The lawsuit seeking to oust Bristol’s abortion clinic from the building it has occupied for more than two years — filed by the owners who said they are morally opposed to abortions — will be dismissed by Bristol Circuit Court Judge Sage B. Johnson. But the fight isn’t over yet.The judge did not rule on a counterclaim filed earlier this year by the clinic owner’s attorney in response to an April 30 letter the building’s owners sent to the clinic, Bristol Women’s Health, stating that they were giving 30 days’ notice that the lease would be terminated.The counterclaim sought an injunction to keep the clinic from being evicted, which is still pending, according to Alexis Tahinci, the lawyer representing Diane Derzis, who owns the clinic. A temporary injunction was granted.In the judge’s opinion on the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday, he said that Kilo Delta, the company that owns the building on Osborne Street in north Bristol, waited too long to file the suit, proceeded to treat the lease as a binding agreement, cashed the rental checks and initiated discussions about upkeep and improvements to the property.Kilo Delta, which is owned by brothers Chase King and Chadwick King, filed the lawsuit in December 2022, more than six months after the lease took effect. It accused the clinic of fraud, claiming it did not reveal that abortions would be performed on site.The Kings claim they have suffered personal and professional losses as a result of owning a building where abortions are performed.Derzis has denied there was any fraud.When there is a claim of fraud, a lawsuit must be filed immediately, the judge wrote.“The Supreme Court of Virginia has held that a plaintiff seeking to disaffirm or rescind a contract based on the grounds of fraud must do so promptly. It is an established doctrine that when a party intends to repudiate a contract on the ground of fraud, he should do so as soon as he discovers the fraud. If, after the discovery of fraud, he treats the contact as a subsisting obligation he will be deemed to have waived his right of repudiation,” Johnson wrote.Since the Kings are opposed to abortion, they should have done a basic investigation of whether abortions would be performed at the clinic, the judge said. He added that a basic internet search of their tenants’ names would have revealed that abortion services would be provided because it says so on the clinic’s website.Derzis, contacted at her home in Alabama Thursday night, said the dismissal of the lawsuit is a big win for the clinic. She said it was difficult to have a lawsuit hanging over the clinic for so long and she’ll be glad when it’s all settled.Terry Kilgore, a state delegate from Scott County who represents the King brothers, along with Will Wampler III, said Thursday night he hadn’t seen the opinion and couldn’t comment until he did. He said he would contact Wampler to see if he wanted to comment, but there was no further response.The abortion clinic in Bristol is the only one in Southwest Virginia, and Virginia is the only Southern state that doesn’t heavily restrict or ban abortions. The location of the clinic in Bristol, which is half in Virginia and half in Tennessee, where there is a ban on abortions, has drawn a lot of attention since Roe v. Wade was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. That decision, which allowed individual states to restrict or ban abortions, was made just weeks after the clinic opened. It regularly draws protesters.The clinic has paid for improvements to the building and spent money on marketing and personnel and indicated that it has been unable to find suitable space on the Virginia side of Bristol, the judge said. It also stands to lose money if the clinic were closed, he added.“Dissolution of the contract would also prevent Bristol Women’s Health from providing medical services to women in the surrounding Bristol area, which many women in the area now rely upon as a result of the current state of reproductive health care and its limited access given that Tennessee has banned abortion following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization,” the opinion states.Derzis owned the clinic at the center of that case.The commercial lease on the facility in Bristol was for one year with renewal options for a second year and then two three-year options, which the clinic is exercising, Tahinci has said.She said Thursday that the idea behind the termination letter sent to the clinic was that after the first year of the lease was over, it can be terminated at any time with one month’s notice, which she and Derzis disagree with.The judge’s ruling on the lawsuit becomes official when the order is entered, which will take place on Sept. 26.The post Judge says he will dismiss lawsuit seeking to oust Bristol abortion clinic appeared first on Cardinal News.First published by Cardinal News.