Hamtramck is being drained of money by legal fees for lawsuit

Is it unreasonable for a lawsuit to continue for more than 40 years?
You would think so, and you would think someone would have the power to rein it in.
Unfortunately for Hamtramck, we have been saddled with the financial burden of paying for legal fees to a lawsuit that seems to have no end. It’s time to plug this financial drain.
We reported last week that the city’s infamous housing discrimination lawsuit is still alive and kicking despite proclamations two years ago from city and state officials that the lawsuit was over.
The lawsuit was filed over 40 years ago by a number of African-Americans living in Hamtramck who said the city back in the 1960s targeted their houses for demolition under the guise of urban renewal.
Long story made short, the city agreed to settle the case by building 200 housing units. That took many years to accomplish because the city didn’t have money to build the housing.
In 2011, the federal government came to the rescue by pumping in $14 million.
A major housing construction program got underway and the plaintiffs and their descendents were given the first option to purchase a house with great financial help, again through the aid of the federal government.
It was thought that this sad chapter had finally come to an end, a happy end with new housing in the city and plaintiffs finally paid their due.
But as it turns out, the city has been paying the attorney for the plaintiffs for the past two years.
In that time, he has earned $409,000 according to financial records The Review obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request.
As it turns out, the attorney, Michael Barnhart, claims the city still has three houses to go.
The city is now saying it has no more money to build houses. Yet, the city is still paying this attorney a pretty hefty legal fee. It seems to us that the $409,000 we paid this attorney could likely have built three housing units.
Hamtramck’s city attorney has been instructed to look into the payments and ask for a financial audit.
The attorney’s fees for the past two years are only the tip of what has been paid out over the past 40 years. It’s time to stop the financial drain and close this lawsuit once and for all.