A Suffolk County judge ordered the East Hampton Town Trustees to pay more than $1 million in legal fees to plaintiffs in the latest twist in the long-running Truck Beach case — a ruling that the trustees plan to appeal.
Judge Thomas Whelan rejected a motion from attorneys for the trustees seeking to have the fees paid by the town government itself and not the nine trustees as individuals. He also ruled that since the trustees are an entity created in Colonial times before the state Constitution was written with a clause to automatically grant stays to delay enforcement of judges orders pending appeals, the trustees may not be able to delay payment to the plaintiffs in the case.
