Candlehouse gets just $4,700 in damages
Candlehouse Teen Challenge tried to open a rehabilitation facility in 2009 for women recovering from addiction and emotional disorders on Mirador Drive, a residential Vestal neighborhood. / File Photo
A jury sided with a religious group in a federal lawsuit that clears the path for opening a rehabilitation facility in a Town of Vestal neighborhood.
After a seven-day trial, the verdict reached Tuesday night agreed with Candlehouse Teen Challenge, a Christian nonprofit group contending town officials improperly denied its request to open the Mirador Drive facility for 12 women recovering from addiction and emotional disorders.
While Candlehouse had been seeking about $1 million from the town, the jury awarded just $4,700 in legal damages, court records show.
Addressing the verdict, Richard Mecklenborg, director of Candlehouse, said he plans to open the rehabilitation facility within a year. He would not discuss details about the women who would be living at the 400-401 Mirador Drive property, or the amount of legal damages.
“We are going to resume our Christian family activities for restoring women, which is our primary mission,” he said.
The U.S. District Court, Northern District, lawsuit was filed in January 2011, with Candlehouse contending Vestal violated federal anti-discrimination laws, including those protecting disabled people.
Vestal countered it denied the facility based on municipal zoning codes, which limit the number of non-family members living together in the Mirador Drive neighborhood to five.
Town Supervisor John Schaffer referred questions about the verdict to town attorney David Berger, who issued a written statement.
“The facts and evidence at issue were vigorously debated by both sides,” Berger stated. He did not respond to written questions about the amount of legal damages and whether the town plans to appeal the verdict.
Prior to the trial, the town spent nearly $143,000 on legal costs connected to the lawsuit, including attorney fees. Laura McKane, town comptroller, did not respond to written questions about the total legal costs following the trial.The jury — composed of seven women and one man — concluded Candlehouse sufficiently proved town officials discriminated against women with disabilities or handicaps, which referred to their addictions to drugs or alcohol under this lawsuit, court documents . READ MORE HERE
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