Appeals court hears bid to reopen judgment in Bragenton Smith property dispute

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 12 — The appeals court heard oral arguments over a motion to reopen a 2023 judgment in a property dispute involving Bragenton Smith and Dorothy Taryn and another defendant. The motion asks the court to permit an amended appeal under Rule 60 based on newly discovered testimony from a neighbor identified as John Francis English.

The issue is whether English’s affidavit, dated in late October 2024 and describing statements he said he heard during a 1994 cleanup at the property, is new and material enough to justify reopening the trial record. The appellant’s attorney said English first came to counsel’s office on Oct. 24, 2024, and that a follow-up meeting occurred Oct. 28, 2024; those dates were described as included in an exhibit submitted to the trial judge.

Appellant counsel (identified in the hearing as Attorney (unspecified) for Bragenton Smith) argued that English’s account is not merely cumulative of testimony already before the jury because English is not a family member and may supply an independent…