The Marlins caught a break today when the new judge in the lawsuit filed by luxury auto dealer Norman Braman agreed to begin the trial next Wednesday, July 9.

The trial was supposed to begin today, but had to be postponed when Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Pedro Echarte Jr. recused himself Thursday and Judge Jeri Beth Cohen was assigned the case instead.

Cohen told the court Friday she might not be able to hear the case until September. The delay dismayed the defendants – the Marlins, Miami-Dade County and city of Miami – who are hoping to break ground for a new ballpark at the site of the Orange Bowl in November.

But Cohen said today she’d read through most of the case over the weekend, rearranged her schedule and agreed to hold the trial in July. She also will allow Braman’s attorneys to re-argue some of the motions Echarte denied.

After overseeing the case for months and ruling on several motions – for both the plaintiffs and defendants – Echarte recused himself last week at the request of Braman attorney Bob Martinez, who said in court papers that he discovered last week a distant familial relationship between him and Echarte.

The defendants called the timing of the recusal suspicious. Some believe Braman’s intent is to delay the project so long that it will drive up the project’s cost too much to build.

So the defendants were pleased the trial will begin next week.

“We want to go forward as quickly as we can and get these issues resolved,” said Scott Ponce, an attorney representing the Marlins. “There’s a lot of paperwork that needs to be done as far as architects doing their thing, stadiumd designers are doing their thing. And that process needs to keep getting funded and keep going forward while we’re waiting for this.”

Among issues discussed today were the number of witnesses both sides expect to call and how long the trial could take. Cohen called the list, which includes both the county and city mayors, the county manager, two city commissioners, city and county finance directors, and Marlins President David Samson, a “who’s who.”

Cohen said she expects the trial to “take July.” She urged the attorneys to “cancel your vacations.”

County attorney David Hope said he already had. “No Belize for me,” he said.

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We’ll have to wait until next week to learn the new start date for the trial in the lawsuit filed by auto dealer Norman Braman that targets the financing for the Marlins new ballpark among other items.

The case was reassigned to Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Jeri Beth Cohen Thursday after Circuit Court Judge Pedro Echarte Jr. recused himself at the request of Bob Martinez, one of Braman’s attorneys. Martinez said in court papers that he discovered this week that he has a distant familial relationship with Echarte.

In a status hearing Friday afternoon, Cohen said her calendar was likely full until September. The defendants -- Miami-Dade County, the city of Miami and the Marlins -- would prefer a trial be held sooner. Cohen has agreed to ask the chief judge about reassigning the case yet again. She promised to have an answer by Tuesday.

As always, stay tuned...

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With the trial in luxury auto dealer Norman Braman's lawsuit against Miami-Dade County, the city of Miami and the Marlins set to begin Tuesday, the timetable is in flux again.

At the request of Braman's attorney, Bob Martinez, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Pedro Echarte Jr. recused himself Thursday from the case he has overseen for months, because Martinez said in court papers that he discovered Tuesday he had a distant familial relationship with Echarte. Echarte's mother is related to Martinez's sister-in-law.

Already hampered by the case, which targets the $3 billion downtown redevelopment megaplan that includes a Marlins ballpark at the site of the Orange Bowl, Marlins representatives were none too pleased with the timing of Thursday's decision. Braman has lost on a couple of points in the case in the past week, and Marlins President David Samson accused Braman of trying to deflect attention from a case he can't win.

Samson said he was “flabbergasted” at the timing of the request for the recusal.

“I just think it’s sad. It’s a waste of taxpayers money," Samson said. "It’s the desperate musings of a man who knew he couldn’t prevail."

The timing may seem unusual, but I'm told there's no way Braman's legal team would move forward if there were even an inkling there could be a conflict.

The case has been reassigned to Circuit Court Judge Jeri Beth Cohen, who is holding a status hearing in the case on Friday afternoon. Perhaps then we'll learn a new date for the trial.

“Miami-Dade County continues to be confident with its case and hopes the trial can continue moving forward in a timely fashion,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez said in a statement. “Important timelines and funding streams are attached to this package of critical public works projects which are designed to improve the quality of life of County residents. In the short-term, these projects can provide an important economic boost in an uncertain economy, and get jobs on the street when they are needed most.”

Samson says plans for the ballpark are proceeding on schedule. The Baseball Stadium Agreement approved in February specified that definitive agreements on specifics such as construction management and financing, must be in place by July 1. But the county, city and Marlins have agreed to wait until after the trial in the Braman case.

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Oh the irony.

