Toll Bridge Update: Oklahoma Supreme Court Will Hear The Case

This afternoon the Oklahoma Supreme Court granted the City of Jenks and IVI’s Motion to Retain STCC’s appeal. That is, the Oklahoma Supreme Court will hear STCC’s appeal and will not hand our appeal down to the Oklahoma Court of Appeals (as is usually the case). This is a significant event for two reasons.

First, if STCC’s appeal had been handed down to the Court of Appeals, STCC could have appealed the Court of Appeals’ decision to the Supreme Court, if necessary. Since the Supreme Court retained jurisdiction, the Supreme Court’s decision will be a final judgment from which no appeal can be taken.

If the Supreme Court finds in favor of STCC, the contract between the City of Jenks and IVI will be null and void (and neither the City of Jenks nor IVI can appeal the ruling). On the other hand, if the Supreme Court finds in favor of the City of Jenks and IVI, then the contract between the City of Jenks and IVI will be upheld (and STCC cannot appeal the ruling).

Please keep in mind that any determination by the Supreme Court will not affect the rights of either the City of Tulsa or any individual landowner to contest the City of Jenks attempted condemnation of their land.

Second, by retaining jurisdiction, the Supreme Court has significantly decreased the amount of time it will take for a final judgment to be rendered in this case. STCC estimates that that the Supreme Court should render its decision in less than 12 months

STCC will continue to update you as information becomes available. As always, we thank you for your support.

Michael Covey
Spokesman for STCC

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