Diamond v. Town of Manalapan (Patricia A. Seitz, S.D. Fla. 9:02-cv-80065)
A few weeks before a town-commission election, four voters filed a federal complaint alleging malapportionment of commission districts because four commissioners represented eighty-nine residents on one side of town and two commissioners represented 232 residents on the other side of town. The district judge denied the plaintiffs a preliminary injunction, which would disrupt a scheme that had been in place for decades, but ordered a constitutionally valid plan be in place within approximately six months. Following conversion of the commission to at-large elections with at least two commissioners from each side of town, the judge granted a voluntary dismissal of the suit.
Subject: District lines. Topics: Malapportionment; intervention; attorney fees.

One of many Case Studies in Emergency Election Litigation.