COOPER CITY
Jury tells Cooper City to pay $300,00 to Chabad
A jury ruled that Cooper City must pay a Jewish religious center damages for denying it a license.
Posted on Fri, Aug. 08, 2008
BY DIANA MOSKOVITZ
A jury ruled on Thursday that Cooper City must pay more than $300,000 to a local Chabad.
The ruling comes after a federal judge found that city rules restricting where houses of worship could be located were in violation of federal law.
The conflict began in 2005, when Rabbi Shmuel Posner leased commercial space for the Orthodox Jewish religious center at 8608 Griffin Rd. in the Timberlake shopping plaza. The city denied him an occupational license, saying that putting the Chabad in a commercial zone would violate a city ordinances.
In May 2007, the federal lawsuit was filed.
Since then, Judge Cecilia Altonaga in Miami ruled at various times -- most recently on July 29 -- that the ordinances violated various federal laws and the 14th Amendment.
On Thursday, a jury awarded about $325,000 in damages -- and also said that the city had violated the First Amendment.
Join the discussion
The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Not a registered user? It's Free!
Register here. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.
