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November 26, 2008

Discrimination lawsuit against Spring Valley to head to mediation

Suzan Clarke
The Journal News

SPRING VALLEY - A $6.5 million federal civil rights case alleging the Village Board improperly denied a bus company a special permit because of animus against the Orthodox Jewish owners will likely head to mediation soon.

The plaintiffs, operators of the Monsey Trails commuter bus company, filed its lawsuit in March asking a federal judge to order the village to remedy the action and to pay the millions in compensatory and punitive damages.

Since then, though, the case has been ordered to be decided by a mediator. That process could begin in January, Brian Sokoloff, a Long Island lawyer who is representing the village on the matter, said today.

"It's in everybody's best interest to see if a matter can be resolved before both sides start spending a lot of money on litigation," Sokoloff said.

While he didn't comment on the specifics of the suit, he said the village had "a very strong case."

In its official response to the plaintiffs' complaint, the village denied all allegations of wrongdoing.

Read more about this story tomorrow in The Journal News.

http://lohud.com/article/20081126/NEWS03/811260392/-1/newsfront