Court allows amended lawsuit in Amazon data center case

An amended petition has been permitted in the case between Preserve Montgomery County and the county regarding the proposed Amazon data center following a hearing in Cole County Circuit Court June 1.

The lawsuit was originally filed February 16 alleging a number of counts against Montgomery County and the Missouri Department of Economic Development regarding the Amazon data center and the Heart of America mega site in New Florence. The state filed a motion to dismiss the case March 19, which was followed by the county’s motion to dismiss March 20.

On May 4, Preserve Montgomery County filed an amended petition in the case which primarily included a report from the Missouri State Auditor dated February 2024 that the county was not complying with the Sunshine Law with respect to open and closed meetings, specifically outlining issues with closed meetings from Jan. 1, 2022 to June 22, 2023. In conjunction with the amended petition, Preserve also filed a motion for leave to amend the petition, effectively asking court for permission to file the amended petition.

Also on May 4, an intervenor’s petition was filed in the case to add two additional plaintiffs to the lawsuit. The two plaintiffs are the Judy B. Hillebrand Revocable Trust and the Miller Joint Revocable Trust. Both trusts purportedly own real property in Montgomery County adjacent to the 500-acre mega site.

The county filed an opposition brief to Preserve’s motion for leave to amend, effectively objecting to the amended petition, pointing out that the amended petition does not cure the issues the county addressed in its motion to dismiss. The county also filed an opposition brief to the proposed intervenor’s petition.

During the June 1 hearing, Cole County Circuit Court Judge Cotton Walker granted Preserve’s motion for leave to amend over the county’s objections, allowing the amended petition. By allowing the new petition, the court deemed the motions to dismiss the case filed by the county and the state of Missouri to be moot. The court did allow both the state and the county an additional 20 days to file a response to the plaintiff’s amended petition, at which time both parties could file new motions to dismiss the case.

The court did not immediately rule on the intervenor’s petition, noting that it would take the matter under advisement. The next court hearing in the case is a case management conference scheduled for Aug. 3.

Amazon is planning a data center to be located on a 1,000-acre parcel northeast of the Interstate 70 and Highway 19 interchange near New Florence. A second data center, to be operated by Google, is being built southeast of the I-70 and Highway 19 interchange. The project consists of 780 acres in the county and 130 acres within the city limits of New Florence.