Fate of John B. Castleman Monument in Louisville remains in court

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - The John B. Castleman Monument will stay in storage for now, after a Louisville judge gave the city more time to decide what it wants to do.

Kentucky Supreme Court ruled in late April the decision to remove the statue was flawed because city employees voted on it when they shouldn’t have.

On Monday, the winning side got one technical detail accomplished.

The legal decision that approved removing the statue in the first place was tossed out.

But getting the statute put back is still stuck in the courts.

“Metro government has only two choices here, one is to reinstall the statute the other is to go through the process again,” Attorney Steve Porter said.

“I didn’t say we didn’t want to go through the process, I said we haven’t decided what the process will be,” Assistant County Attorney Anne Scholtz said.

More legal wrangling is in the statue’s future. A judge gave the city more time to argue in writing what it wants to do with the statue.

It was removed from Cherokee Triangle in June 2020 after being repeatedly vandalized and Castleman’s history became disputed.

Attorney Steve Porter won the Supreme Court case to reinstall Castleman. He said this latest court fight is a waste of time.

“The Supreme Court decision was pretty clear, the decision to remove the statue was reversed,” said Porter.

The city said it is still reviewing all of its options. The case only became final from the Supreme Court four days ago, and the assistant county attorney argued that’s not long enough for the city.

“Metro government is still looking at all the options, but I think it’s unclear even after the Landmarks Commission decision is set aside where we go from here,” said Scholtz.

Both sides are due back in court on June 21, coincidentally the longest day of the year, for a case that shows no signs of ending quickly.

“I would say probably not, I think the city is going to do everything they can to delay and push it around,” said Porter.

Porter is also asking the judge to have taxpayers cover his legal costs. So the longer this case lasts, potentially the bigger his check is.

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