More on the Terminella Trial

A motion by Metropolitan National Bank of Little Rock to gag the attorneys for Fayetteville developer Tom Terminella in his $50 million breach of contract lawsuit against the lender will be heard on Jan. 18.

The hearing to consider all motions, including several competing filings from both sides to squash depositions and set the schedule of pretrial testimony, was scheduled for Jan. 4. The fight over the deposition schedule, brought on when MNB loan officer Susan Slinkard did not complete her Oct. 31 deposition because of health reasons related to her pregnancy.

Slinkard was originally to deliver her child in February, which threw a wrench into the schedule when MNB claimed Slinkard’s doctors advised she should not be deposed until then.

MNB then attempted to begin subpoenaing witnesses from Terminella’s side when his attorneys said they would wait until Slinkard delivered to resume their discovery. Terminella’s side moved to quash those subpoenas, but according to a Jan. 2 filing by MNB, Slinkard delivered her baby seven weeks prematurely on Dec. 27.

This development could allow depositions of MNB’s Slinkard, Larry Olson and the MNB loan committee by Terminella’s attorneys to begin sooner, which may allow the schedule to resolve itself.

That could just leave the matter of the gag order, which Terminella’s attorneys responded to harshly on Dec. 6, calling it an “attempt to pull a veil of secrecy” over the case.