Magnolia Springs Mayor Charles Houser updated the town at Tuesday’s council work session on Monday’s trial involving a lawsuit between the town and four town residents; and Houser said he expects the judge’s decision to take at least a month, but “It’s just a guess.”

“This is just speculation, but I think it’ll be at least a month”, Houser said. “We don’t really know when a judgment will come.”

According to legal documents, the plaintiffs are Lowell Steven Fuller, Deborah Kay Holcombe Fuller, Ronald Turner and Sheila Turner. The documents state they filed suit because of the town’s alleged planned uses of the street and landing.

The street and landing are near Magnolia River, and the plaintiffs said “the town cannot convert a street into a park” in the documents when referring to the town’s alleged plans. However, Houser said there are no such plans.

“We do not have and have not had plans to utilize or turn those properties into a park. The main thing is we’re trying to protect the usage that the citizens of Magnolia Springs have had on the parcel for over 100 years. We’re just trying to protect those rights,” he said.

The trial was held in Bay Minette, and Houser said the next step is to file briefs and then the judge will render a decision.

Houser said the town had around 15 witnesses speak.

“We had witnesses there that represented 77 years usage of Rock Landing,” Houser said. “The individual people have used Rock Landing at the end of Rock Street. They’ve used it for professional and recreational uses like launching small boats, fishing and swimming.”

Houser said the town’s witnesses and legal people did well, and Councilman Ken Underwood agreed.

“We told our story and the primary issue is the legal interpretation,” Underwood said.

Magonlia Springs resident Rodney Hubble asked the mayor and council what type of financial hit the lawsuit has taken on the town.

Houser said the town’s insurance company would cover $10,000, but the rest comes from the town’s pocket.

“I estimate that we will have between $25,000 and $40,000 of the town’s money spent on this issue,” Houser said.

Repeated attempts to get in contact with two of the plaintiffs for comments on the trial were unsuccessful.