The hate continues between Lily Dale, the owner of the company

A Lily Dale resident is outraged by a request by the Lily Dale Assembly to search his home and business.

There are two ongoing lawsuits between the Lily Dale Assembly and Robert and Danielle Reuther. Both involve Lily Dale’s attempts to force the Reuthers to pay their dues and, if they fail to pay, to have the Reuthers removed from the assembly.

The Fourth Appellate Division will hear oral arguments in the first case on Oct. 21 in Rochester. This case seeks to overturn state Supreme Court Justice Grace Hanlon’s decision to allow the case to proceed rather than immediately rule in Lily Dale Assembly’s favor.

Discovery in the second attempt to remove the Reuthers from the congregation was scheduled to be completed by Sept. 16, but attorney Nicole Mastrocinque, representing Lily Dale, asked for more time.

“Specifically, Lily Dale requires additional time to thoroughly search and review electronically stored information, as well as paper files currently stored on-site.” Mastrocinque wrote in her letter to the Supreme Court. “These files are critical to the case and contain important documents necessary to conduct a comprehensive and fair investigation.”

Reuther, for his part, did not oppose the 60-day extension, but questioned what Lily Dale’s attorneys expected to find during the discovery proceedings — and where they expected to find it.

“We don’t have a company computer or company phones” Reuther said. “Therefore, any unrestricted search of our personal computers or phones would violate our constitutional right to privacy.” Reuther wrote in a reply dated September 12. “We would need to know what specifically they are looking for and how that information relates to their statements in the summaries that the ‘heart’ of the issue is whether we breached the Hotel Services Agreement by refusing to pay an unauthorized ‘related’ guesthouse license fee.”

As of Thursday, no decisions had been entered electronically.

Meanwhile, appellate court judges will hear from attorneys for Lily Dale and the Reuthers on Oct. 21 in Lily Dale’s appeal of Hanlon’s November 2023 decision to allow the case to proceed rather than resolve it with summary judgment in favor of the congregation. Lily Dale has been trying to remove the Reuthers from the Spiritualist community since 2022 over a dispute over annual business and licensing fees related to a bed and breakfast the Reuthers operated at a Fourth Street address in Lily Dale. The Reuthers stopped paying a $1,000 fee in 2019, prompting the congregation to argue the agreement had been breached and gave cause to remove the Reuthers from the congregation. Hanlon ruled that there were enough unknowns in the case to allow it to proceed. Lily Dale’s representatives disagreed and appealed Hanlon’s ruling.

In a response filed with the state Supreme Court in September 2022, the Reuthers argued that the claims contained in Lily Dale’s complaint are not authorized by state law, the state constitution, the statute, rules, or regulations of the Lily Dale Assembly, and that the actions taken by Lily Dale constitute harassment, discrimination, and an abuse of process against the Reuthers. The Reuthers also argue that they did not enter into the agreements on the terms that Lily Dale alleges and cannot prove that the Reuthers breached the material terms of any binding or valid contract.

Lily Dale authorities resumed efforts to remove the Reuthers earlier this year after the case had been dormant for about a year. In October, Hanlon issued a ruling on Lily Dale’s claim for summary judgment against the Reuthers, dismissing the claim and disagreeing with Lily Dale that there was clear language showing the Reuthers had agreed to abide by the community’s bylaws, rules and regulations in exchange for living on the Lily Dale property. Ambiguities in the documents the Reuthers received, Hanlon wrote, led the courts to rule that the courts should not grant the summary judgment motions.

“The court disagrees, and it is unclear when or if the Reuthers received a copy of the articles of association and bylaws.” Hanlon wrote before continuing: “This case concerns the interpretation of contractual language contained in three separate documents, and an analysis of the language contained in all the documents permits the discernment of more than one interpretation.”

Attorney Nicole Mastrocinque, representing Lily Dale, argued in a recent brief filed with the Fourth Department’s Appellate Division that the burden was on the Reuthers to find statutes and rules referenced in the agreement between the congregation and the Reuthers. She argues that the appellate court should require the Reuthers to honor the agreement between the two parties — which would allow the congregation to remove the Reuthers for violating the agreement.

“For all the reasons set forth herein, it is respectfully submitted that the court erred in finding that the agreement did not require respondents to comply with Lily Dale’s Articles of Association and Bylaws and that Lily Dale was required to show that respondents had received a copy of the Articles of Association and Bylaws.”