HomeMy WebLinkAboutHDC1990-005 United States District Court 10/25/19941
1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS
2 WESTERN DIVISION
3 EVELYN DUFFEY and
ALISON PATTON, PLAINTIFFS
4
VS. NO. LR-C-94-344
5
CITY OF LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS
6 and the QUAPAW QUARTER ASSOCIATION, DEFENDANTS
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DEPOSITION
OF
EVELYN DUFFEY
October 25, 1994
BUSHMAN COURT REPORTING
201 East Sixth Street
Little Rock, Arkansas 72202
(501) 372-5115
DEFENDANT'S
EXHIBIT NO.
BUSHMAN COURT REPORTING
35
1 there was a couple of other witnesses whom I can't remember
2 who they were, but they were at the table, and then Ms.
3 Heinbockel. Is that her name? Anyway, I think that is. She
4 closed the meeting with the decision that since the guidelines
5 indicated that, there could be no demolition. well, that was
6 it:
7 Q. Are we talking about the 1993 meeting?
8 A. Yes, December 2nd, 1993.
9 Q. Did you actually speak at the meeting, or did you
10 attorney appear on your behalf?
11 A. We all spoke at the meeting, my daughter, my attorney,
12 and myself.
13 Q. But you didn't get a chance to say everything you
14 wanted to say?
15 A. No, I didn't. I felt like I didn't.
16 Q. Okay. Take a look at Paragraph 18, which is on Page 5
17 down at the very bottom.
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. And in this paragraph you are talking about the
20 deprivation of your Constitutional rights was the legal result
21 of acts of persons vested by the City policy making authority.
22 Can you tell me who you are talking about, who the City people
23 are with policy making authority that you are referring to
24 here?
25 A. City Directors, I relieve.
BUSHMAN COURT REPORTING
36
1 Q. How did the City Directors deprive you of your
2 Constitutional rights?
3 A. Well, they had, in effect, deprived us or our
4 Constitutional rights when they kicked our problem around at
5 805 Rock Street from one meeting to the next. They didn't
6 make any decision until finally, with the lawsuit in, we got
7 them to come to the point of solving the problem. We got our
8 demolition permit then.
9 Q. Let me interrupt you just a second, and I apologize for
10 doing that.
11 A. That's all right.
12 Q. But when you filed the Complaint, did you file it based
13 upon being denied by the Historic District Commission or being
14 denied by the City of Little Rock Board of Directors?
15 A. By the City of Little Rock and the Historic District
16 Commission.
17 Q. By both?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. And how many times had you been before the --
20 A. And we also filed it against the Quapaw Quarter
21 Association, as you know, because they are part and parcel of
22 the whole policy making process regarding the historic
23 distinct.
24 Q. How many times had you been before the City Board of
25 Directors prior to filing this lawsuit? `
BUSHMAN COURT REPORTING
37
1 A. Oh, let's see, two or three times, I can't remember
2 exactly, before we filed the lawsuit.
3 Q. That you actually appeared at meetings before the Board
4 of Directors?
5 A. I did not talk at those meetings, my daughter did. She
6 acted as the spokesman.
7 Q. Do you know of any meeting other than the March 1st,
8 1994 meeting that she appeared at?
9 A. Now, this I don't remember, but she was there twice.
10 She didn't get a chance to talk that one time. Our lawyer was
11 talking, and I'm afraid all of the time for talking,
12 communicating, at that time was used up, and she didn't get a
13 chance to make any remarks.
14 Q. At the time that your daughter spoke at this meeting
15 and the other time you are talking about that your attorney
16 spoke on your behalf --
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. -- was this during the citizen communication part?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. So it wasn't an item that was actually before the Board
21 on their agenda, not something they were going to vote on at
22 that time? We are talking about citizen communication?
23 A. No, that's right. It was citizen communication.
24 Q. So at that time it wasn't before the Board to make a
25 decision, you were just voicing a complaint, is that right?
BUSHMAN COURT REPORTING
W
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. Once you were denied by the Historic District
3 Commission a Certifiate of Appropriateness, did you appeal
4 that decision to the Chancery Court?
5 A. No, we decided against that because we didn't feel like
6 we would get a fair hearing in the Chancery Court.
7
Q.
Why did you think that?
8
A.
Well, according to my lawyer ----
9
Q.
You don't need to tell me any advice
he gave you, but
10
if
you can explain to me why you understand
it --
11
A.
Well, as I understand it, they would
hear, in the
12
Chancery Court, the minutes of the meeting
of December the
13
2nd, and they would base their decision on what was presented
14
in
that meeting. We would have to take our
chance on whether
15 or not they would consider our Complaint as being legitimate
16 -- a legitimate complaint and whether or not the Historic
17 District Commission, at the time, in following the guidelines
18 was correct or not, in the way they held the meeting.
19 Q. Was it your belief that at Chancery Court you would not
20 have a chance to talk to the Judge or to put on any evidence?
21 A. Yes, it was my belief that outside evidence would
22 probably not be admissible.
23
(Short Break)
24 (By Ms. Hays)
25 Q_ Back on the record after a short break, and I think we
BUSHMAN COURT REPORTING
55
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. Do you have something to add to what you said before?
3 You talked about having sleepless nights and being concerned
4 that someone would be injured. Do you have anything to add to
5 what you have already told me?
6 A. Well, it was the complete frustration that we felt at
7 the inability to make these people who were involved with this
8 situation, to make them pay attention to the danger of the
9 building. They didn't seem to -- they seemed to be ignoring
10 the fact that we were telling them the building was
11 collapsing, that the building wouldn't be standing too much
12 longer. In fact, had we been able to wait and not do
13 anything, like get a demolition permit, the building would
14 have probably been down anyway, at least by the end of this
15 year. That's the way I felt about it. I was very frustrated
16 and very worried, yes.
17 Q. In the lawsuit you have asked the Court to award you
18 $1,000,000 for this mental and emotional anguish, suffering,
19 discomfort and distress.
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. Can you tell me how you arrived at that figure?
22 A. Well, practically speaking, I think I wanted them to
23 suffer as much as I did. That $1,000,000, if they had to
24 raise it, would have caused a lot of anguish, I think, among
25 the City Directors and the QQA.
BUSHMAN COURT REPORTING