Montgomery County and the Missouri Department of Economic Development have filed separate motions to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Preserve Montgomery County, LLC, Feb. 16 against the county regarding the Amazon data center project.
The state filed its motion March 19, while the county filed its motion March 20.
The county asserts in its motion that the entity Preserve Montgomery County, a group made up of citizens who oppose the data center projects, does not have legal standing to file a complaint under Missouri’s Sunshine Law as the entity is not an aggrieved person, taxpayer or citizen. It further alleges that no standing exists regarding the counts relating to failing to adequately evaluate water usage or failure to adequately evaluate tax abatements. Further the motion asserts that Preserve Montgomery County has no standing to file a lawsuit for any incident that occurred prior to Dec. 27, 2025, as that is the date the entity was formed. The motion also asserts that Preserve Montgomery County is not a third-party beneficiary of the contract between the state’s department of economic development and the county and therefore also has no standing to sue under the terms of that contract.
In its suggestions in support of the motion to dismiss, filed with the motion, the county mentions that the citizens group consists of some members who are residents or taxpayers, but notes that under Missouri law, an LLC is regarded as a wholly separate legal entity from the individual members.
Standing to sue is a legal requirement ensuring that only a party with a direct, concrete, and actual or imminent stake in a controversy can bring a lawsuit.
The county’s motion also asks for dismissal as the Preserve Montgomery suit fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. With respect to the Sunshine Law violations, the county asserts that all meeting notifications were made pursuant to law and that Preserve Montgomery has made no allegations that the Sunshine Law was violated. The motion in the alternative asks the court to strike portions of Preserve Montgomery County’s complaint because certain paragraphs are unrelated to any specific claims made in the complaint Specifically, the county asks the court strike portions which relate to general descriptions of data centers and relate to public records requests filed by two individuals and the Jeffrey Law Group.
State’s motion
The Missouri Department of Economic Development filed a separate motion to dismiss asserting that Preserve Montgomery County failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Specifically, the state asserts that the agreement between DED and Montgomery County was for an industrial site development project. The state asserts that the agreement does not have anything to do with the agreement between Amazon and the county. The state also asserts that it was under no legal obligation to ensure that the county followed open meetings laws with respect to the Amazon project as the DED is not involved in that project. For those reasons the state asks that the complaint against DED be dismissed, according to the court records.
For further updates on this story, see the April 1 edition of the Montgomery Standard.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here