Rodin to offer deposition in game room court battle today

The University and the game room owners were also ordered to exchange significant documents. President Clinton wasn't exempt from giving a deposition in federal court. Likewise, today, after months of legal wrangling, University President Judith Rodin must do the same. In a sworn affidavit dated July 15, Rodin said she was too busy to give the deposition in the court battle that will decide the fate of a local video arcade and laundry. But on July 28, U.S. District Court Judge Marvin Katz denied her attorney's request. The deposition -- which could last up to five hours -- is set for 8 a.m. at the offices of Fox, Rothschild, O'Brien & Frankel, LLP, whose attorneys represent the University Pinball and University Laundry owners. Although it's not known what Rodin will say, in her July statement she claimed that her knowledge of the case was limited to what Executive Vice President John Fry told her. The University says the establishments located at 4006-4008 Spruce Street, across from the Dental School, attract crime at the edge of campus. Attorneys cite 19 incidents from October 1996 to March 1997 supporting Penn's case. But attorneys for the Schoepes, who own the establishments, claim that the University used its considerable clout to get city officials to shut down the businesses illegally last April, even though the District Attorney's office said there wasn't enough evidence to justify such a closing. As the trial date in the six-month case nears, the University continues to deny these accusations and is asking a judge for a quick decision in the matter. In documents filed last week in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, University attorneys maintain that the University was "similar to any community group that would complain about a nuisance property." "The closure was the culmination of an ongoing campaign which began in the fall of 1996 by the University to force the Schoepes to close the arcade and laundromat," states a pretrial memorandum. The Schoepes sued the University and the City of Philadelphia in federal court last April after their businesses were labeled a public nuisance and closed. The family also sued the University and its chief spokesperson, Ken Wildes, in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court for libel and slander over comments Wildes made in the May 8 issue of the weekly University City Review. The University has filed countersuits in both cases, seeking to close down the establishments at night and to get the Schoepes to add security and enforce curfew restrictions. Both sides filed motions for summary judgment in federal court last week. If Katz grants either request and assigns wrongdoing, the jury trial will only determine damages. The federal court case will get a trial date after November 3, while the libel case won't go to trial until at least December 1998. City officials paid the Schoepes $60,000 last month in settling their part of the federal lawsuit, admitting in court papers that the businesses were in compliance with the law on April 18 and weren't a public or private nuisance. Katz also ordered the Schoepes Tuesday to turn over all their tax returns and financial records since 1994 to University attorneys. The documents won't be available to the public. And Wednesday, Katz ordered Penn to produce unedited patrol logs and crime records and to have University Police Lt. Joe Weaver, who handles police records, give a deposition in the case. University officials claim that the game room and laundry attract people who urinate in the streets, violate curfew laws, steal cars, deal drugs and beat up students. The businesses also attract people who "appear likely to become involved in disorderly and/or criminal activity," University attorneys state in court papers. Those claims have led the Schoepes' attorneys to argue that the University wanted to keep the game room's mostly young African-American and Asian-American clientele away from campus in order to boost Penn's crime-fighting image. In documents supporting the University's motion for summary judgment, attorneys argue that the University and Director of Police Operations Maureen Rush were "exercising their First Amendment right" to complain to city officials about the Schoepes' businesses and didn't act in a racist manner. The Schoepes are asking for $2,244.87 in compensatory damages and unspecified "punitive damages, emotional distress damages and attorneys' fees." Schoepe attorney Ron Shaffer and University outside counsel Roger Cox declined to comment on the case.