The Washington Nationals are hosting a “Conversion Day” promotion at their new ballpark on Sunday. The concept is not unusual: bring in a piece of gear from any other Major League Baseball team and trade it in for a National hat featuring the curly W logo.

But for this promotion the hat you get in return is made from organically-grown cotton. The sponsor of this "green" giveaway?

ExxonMobil.

In addition, the promotion says there are hats available for the first 10,000 fans, but it also says one hat per fan, “while supplies last.” Hmmm.

The promotion also seems aimed squarely at fans of the Baltimore Orioles, who are the Nats’ opponent that day. After all, the former Montreal Expos are looking to build their fan base in the Baltimore-Washington Metro area. Conversion Day prompted chatter on an Orioles message board.

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My story today comparing the business of the Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays elicited all kinds of thoughts from readers on why attendance at Marlins games isn’t better.

Figured I’d share a few of your thoughts:

You said it’s just too hot to attend games at Dolphin Stadium, a football stadium with no roof, while the Rays play in an air-conditioned dome, Tropicana Field. If the Marlins played in the American League East, like the Rays, they’d sell out games against the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox routinely.

Tickets are too expensive. So is beer. Ditto, food. The upper deck is rarely open. It costs $10 to park.

Luis Vera of Sunrise suggested the Marlins should follow the example of the Rays by offering free parking for cars carrying four or more people and allowing fans to bring food to the stadium. He also suggested: “Just as they have the mermaids- hire ‘Hunks’ to usher the ladies to the club section.” He also said, “Cash in on the fact that the Marlins have won two World series by making a jersey of the series wins.”

Some also wonder why the Marlins focus only on marketing the weekend games, which have less attractive opponents this season, and essentially ignore weekday games.

Any other thoughts?

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New Dolphins owner Stephen Ross appeared in an ad for First Republic Bank in a recent edition of The New York Times Magazine. The chairman of The Related Cos., is not an endorser, just a customer who appreciates the bank’s services, the bank says.

But the ad and word from St. Louis that the owners of the Rams have even been contemplating the idea of a sale reminded me to re-visit the issue of estate taxes.

H. Wayne Huizenga agreed to sell half the Dolphins, Dolphin Stadium and the developable land around it to Ross in February (the purchase received approval of NFL owners in March) for $550 million. Huizenga is 70 and made the decision in part for estate tax purposes. He knows his children don’t want to be controlling owners of the franchise.

I wondered why Ross at 68 would now be embarking on team ownership.

It’s a choice, of course. And a matter of financial circumstances. Ross has said that even when he looked at buying the Dolphins when Huizenga first invested in the team in 1990, “I wasn’t as financially prepared as I am today.”

Forbes puts Ross’ net worth at $4.5 billion.

“I think Wayne’s been here for 18, 19 years. I think he has a different perspective,” Ross said at the owners meeting. “I think at this stage, as they say, today’s 60s is yesterday’s 40s. I look at the fact I have a lot of energy and I look to be involved for quite a bit of time. So I think it’s just a question it’s something new for me, where Wayne has been doing this for a time. I think that’s probably the main difference.”

Ross is a fitness fanatic, who jogs and plays tennis regularly.

According to Mary Sue Donohue, a partner at Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs in Boca Raton, who specializes in wills and estates, says both men get a break by owning less than a majority of the team, even though Huizenga will maintain controlling rights for now.

And Huizenga gets a significant break on his estate taxes and more liquidity.

“He has an extra $550 million he can do something with,” Donohue said. “It’s not part of his estate. That’s cash. He could give that away to charities, that sort of thing.”

In addition, she said the less Huizenga owns of the team, the bigger his tax discount. The Robbies were forced to sell at least part of the Dolphins to pay off the late Joe Robbie’s estate taxs.

“I think Wayne Huizenga learned something significant from Joe Robbie’s experience,” Donohue said.

Ross, meanwhile, has the option of taking the value of his interest and sharing ownership of the stadium and land around it with other business entities, Donohue said.

“I don’t know if he will, [but] he could have those different pieces owned by different entities,” she said. “He could use those as techniques for handing off other pieces to other family members.”

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Could it be the decision on whether the Baltimore Orioles will continue spring training at Fort Lauderdale Stadium beyond 2009 is finally near? U.S. Rep. Ron Klein and Fort Lauderdale officials believe so.

The city is hoping to convince the Federal Aviation Administration to exempt it from the fair market value requirement for use of the airport land on which the stadium sits. The FAA told the city it needs $1.3 million a year for use of the property, which is up dramatically from the $70,000 to $120,000 the Orioles typically pay.

The FAA is expected to make a decision quickly. Read more at the Broward Politics blog.

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