PORTAGE, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – After several years of battling over usage of the parking lot at Crossroads Mall in Portage, a lawsuit against the Kalamazoo County bus system and others for using mall’s roads but not paying has been dismissed.
A federal judge Tuesday dismissed the three federal counts in the lawsuit with prejudice.
U.S. District Judge Jane Beckering wrote in her opinion, “The Court determines that Plaintiff has not stated a claim on which relief may be granted as to its federal claims.” She also wrote that the mall “has not alleged that the presence of buses deprives it of its right to use and enjoy the Property beyond what (the mall) has permitted by operating a commercial business.”
The lawsuit was filed in May 2023, and claimed the Kalamazoo County Transportation Authority, Kalamazoo County, the city of Portage, and Central County Transportation Authority, have used the mall’s property since 2006, when a bus stop was first installed there, without the consent of Crossroads Mall or its predecessors, and without an easement.
The lawsuit claimed that about 3,136 buses travel through the property each month, and each “illegal and improper bus trip” allegedly exerts “an extreme amount of weight, pressure, and wear and tear on the Property,” such as potholes, damage to landscaping, excessive traffic and loss of business.
In Tuesday’s opinion, the judge also declined to exercise jurisdiction over two state counts, instead dismissing them without prejudice.
The Crossroads Mall on South Westnedge Avenue is owned by the Kohan Retail Investment Group.
Comments