Brookhaven wins news trial, overturning multi-million dollar ruling

BROOKHAVEN. Ga. - The city of Brookhaven has won a new trial for its mayor and city manager in the way they handled a real estate deal with Atlanta-based Ardent companies.

In March 2022, a jury awarded the development company more than $6 million in damages for a proposed 2017 project which would have gone up near Buford Highway and Bramblewood Drive. The project would have brought more than 200 townhomes on a 17-acre plot of land.

An appeals judge threw out that verdict late last year.

Ardent claims Brookhaven continued to make them jump through hoops. First, Ardent had to get all 32 homes in the area under contract, then apply for rezoning and finally ask the city to abandon a road that got in the way. Somewhere in the process, Ardent attorney Simon Bloom said, the city became interested in some of that land for a police station.

"‘We need property for a police station,’" he said the city told him. "As a result, we will pay 5% over the contract price for those six months and if you don’t, we’ll take it with eminent domain."

Ardent filed suit against the city in 2018 for obstruction of their efforts to redevelop this area.

"Have a rezoning application in the works, an abandonment application in the works, and now here’s the public authority becoming a competitor," he said.

In a release on Thursday, the city of Brookhaven called the initial complaint "frivolous" and says Ardent had complained the city would not abandon a road, making it difficult, in their opinion, to develop the townhome community.

In a ruling overturning the initial lawsuit judgement, an appeals court judge said Ardent failed to prove essential elements of their claims. It went on to say Brookhaven did not waive sovereign immunity.

"After hearing the arguments of counsel and reviewing the trial’s transcripts, this Court agrees with and follows the rationale as articulated by Brookhaven’s counsel at the May 24th hearing," DeKalb Superior Court Judge Tangela Barrie wrote in her Sept. 22 order.

"It has been a long, arduous ordeal, not only for me, but for my whole family. They should never have been subjected to this pejorative verdict and judgment," said Mayor John Ernst. "I make no apologies that I refused to compromise the city or its residents to the whims of an overzealous and unscrupulous developer. I am grateful that this is behind us now and we are finally vindicated in this matter."

"I hope this ruling dispels the widespread rumors and innuendo in the community that were caused during and after this lawsuit. As I’ve always said, we were never doing anything other than what we are supposed to be doing, which is protecting the interests and assets of the taxpayers," said City Manager Christian Sigman. "I’m pleased that this matter is resolved in the city’s favor."

"Judge Barrie’s ruling is another positive step towards the resolution of this unfounded lawsuit. A private developer cannot force a city to abandon property for the developer’s financial gain. This ruling shows our justice system is working as it should," said City Attorney Jeremy Berry.

No word on when a new trial may take place.