WATER WAR: Court Denies Stay, Continuing Double Venue

The plot thickened today in the water war between Falls Church City and Fairfax County when the Fairfax Circuit Court denied the City’s request to stay action in that court.

Effectively, Falls Church had asked the Fairfax court to yield its jurisdiction to a special court in Hampton, Virginia created to hear the City’s countersuit.  The Fairfax Court refused to budge, meaning that, for now, two Virginia courts plan to adjudicate the same dispute.

The case originated in Fairfax County Circuit Court when Fairfax County Water Authority sued Falls Church City alleging anticompetitive behavior in the delivery of water service.  On July 13, Falls Church successfully persuaded the state Supreme Court to create a  special court in Hampton.  Then the City asked for a stay of the action in Fairfax Circuit Court, arguing that the special court “has broad powers to control the disposition of the matters presented in the Petition, including the adjudication of the matters raised in the action before this [Circuit] Court.”

It is unclear if Falls Church City will appeal today’s decision.

SEE ALSO: [Aug. 12] Fairfax Contests City’s Motion to Stay Case