DETROIT – Manuel “Matty” Moroun – billionaire, owner of an international bridge and political powerhouse – is locked in the Wayne County Jail, where he will remain until his company relents and builds the ramps connecting freeways to the Ambassador Bridge in the way a judge said it was bound to do.

Sheriff’s deputies led Moroun out of Wayne Circuit Judge Prentis Edwards’ courtroom in the massive Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit after Edwards ordered him and Detroit International Bridge Company President Dan Stamper jailed until the DIBC built the ramps in compliance with its contract with the Department of Transportation for the Gateway project. A hearing to check the progress made was set for February 9.

In a searing order, Edwards, who has been cajoling the DIBC to comply with the contract for some time – even briefly jailing Stamper at one point – lamented the “contumacious conduct” of the bridge company.

“DIBC has persistently contrived tactics to avoid fulfilling its contractual obligations and complying with the order of this court,” he wrote in his order. “It is important that the court impose a sanction that will ensure the completion of this project without further needless delays and inconvenience to the public. The sanction must also serve to preserve the authority of the court and enforce the rights of MDOT by requiring compliance with the Order.”

Moroun’s and Stamper’s attorneys tried to stop Edwards from jailing their clients by informing the court that they had resigned. Later in the day, the company, according to the Detroit Free Press, refused their resignations and both remained in their posts.

The Court of Appeals swiftly denied the hasty emergency appeal filed by their attorneys seeking Moroun’s and Stamper’s release pending appeal on a technicality. However, it appeared the court had not yet ruled on their appeal of Edwards’ decision to hold them in contempt and jail them.

In the appeal, bridge company attorneys contended that neither Moroun, nor Stamper were ever warned of their possible jailing on a contempt charge. And they said both met traditional requirements for release pending appeal, saying neither was a threat to the community, both were certain to appear in court when requested and claiming they were likely to win their appeal.

“Continued incarceration egregiously violates the administration of justice in further the denial of due process that the contempt order has created,” the attorneys said in their brief.

But Judge Kirsten Frank Kelly and Judge Karen Fort Hood said the appeal relies on a statute that is not applicable to an appeal from a civil contempt ruling.

“When an appellant fails to challenge the basis of the rulings by the trial court, we need not even consider granting the party the relief requested,” the judge wrote. “Furthermore, although Moroun and Stamper challenge the trial court’s authority for directing their imprisonment, they have not filed a motion for peremptory reversal and/or for a stay of the trial court’s January 12, 2012, order.”

Judge Kurtis Wilder said he would have instead ordered that Mr. Edwards’ ruling jailing the pair be stayed “because substantive and procedural grounds have been asserted challenging the trial court’s authority to direct” their imprisonment. Wilder wrote that he agreed the statute cited by Moroun’s and Stamper’s attorney was not applicable, so the court should have stayed the jailing portion of the ruling on its own order pending production of the transcript of the hearing in Edwards’ court and filing of a brief from the plaintiff.

Matthew Moroun, Moroun’s son and a top official with the bridge company, accused Edwards of taking out a grudge on his father and Stamper.

“Without a trial, without a jury, with no notice stating the reasons for them to appear, a judge viciously lashed out at Matty Moroun and Dan Stamper today and ordered a penalty outside the bounds of a civil case that was excessive, unwarranted and outrageous,” he said in a statement. “This is the same judge that refused repeated requests for site visits to actually see construction on the Gateway Project. This entire legal process has clearly become a personal vendetta by the judge against these individuals.”

Department officials said they hope the ruling means the bridge company will finally build the ramps the way they were supposed to be built instead of routing traffic through fuel stations that provide lucrative business for the Morouns.

“Nobody’s really feeling vindicated or joy or anything. We didn’t ask for anybody to go to jail.” “That’s the judge’s decision,” Transportation spokesperson Jeff Cranson said. “All we’re asking is that they finish their portion of the work, that they honor the contract, which is eight years old.”

It could take up to a year for the bridge company to complete the work, depending on how many workers it committed to the project, Cranson said.

The coalition of groups heading up support for the proposed new bridge connecting Detroit and Windsor, Ontario – fiercely opposed by the Morouns – did little to hide his organization’s glee at Moroun’s jailing. Tom Shields, spokesperson for the Build the New International Trade Crossing group, said Mr. Moroun got what he deserved.

“It’s a good day because finally after two years of this kicking the can down the road, which the Ambassador Bridge has consistently tried to do … the judge finally said enough is enough,” Shields said.

It was notable that Edwards jailed Moroun and Stamper indefinitely, instead of a few hours like he did previously to Stamper, Shields said.

“It certainly appears the judge is very serious,” he said.

And Shields said the jailing should hurt Moroun’s credibility in the Legislature, which he so far has successfully swayed against approving legislation (SB 410 ) authorizing the new bridge.

“I’ve got to believe legislators will think twice about taking a check from a guy who’s in jail,” he said.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit), whose district includes the area where the bridge lands on the Detroit side, lauded Edwards’ ruling.

“Mr. Moroun and Mr. Stamper have spent years sidestepping and arguing over the agreement they signed with the Michigan Department of Transportation concerning the Gateway Project to link the bridge directly to the freeways. They have used their wealth and power to increase their profits at the expense of the people who live in the neighborhoods surrounding the Ambassador Bridge and our state, which relies on the bridge as a major economic gateway to Canada that Michigan businesses and industry use every single day,” Tlaib said in a statement. “Judge Edwards’ jailing of these two men today states that no one, not even Matty Moroun, is above the law.”

But Sen. Mike Kowall (R-White Lake Township), who chairs the committee that rejected the bridge legislation, said he thought the judge erred in jailing Moroun. Transportation Director Kirk Steudle and someone from the city of Detroit also should have been held accountable, Kowall said.

“I don’t think that was necessary, but this thing has just gotten so emotional from every which angle, it’s just very hard to deal with,” he said of jailing Moroun and Stamper. “There’s plenty of blame to go along. If the judge really wanted to effect a really good change down there, I’d have thrown the director of MDOT in jail too along with someone from the city and let them sit in a cell and figure out how to fix it among themselves. They’re the ones that caused the problem. Let them fix it.”

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