The Ohio Supreme Court has scheduled a case against the city of Marietta for mediation after a group of citizens appealed a district court ruling ordering city officials to provide adequate facilities for the municipal court.

In an entry filed on July 2, Chief Justice Thomas Moyer referred the case to mediation. In doing so, the briefing schedule has been stayed and the court will not accept any new filings or make any decisions until the mediation process has run its course.

The case began when resident Butch Badgett filed a lawsuit against the city for its failure to provide for the court.

Listeners may remember that Marietta City Council members voted not to pursue an appeal. However, Dave Haney, Glenn Newman and Jeff Starner, the intervenors in the case, did file an appeal. The district court ruling denied the citizens a seat at the table in the process laid out for resolving the inadequacies of the municipal court facility. Instead, the court assigned the city, Badgett and municipal court Judge Janet Dyar Welch to work together on a plan to satisfy the requirements of the law.

All of the parties, their attorneys, and the court docket can all be found online at the Ohio Supreme Court website: