and Against the Ambassador Bridge

Moroun loses court ruling over Ambassador Bridge ramps, Detroit Free Press, December 7, 2011 reports on the appeals court upholding the trial court’s decision against the Detroit International Bridge Company (“DIBC”, aka Ambassador Bridge owned by Matty Maroun) regarding its breaching the agreement with the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) to build its portion of the Gateway Project according to the plans agreed upon.

The failure of DIBC to live up to its agreement to the detriment of the traveling public and to the benefit of DIBC to sell more gasoline duty free and make excessive profits is what prompted me to swing my support in favor of the new bridge proposed by MDOT and Governor Snyder. See “Olson Swings His Support in Favor of NITC - With Conditions“, my blog posting of October 19, 2011.

For those who are still on the fence, you should read the first few pages of the opinion giving the background of the case presented to the appeals court. (For those who don’t like to read legalese, you may wish to skip the rest, as you will probably find the arguments quite esoteric.) The background helps sort out many of the “facts” that the parties assert so that you can know what has actually happened.

Now, the question remains of how the Michigan Legislature will act with regard to the proposed new bridge. I remain in support of the project, under the conditions outlined in the prior blog posting, i.e., placing on the ballot a constitutional amendment prohibiting the use of Michigan taxpayer money to construct the new bridge or bail out any subsequent bridge authority and provisions for a slim, but reasonable community benefits agreement included in the bill approving the project. See the prior blog posting for more precise language.

Stay tuned!

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