Bingo: Judge tosses Triana bingo complaint
Hamilton says town's legal briefs missed mark on issues
A Madison County circuit court judge has denied and dismissed a complaint filed by the Town of Triana seeking validity of its bingo ordinance and protection from raids by Sheriff Blake Dorning on bingo establishments in the town limits.
Triana officials requested a judge in March to declare they
have a right under the state constitution to permit bingo
for charity without interference from Dorning.
The complaint stemmed from the seizure of hundreds of bingo machines that were operating inside the town limits. In court papers, the county maintained the sheriff has the authority to act anywhere in the county when he believes a state law is being violated.
Circuit Judge Laura W. Hamilton ruled April 30 that no actual controversy exists between Triana and Dorning. The sheriff did not challenge the town's right to create its bingo ordinance, she said. If Triana had challenged the constitutionality of the state's bingo laws, the laws under which Dorning was operating, an arguable actual controversy would have existed, she ruled.
"None of the cases cited involved an action filed by a municipality against a state agency or entity seeking to determine if its local bingo ordinance superseded the state law," she wrote. "Rather, in each of those cases, a resident of the municipality filed an action specifically challenging the validity of the municipal law. Such is not the case here."
Hamilton dismissed the complaint without prejudice, which means Triana will be able to sue the county again on the issues in state court.
Written by David Holden
www.al.com
