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• Lodi's days in court are far from over

• City Council to hold private meeting regarding pollution case

• Woodbridge firefighter brings animals 'back to life' through taxidermy

• State, federal candidates give best pitch at Galt forum

• County planners approve biker food warehouse in Victor

• District attorney finishing up presentation in death of prisoner Denmon

• Dense fog hits San Joaquin Valley, with more to come

• Correction

February 9th, 2010

• Middle College High School rated one of the best — and a bargain, to boot

• Lodi decathlon boasts top team in county

• Man who sparked counterfeit case pleads guilty

• Local businessman will visit Haiti to look for family

• Man who claimed to be Yosemite Sam pleads guilty to meth charge

• David Harmer seeks Republican congressional nod

• Lack of evidence in case against suspect in 'drug deal' stabbing

• Regional Roundup

February 8th, 2010

• Public Meetings

• Locals pick best, most memorable Super Bowl commercials

• Regional Roundup

February 6th, 2010

• The Home Depot hopes to join Costco at Reynolds Ranch

• Meet Larry, Curly and Moe

• Baboon business

• Regional Roundup

• Several Lodi venues let you watch the Super Bowl in style

• Lodi Library celebrates 100 years of serving the community

• Culinary craft

February 5th, 2010

• Kids, teachers help Haiti by collecting pennies for Learning Link

• Lodi, Galt students reach out to help Haiti earthquake survivors

• Tasered suspect claims he is Yosemite Sam

• Hours of sweat and work go into putting on crab feeds

• Things looking up for state's real estate

• Correction

• Regional Roundup

• Stray bullet strikes Lodi home; police suspect gang activity may be factor

February 4th, 2010

• Managers at Geweke Toyota answer questions about recall

• Lodi City Council votes to replace play structure at Century Park

• Lodi extends ban on pot shops for another year

• Mokelumne River triathlon set for June

• Family, friends to run half-marathon in memory of Galt family

February 3rd, 2010

• Correction

• Delta College trustees again collide over stipend committee

• Bad bugs, weeds are hot topics at Grape Day

• Lodi-area senators Dave Cox, Lois Wolk admit to gifts; Tom Berryhill case pending

• Lodi Unified School District president issues warning to speakers over cuts

• Galt City Council avoids budget cuts — for now

• New Lodi Memorial Hospital emergency room opens to the public without a hitch

• Regional Roundup

February 2nd, 2010

• Local business leaders say tourism, Costco, Home Depot may play roles in city's future

• Correction

• Former Lodian Erica Davis is first paraplegic woman to summit Kilimanjaro

• Regional Roundup

• No snow leopards, otters for Micke Grove

• McNerney leads in campaign cash

• Police: Train victim was a Lodi teen

• Big rig plows 7 cars

• Jumpers across California

The following stories have received the most reader comments during the last 7 days.

• Will terrorists be given Miranda warnings? (75)
• Lodi Unified School District president issues warning to speakers over cuts (64)
• President Obama's first year (45)
• Many reject the politics of 'no' (45)
• Islamic symbol in mosaic — what is all the fuss? (44)
• Writer comments on Neely column (42)
• The Home Depot hopes to join Costco at Reynolds Ranch (41)
• Time to shed the convenient sham of 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy (34)
• We need to conduct respectful conversations (30)
• Tasered suspect claims he is Yosemite Sam (25)

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Lodi's days in court are far from over

Though a federal judge has postponed the trial involving Lodi's groundwater contamination lawsuit until mid-February to allow the city time to regroup after firing its attorneys Tuesday evening, three more deadlines loom next week.

Two days after the City Council fired both its city attorney and the legal team hired seven years ago to take on the contamination suit, city officials have been hard at work in an effort to prevent any possible legal damages to the case.

"We're in the trenches and we're aggressively trying to deal with everything," Mayor Larry Hansen said.

Today is the deadline for a pre-trial brief to be filed in federal court in Sacramento. Additionally, a status conference in that court had been scheduled for next Friday, but Deputy City Attorney Stephen Schwabauer said Thursday afternoon that the judge, Frank C. Damrell Jr., had already agreed to postpone it.

And Tuesday is the deadline if the city wants to appeal a case against Unigard Insurance Company to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Then, on Wednesday, a 9:30 a.m. hearing is scheduled in California's 3rd District Court of Appeals, located in Sacramento. (Additionally, a regular City Council meeting is scheduled that evening.)

In the meantime, the 30-day extension granted Wednesday by Damrell only temporarily delays what could be a two-month trial.

"We are very determined to stay on top of things and to protect the city," said Hansen, who spent Thursday dealing with the upcoming deadlines.

"We're working with a firm from Sacramento and with our deputy city attorney, and we're taking (the deadlines) one issue at a time," he added.

So far, defense attorneys for a number of local businesses and outside insurance companies sued by the city have been very cooperative and are willing to briefly postpone the cases, Schwabauer said late Thursday afternoon.

Dennis Zaragoza, attorney for Unigard Insurance Co., said Thursday that he was working with the city.

"Hopefully the days of hardball litigation have changed to where we can have a more cooperative effort," he said.

This has been what more than a few attorneys, city employees and residents agree is an extraordinary week for Lodi.

On Monday, Damrell all but berated lead attorney Michael Donovan, originally hired by the city in 1996 to fight a groundwater contamination lawsuit. Damrell heard no arguments during the pre-trial hearing but instead told the city that it should abandon its legal strategy.

In 2000, the city sued 15 local businesses, including the News-Sentinel. The city sought to force the businesses and their insurance companies to clean up harmful chemicals known as TCE and PCE. But the companies fought back, arguing that the city was also responsible because its sewers had leaked and spread the contaminants.

After calling Donovan "unprofessional" and accusing him of filing unnecessary court documents, Damrell told him Monday to go back to the council and consider changing courses in the lawsuit.

On Tuesday, after meeting for approximately seven hours during morning and evening sessions, the council fired both City Attorney Randy Hays and Donovan's firm, Envision Law Group.

On Wednesday, the city asked Damrell for an extension rather than starting trial that day. He granted it, then set several more dates, including a Feb. 17 trial date.

But in the meantime, other deadlines are on the horizon. In the past several years, the legal saga has grown to include more than 100 parties involving more than a half dozen different courts.

Cases related to the contamination issue have been heard in San Francisco, San Joaquin and Sacramento county superior courts, state court in San Francisco, the 3rd District Court of Appeals, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. Eastern District Court. And twice, the matter has gone to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case both times.

Though Hays was involved with the process, most of the litigation was handled by Donovan's Envision Law Group, based in Lafayette.

By the end of November, the lawsuit had run up a $23.5 million bill, according to figures from the city's finance department. Hays said last week that trial preparation had cost another $1 million last month alone.

Schwabauer spent the day drafting documents and communicating with defense attorneys.

Hansen, who was finally taking a lunch break at 2 p.m. Thursday, said the immediate goal was to get the cases delayed so that the city would not be compromised.