A scheduled hearing for summary judgment on the University Gardens case was delayed Wednesday afternoon when the case was sent to a federal district court.
James Michael Moore, a tenant who Vodicka gave a one-fiftieth interest in a condo in September of this year, filed the motion to remove the case on the basis of a RICO claim against SMU.
RICO, or the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, was signed into law by President Nixon in 1970 as a part of the Organized Crime Control Act.
Vodicka said the RICO claim was filed late Wednesday and the motion to remove the case was filed Thursday morning. He said Moore filed the claim due to the harassment of officials from SMU and Peruna Properties.
The case is now in Judge David Godbey’s court.
Godbey graduated from SMU in 1978 with degrees in Electrical Engineering and Mathematics.
A visibly upset Judge Jay Patterson demanded to know why the case was being delayed during a brief 10-minute session in his courtroom.
Patterson had been working on another case and was not aware of the removal until the start of the scheduled hearing at 1:30 p.m.
“I’ve spent hours on this hearing…I don’t know how many times I’ve prepared for a hearing and right before it should start it doesn’t happen,” he said before both legal counsels.
Patterson allowed SMU legal counsel John McElhaney to question Moore before the court.
When questioned, Moore said that he drew up the legal documents and motion through the help of online research, not with any help from Vodicka.
He said he told Vodicka of his motions at noon Thursday and notified McElhaney at 12:30 p.m.Moore said the only person who knew in advance of his plans was Gerry Jetton, another Vodicka tenant who delayed the case for nearly a month in August when he filed for bankruptcy.
After the short court session McElhaney called the RICO claim a “highly improper abuse of the judicial system.”
“Vodicka made misleading statements that he was preparing for today’s hearing…we had no advance whatsoever of this,” McElhaney said.
SMU’s lawyers said they plan to ask Godbey to send the case back to the state court. When asked how the constant delays could affect the announcement of a site for the George W. Bush Presidential Library, SMU counsel had no comment.
Vodicka sued SMU in August 2005 claiming the university defrauded him and intimidated others out of the University Gardens condominium complex.
The land the complex sits on is part of an SMU plan for the building of the Bush Presidential Library. A decision on the location of the library is expected some time after the mid-term elections.
