The United States and Canada peacefully share the world’s longest border, but a bridge linking the two countries has prompted legal fireworks — including the jailing of an 84-year-old billionaire and one of his top business aides.
Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Prentis Edwards on Thursday ordered Manuel “Matty” Moroun, 84, and Dan Stamper, an executive with Detroit International Bridge Co., to jail for failing to comply with deadlines to build freeway connections to the Ambassador Bridge, which links Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.
Both men were taken out of a Detroit courtroom and sent to jail until they comply with the judge’s order that they complete their contract with the state to build the connecting ramps.
Lawyers for the two men have filed expedited appeals, hoping to have them freed quickly, company spokesman Al Upchurch said in a telephone interview.
“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,” Moroun’s son, Matthew, said in an emailed statement. “This entire legal process has clearly become a personal vendetta by the judge against these individuals,” he said.
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