LID lawsuits against city of Kuna progressing slowly

The wheels of justice turn slowly indeed. This week, we have a minor update on the lawsuits pending against the city of Kuna brought by some of the landowners in the local improvement district that’s been billed $26 million for the construction of the new wastewater treatment plant.
Last week, the lawyers representing the city of Kuna, KeyBank and multiple LID landowners met behind closed doors for about an hour to discuss, presumably, scheduling. They then met with Fourth District Court Judge Timothy Hansen — again behind closed doors — to discuss a motion to disqualify Hansen as the judge on the case.
Hansen is still considering the motion to disqualify him, according to Fred Shoemaker, a lawyer representing a contingent of landowners who own about half of the acres in the LID.
Apparently, KeyBank, who is sitting on the side of the city of Kuna, is opposing Hansen as the judge and wants to find another judge. Shoemaker said he’s happy with Hansen, and he doesn’t see any reasonable justification to disqualify Hansen, such as conflict of interest from being related, for example, to any of the parties or having a vested interest in the LID or wastewater treatment plant.
Shoemaker said he fully expects Hansen to rule against disqualifying himself. He said he expects that ruling in the next couple of weeks.
After that, supposedly, we’ll be able to get into more of the meat and potatoes of the case. Still, even if the case goes to a trial, Shoemaker said a trial wouldn’t start probably for another year. In the meantime, both sides will do discovery and take depositions and affidavits in preparation for a trial.