Detroit Pistons' Move Downtown Safe For Now: 5 Fast Facts About Lawsuit

(Updated) DETROIT, MI — A federal judge refused late Monday to grant an emergency injunction that would have blocked millions of dollars in public funding to support the Detroit Pistons' move to Little Caesars Arena. U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith said in his opinion that plaintiffs didn't establish why the emergency injunction was needed, and said it would cause "catastrophic" damage to Detroit.

The Pistons’ move from the Palace of Auburn Hills to Little Caesars Arena was all but a given until taxpayers D. Etta Wilcoxon and Robert Davis filed their lawsuit to put the Detroit Downtown Development Authority's transfer of funds on hold. Taxpayer money to support the Pistons' move would come from the revenue generated by a millage levy voters approved in 2012 to support Detroit Public Schools operating expenses, and a change in the use should have been subject to vote, they said in the lawsuit.

"The loss of anticipated commercial activity connected to the Detroit Piston’s downtown presence would be regrettable, but the loss of the city’s hard-won creditworthiness caused by defaulting on existing bond obligations would do catastrophic damage to the status quo," Goldsmith said.

The cost of the arena, originally $450 million, has been bumped up to $862 with the Pistons’ anticipated move. A condition of the Pistons’ move was taxpayer support, and the current arrangement calls for the public to pick up 38 percent of the cost.

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Here are five things to know about the lawsuit and its possible effects:

“More than a bump in the road”: An injunction to stop the use of federal money would “kill the project,” David Fink, an attorney for the city of Detroit and other entities named in the lawsuit, argued in a Monday hearing before U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith.

“This case is of enormous magnitude,” Fink said. “In fact, ultimately it can have an adverse economic impact across the state of Michigan. … This would be more than a bump in the road.”

Federal court may not be the right venue: One of the questions Goldsmith is weighing is how plaintiffs Wilcoxon, a candidate for Detroit city clerk, and Davis, a longtime activist, plan to prove their constitutional rights were violated — an important threshold for a federal court case, The Detroit News reported.

“You may have all kinds of violations of state law,” Goldsmith said. “To get into federal court, you have to prove a violation of the U.S. Constitution.”

“Egregious denial of the right to vote”: Andrew Paterson, the attorney representing Davis and Wilcoxon, said the Michigan Revised School Code clearly gives Detroiters the right to vote on the issue.

“This is probably the most egregious denial of the right to vote,” Paterson said, noting it was April 25 before the plan to capture school funds was announced. The 2012 millage is expected to generate $726 million in school property taxes through 2051. DDA plans to use part of the money to pay off $363 million in public investments in the arena and surrounding development district.

The NBA could deny the Pistons’ move: Palace Sports & Entertainment and Detroit Pistons CFO Greg Campbell said in a sworn affidavit that the NBA could deny the Pistons’ move if funding if legal and funding matters aren’t settled before the NBA’s July board meeting.

In the affidavit filed Friday, attorneys representing Campbell called the lawsuit “frivolous” said the timing of the lawsuit puts the Pistons in a bind.

“There is little time left to preserve the delicate balance of this complicated set of development agreements,” they wrote. “If this lawsuit remains pending and if the NBA or the Pistons find that the financing plan is at risk, the damage to the city of Detroit’s redevelopment plans would be incalculable.”

What the Detroit City Council might do: The Detroit City Council is expected to take up a resolution at Tuesday’s meeting to issue an additional $34.5 million in bonds to support the Pistons’ move downtown.

Image: Detroit Pistons center Boban Marjanovic (51) and Washington Wizards center Ian Mahinmi (28) reach for the rebound during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, April 10, 2017, in Auburn Hills, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)