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Park51 Lawyers Fire Back at Opponents in New Court Papers

By Julie Shapiro | January 17, 2011 11:06am

By Julie Shapiro

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

LOWER MANHATTAN — A legal technicality could derail a lawsuit against the Park51 mosque and community center.

The American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative group, sued the wrong party in their attempt to halt the development, according to new court papers filed Friday.

Rather than suing 45 Park Place Partners LLC, the owner of the mosque site, the ACLJ sued Soho Properties, a company whose CEO, Sharif El-Gamal, is an investor in the project.

It is now too late to add the correct party to the lawsuit, because the 120-day statute of limitations has expired, said Adam Leitman Bailey, a lawyer for 45 Park Place Partners and Soho Properties.

Firefighter Timothy Brown stood beside Rosaleen Tallon, whose 26-year-old brother was killed on 9/11, at a rally opposing Park51 last year.
Firefighter Timothy Brown stood beside Rosaleen Tallon, whose 26-year-old brother was killed on 9/11, at a rally opposing Park51 last year.
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DNAinfo/Julie Shapiro

"By naming the wrong party, they missed their chance to sue," Bailey told DNAinfo Monday.

The suit must include the owner of the site, Bailey said, because the ACLJ is arguing that the city should have landmarked the building that currently stands there, which would affect the owner.

Brett Joshpe, counsel to the ACLJ, said Park51’s backers had publicly stated that Soho Properties owned the site, which is why the ACLJ included them in the suit.

Bailey is also arguing that Timothy Brown, the 9/11 firefighter whom the ACLJ is representing, does not have proper standing to bring the suit in the first place, because Brown was not directly injured by the city’s decision not to landmark the building.

Joshpe, though, said Brown has the right to bring the suit because, as a 9/11 first responder, he has an interest in preserving 45 Park Place, which was damaged by falling landing gear from one of the jets.

"These are peripheral issues," Joshpe said of Bailey’s recent filing. "The substance of the suit is more relevant."

The ACLJ's original suit argues that Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a supporter of Park51, unduly influenced the Landmarks Preservation Commission not to protect the existing building on the site. Joshpe recently filed a motion asking for a court order preventing the construction of the 13-story center.

On Wednesday, the two sides will meet in New York State Supreme Court to make their arguments.