SILVER SPRING, MD (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Seth Hurwitz' IMP against Live Nation in an attempt to block taxpayer money from funding the construction of the Fillmore in Silver Spring.
According to The Gazette Judge Steven I. Platt wrote in an undated opinion obtained by the newspaper that the doctrine of separation of powers precludes the court from reviewing or interfering with the lawmakers' decision.
While the jurisdictional determination may suggest that the judge did not weigh the merits of IMP's suit, he also stated in the opinion that IMP's contention that the state and county's appropriations for the Fillmore project was fully within their legal purview.
The decision also noted that the judge had rejected IMP's standing to sue as a competitor because of the advantage Live Nation might accrue from the deal.
"Competition is not in this state a predicate upon which a suit may be maintained against the governmental Defendants in this case, who by their actions may be aiding or even enabling that competition," Platt wrote in the undocketed opinion.
Platt did, however, not close the door on the suit entirely, stating that IMP could sue as a taxpayer instead of a competitor.
Hurwitz, who had initially been a competitor with Live Nation over the Fillmore property in Silver Spring had initially filed suit last year as the estimated costs for the project climbed from $8 million to almost $12 million. Maryland-based IMP operates the 9:30 club in Washington D.C., the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia and The Ram's Head Live in Baltimore. – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
