Athens County Common Pleas Judge Michael Ward has set Sept. 28 as a trial date for the suit, which pits David Dolan, Jr., of JD's Towing, against Glouster and assorted village and county officials.

Dolan filed his suit in March 2005, alleging that local and county officials had systematically cut his company out of village towing jobs, possibly in retaliation for his having refused to lower his towing price for the friend of a former Glouster mayor.

At the time, Dolan told The Athens NEWS that he believed his company was supposed to be on a rotation list with a handful of other local towing companies to be called for Glouster village towing jobs. From listening to towing calls on a scanner, he said, he had come to suspect that JD's was frequently being passed over when its turn came up.

Dolan's suit had originally included as defendants Athens County and county officials, but Judge Ward granted judgment in their favor early on in the case, concluding that Dolan could not show that the county had any contractual obligation to include him on a rotation list, "if one exists."

Dolan appealed, and the 4^th District Court of Appeals returned a mixed ruling. The appellate court upheld Ward's decision to remove the Athens County commissioners from the suit, but said Dolan could sue Doug Bentley, director of the county's 911 emergency phone system, in both his individual and professional capacities.

In an amended version of his lawsuit filed late last year, Dolan added language suing Glouster Police Chief Roger Taylor, Mayor Robert Funk, and former Mayor David Angle as both individuals and government officials, for alleged "tortuous interference" in Dolan's business dealings with the village and county.

The village has responded to the suit, claiming among other defenses immunity from liability, and asking that the litigation be dismissed.

Dolan is seeking at least $25,000 in damages.