The fate of four Jacksonville trees hangs in limbo again following a motion by Alabama Power to amend the March ruling of Judge John C. Thomason.On March 18, Thomason ruled in favor of defendants Barbara T. Wilson and Rufus Kinney, saying the power company could trim their trees in order to maintain the power lines, but could not cut them down.
On April 17, Alabama Power’s lawyers filed a motion with the court to amend that ruling and “grant APC a permanent injunction to bar the defendants from interfering with APC’s removal of the subject trees and to deny the defendants’ request for injunctive relief.”
“We are still very disappointed in the ruling because there are significant safety risks,” said Gina Warren, spokesperson for Alabama Power, citing the argument in the motion that lines falling onto tree limbs may not be de-energized. “We feel like we have not only the right, but the obligation to maintain our rights of way.”
On April 30, Thomason answered the motion by setting a hearing date for June 16.
Wilson and Kinney’s lawyer, Mark Martin, was not surprised by the motion, seeing it as a way to extend the time allowed for an appeal by the company.
“It’s the same arguments they made at trial. There’s nothing new there. They’re just posturing to preserve their time for filing an appeal,” said Martin.
The motion alleges the court made four errors in the ruling. Among them is the argument that Wilson and Kinney had no legal right to file an injunction against the company.
“They’re claiming the public doesn’t have a right to contest what Alabama Power wants to do not because they’re Alabama Power and the public’s the public but because of the lien they claim to hold on these trees and it’s just odd that they want to deny them the right to go to court to contest what they [APC] want to do,” said Martin.
Kinney and Wilson, while prepared to fight again, were hoping the March ruling was the end of an issue that has consumed most of the past year.
“It took me mildly by surprised,” said Kinney. “I would prefer that this be completely over with, but if this is the way the system works, so be it.”
“We were ready to get this behind us, but since they’re continuing this, our plate is pretty full, but we still are going to fight for our trees,” said Wilson.
