A Lily Dale resident is bristling at the Lily Dale Assembly’s request to search his home and business.
There are two lawsuits between Lily Dale Assembly and Robert and Danielle Reuther, both involving Lily Dale’s attempts to compel the Reuthers to pay fees the assembly says it is owed and, if no fees are paid, to remove the Reuthers from the assembly.
The Fourth Department Appellate Division will hear oral arguments in the first case on Oct. 21 in Rochester. That case seeks to reverse state Supreme Court Justice Grace Hanlon’s decision to allow that case to proceed rather than immediately decide the case in favor of Lily Dale Assembly.
Discovery in the second attempt to remove the Reuthers from the assembly was to have been wrapped up Sept. 16, but attorney Nicole Mastrocinque, acting on behalf of Lily Dale, asked for more time.
“Specifically, Lily Dale requires extra time to thoroughly search for and review electronically stored information as well as hard copy files that are currently stored on the premises,” Mastrocinque wrote in her letter to the state Supreme Court. “These files are crucial to the case and include important documents that are necessary for a comprehensive and fair discovery process.”
Reuther, meanwhile, didn’t argue against the 60-day extension but did question what Lily Dale’s lawyers were hoping to find during the discovery process – and where they hoped to find it.
“We have no business computer or business phones,” Reuther said. “Therefore, any unlimited search of our personal computer or phones would encroach upon our constitutional right to privacy,” Reuther wrote in a reply dated Sept. 12. “We would need to know what specifically they are looking for and specifically how this information relates to their statements in their briefs that the ‘core’ issue is whether or not we have violated the Indentured Agreement’ by refusing to pay an unauthorized ‘associated’ guest house licensing fee.”
A decision has not been entered electronically as of Thursday.
Meanwhile, appellate court judges will hear from Lily Dale attorneys and the Reuthers on Oct. 21 in Lily Dale’s appeal of Hanlon’s November 2023 decision allowing the case to move forward rather than be decided by summary judgment in favor of the Assembly. Lily Dale has been trying since 2022 to remove the Reuthers from the spiritualist community over a dispute over annual business and licensing fees related to a guest house the Reuthers operated on their Fourth Street, Lily Dale, address. The Reuthers stopped paying the $1,000 fee in 2019, prompting the assembly to claim the contract had been breached and giving reason to have the Reuthers removed from the assembly. Hanlon ruled there is enough unknown about the case to allow it to proceed. Lily Dale officials disagreed and appealed Hanlon’s ruling.
In an answer submitted to the state Supreme Court in September 2022, the Reuthers said the claims in Lily Dale’s complaint aren’t authorized under state law, the state constitution, the Lily Dale Assembly bylaws, rules or regulations and, further, that the actions taken by Lily Dale constitute harassment, discrimination and abuse of process against the Reuthers. The Reuthers also say they did not enter into agreements on the terms Lily Dale alleges and can’t prove the Reuthers violated the material terms of any binding or valid contract.
Lily Dale officials renewed their efforts to have the Reuthers removed earlier this year after the case sat dormant for about a year. In October, Hanlon ruled on Lily Dale’s claim for summary judgment against the Reuthers, denying the claim and disagreeing with Lily Dale that there was clear language showing the Reuthers agreed to follow the community’s bylaws, rules and regulations in exchange for living on the Lily Dale Grounds.Ambiguity within the documents the Reuthers received, Hanlon wrote, courts have held courts should not grant requests for summary judgment.
“The court disagrees and it is unclear when and if the Reuthers received a copy of the by-laws and rules,” Hanlon wrote before continuing, “This case involves the interpretation of contractual language within three separate documents, and viewing the language within all the documents is reasonably susceptible to more than one interpretation.”
Attorney Nicole Mastrocinque, representing Lily Dale, argued in a recent brief filed to the Fourth Department Appellate Division that the onus was on the Reuthers to find the bylaws and rules referred to in the agreement between the assembly and the Reuthers. She is arguing the appeals court should require the Reuthers to follow the agreement between the two parties – which would allow the assembly to remove the Reuthers for violating the contract.
“For all the reasons set forth herein, it is respectfully submitted that the court erred when it held that the agreement did not require that the respondents abide by Lily Dale’s By-Laws and Rules and Regulations and that Lily Dale was required to establish that the respondents received a copy of the By-Laws and Rules and Regulations.”
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