Dietz Seeks Coop Injunction Again; Cronin Attacks Stand as 'Mystifying'

Sheldon Diets '41 will ask the Middlesex County Superior Court to issue an injunction against further construction of the Harvard Cooperative Society's Palmer St. annex.

Philip M. Cronin '52, the Coop's lawyer, last night dismissed Dietz's action as "absurd" and "mystifying." "I just can't believe any injunction will be granted," he said.

A hearing on the injunction is scheduled for this Friday, but Cronin reported last night that he has a previous commitment and that under normal judicial procedure, the hearing would probably be postponed.

The petition for injunction is identical to one refused in late March, but Dietz's lawyer is resubmitting it on the grounds that the trial over the annex's alleged zoning violations has been moved up until June. Dietz, a local property owner, claims that the annex, as currently designed, exceeds the permissible 4-1 ratio of floor area to plot and does not allow enough space for an off-street truckloading dock.

The trial was originally scheduled for April 22, but a crowded court calendar forced postponement until last Monday. But Cronin was unable to appear because of another engagement and the court continued the case until June 7.

If an injunction were issued--and then the court eventually upheld the legality of the annex's design--the Coop would probably "sue Diets for getting an unlawful injunction," Cronin said. The Cambridge Board of Zoning Appeal has a ready rejected Dietz's argument that the building violates the City's zoning code.

Dietz believes that the further construction on the building proceeds, the more difficult his case becomes.

"Such injunction is required to preserve the status quo and to permit the court to make a free and unhampered decision," the petition states.

Cronin said, however, that because there is "no clear violation" of the building code, the full trial would have to be held before the court could issue an injunction. Independent observers agreed that the chances of the injunction being issued are slim.