"Time is relative to question on Indiana airport authority"

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Time is relative to question on airport authority
Indiana Supreme Court hears arguments on constitutional issue.
By Mike Dooley
The Fort Wayne (IN) News Sentinel


Have opponents of the Fort Wayne-Allen County Airport Authority waited too
long to challenge its legality in court?

It's the question the Indiana Supreme Court will settle in the near future
when it returns a ruling in a local case heard Monday.

Attorneys for SMDfund and the authority presented oral arguments to the
court, trying to win support from the justices who will decide the case.
Opponents from SMD said the 1985 law that established the authority is
unconstitutional because it is special legislation, written in a manner that
applies only to Allen County.

The Indiana Constitution requires most laws enacted by the legislature to
apply to all Hoosiers. There are some exceptions, and authority attorneys
insisted the airport authority law is one.

A decision in the case might take months, but justices could act sooner if
they believe legislative action might be necessary to draw up a new
authority law. The legislature goes into session next month, and lawmakers
are scheduled to be in Indianapolis until April.

Authority attorney Kate Brogan told the five justices a standard 10-year
statute of limitations should apply to the local airport law. That would bar
legal challenges like the one filed by SMDfund once 10 years have passed
since the law in question was adopted.

South Bend attorney Edward Benchik, representing SMDfund , disagreed, saying
"time on the books doesn't make a law constitiutional."

Opponents' goal, Benchik said "is to take unconstitutional statutes off the
books."

If the justices agree with opponents, they could send back the question to
Allen Circuit Court for trial. Some interested parties who have been
following the case said that could jeopardize the existence of possibly
hundreds of state laws written in the same fashion as the Fort Wayne airport
legislation. Others, however, said far fewer would be involved because many
meet the constitutional guidelines for special legislation.

Either way, a final decision could mean actions of some other units of
government - schools, townships, cities and counties - might be thrown out.
That could cause a legal nightmare, involving everything from tax-exempt
bond issues backed by local units of government to taxes levied by various
government units.

The latest lawsuit has its roots in a challenge to the the authority's
decision to close Smith Field, a general aviation airport on the city's
north side. The legal proceeding was dismissed when the authority agreed to
drop its plans and said the field would remain open, but challengers still
went forward with the constitutional question.


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