The Lily Dale Assembly is asking the state Supreme Court in Mayville to allow it to evict a homeowner it says isn’t paying required fees for a business located inside the assembly’s gates.

It’s been almost a year since Lily Dale filed suit to shut down businesses owned by the lease-holding Reuther family and have the family leave the campus. The state Supreme Court hasn’t taken action on Lily Dale’s request. An Aug. 22 hearing that had been scheduled has been adjourned. The next court date is Sept. 5.

According to the lawsuit, the spiritualist community agreed to lease property on Fourth Street to Robert and Danielle Reuther in 2015 when the Reuthers members of the community. The Reuthers began operating a guest house there and were charged an annual business and licensing fee of $1,000, as allowed in Lily Dale’s bylaws. The Reuthers stopped paying the business fee after 2019.

Lily Dale officials say not paying the fee breaches the contract between the assembly and the Reuthers and gives the assembly reason to kick the Reuthers out.

In an answer submitted to the state Supreme Court in September 2022, the Reuthers say the claims in Lily Dale’s complaint aren’t authorized under state law, the state constitution, the Lily Dale Assembly bylaws, rules or regulations while the actions taken by Lily Dale constitute harassment, discrimination and abuse of process against the Reuthers. The Reuthers also say they did not enter into agreements on the terms Lily Dale alleges and can’t prove the Reuthers violated the material terms of any binding or valid contract.

“Defendants respectfully request judgment dismissing the Complaint and awarding Defendants costs, reimbursement of litigation expenses, and any other relief that the Court deems just and proper,” the Reuthers’ answer states.

The case sat dormant over the winter months until June, when Michael Ferdman, Lily Dale’s attorney in the case, filed several exhibits in the case as well as a memorandum of law in support of Lily Dale’s motion for summary judgement in its favor.

“Indeed, even after ample notice of their breach, the Reuthers still refused to cure the default,” Ferdman wrote in his memorandum of law. “As such, Lily Dale is permitted to ‘rescind’ the Agreement executed between the parties and “remove” the Reuthers from the premise.”