Spiegel Farm still holding weddings as court date for injunction approaches

Published 3:03 pm Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Spiegel, owner of Spiegel Farm in Campobello, says she held two weddings last weekend and that she hopes the injunction won&squo;t be filed until July 29 when the final judge&39;s decision is scheduled to be made.

A temporary injunction was&bsp; issued in June by Circuit Court Judge Derham Cole barring any commercial activities at the farm because such activities are not permitted under the Wenswept Plantation Homeowners Association covenant.

Members of the homeowners association filed a lawsuit in February against Spiegel for hosting commercial events such as weddings at her 62-acre farm.

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Spiegel argues that she has been conducting weddings and events at her farm for nine years and she was told by the developer her activities would be permitted because many of the weddings are held at Spiegel Farm because of its equestrian facilities and character.

According to the temporary injunction, Spiegel&squo;s last wedding was to be held the weekend of July 4. Since the temporary injunction was ruled upon, Spiegel and some brides have been interviewed for newspapers and television news shows, pleading for their weddings to continue. Spiegel&squo;s story is also scheduled to appear on &dquo;Inside Edition&dquo; possibly sometime this week.

Spiegel says she will do whatever is necessary to ensure the scheduled weddings take place, at least up until July 29, when a judge is scheduled to rule whether to make the injunction permanent. Spiegel says she doesn&39;t want the lawsuit to ruin the most important day of a bride&squo;s life.

Spiegel has weddings scheduled through this year and some in 2010. She says brides scheduled this year are devastated and don&squo;t know what to do.

If the judge makes the injunction permanent on July 29, it would mean that Spiegel could not host any further event for commercial purposes at Spiegel Farm.

The attorney for the homeowners&squo; association, Sean Cobourn, was unavailable for comment by press time.

Cobourn said previously the judge had not yet signed the final draft of the temporary injunction to limit the damage to innocent brides. Cobourn also said previously that Spiegel has known about the potential lawsuit since last year.