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Monday, March 17, 2008

Ind. Courts - "Suit filed over RCA Dome auction" [Updated]

Jeff Swiatek of the Indianapolis Star is reporting this afternoon:

An Indianapolis law firm has sued the Marion County Capital Improvement Board to prevent it from turning over money from auctioned RCA Dome items to the Indianapolis Colts Foundation and Indiana Sports Corp.

"This has a lot of people outraged that they are selling off public property, and none of it is going to benefit the taxpayers. It's a violation of the law," said Paul K. Ogden, an associate at Roberts & Bishop, which filed the complaint today in Marion Superior Court.

The four-page complaint asks the court to declare that the CIB "breached its fiduciary responsibilities by giving away publicly owned property within the RCA Dome."

The CIB, which owns and manages the soon-to-be-demolished stadium, is selling seats, pieces of turf and the fabric roof, and even urinals to the public in online auctions.

Auction proceeds could run in the millions of dollars, which the CIB intends to give to the Colts' foundation and the sports corporation. Both are nonprofit organizations.

The lawsuit seeks to return the money to taxpayers, perhaps to help pay off the portion of public debt that remains unpaid on the dome, Ogden said.

The law firm also wants its own legal fees to be paid from auction proceeds if its lawsuit is successful.

The Star provides a link to the 4-page complaint.

The Indianapolis Star had an editorial stating "Our position: RCA Dome memorabilia should be recognized as public property," on March 6th.

[Updated 3/18/07] The Star today has published an updated version of the story, including:

Bob Grand, newly named president of the improvement board, said the sports corporation and foundation deserve to receive auction proceeds, in part, because they are handling the auction for the board.

"It makes sense," he said. "We're not in the business of selling memorabilia. There's a lot of work that goes into this."

The Colts foundation is also entitled to money from the sale because the team is allowing its name and trademark to be put on items such as lockers, which makes them more valuable, Grand said.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 17, 2008 01:02 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts