Court Allows More Residents to Join Mosque Lawsuit

A Rutherford County judge will allow fourteen more Murfreesboro residents to join a lawsuit that opposes the site of a mosque.

Three plaintiffs are challenging the site, saying the county didn’t give proper notification and violated the Open Meetings Act when approving the Islamic center. Now fourteen neighbors to the mosque have signed on to the suit.

Rutherford County Attorney Jim Cope argued against the intervening residents, saying they waited too late to join the legal challenge.

“Together with the other property owners out there, [they] have decided to sit on their rights until six months later to come forward now and make these assertions. It’s just a desperate attempt to further string out this matter in an inappropriate forum and an inappropriate time.”

Chancellor Robert Corlew III rejected that argument and added the residents to the suit.

Corlew also chose to delay a ruling on the county’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit. He says he plans to submit his decision in writing at a later date.