Date set for court battle over Walmart near Civil War battlefield continues

New York Attorneys are expected back in court next month in the battle over a Walmart Supercenter proposed near an endangered Civil War battlefield in northern Virginia, the Associated Press reported. A trial date was expected to be scheduled at a hearing Tuesday in Orange Circuit Court, but lingering issues delayed that decision until an Aug. 13 hearing.

The legal wrangling involves a proposed Walmart store near the Wilderness Battlefield in Locust Grove.

In late April, a judge ruled residents who live near the battlefield and a historic group can contest at trial the county's approval of a Walmart store near the site where Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant first met on the field of battle 146 years ago.

Robert Rosenbaum, an attorney representing store opponents, said the August hearing will focus on two issues: a statute-of-limitation claim made by the county involving Orange zoning laws, and attempts by the plaintiffs to have access to documents the county contends are off-limits based on attorney-client privilege.

Sharon Pandak, an attorney representing Orange County, confirmed the issues are to be handled at the August hearing.

More than 250 historians, Civil War preservationists and celebrities have taken a stand against the store.

The Supercenter planned by the Bentonville, Ark., retailer would be outside the limits of the protected national park but within an area where troops prepared for battle, marched and died of their injuries.