DUTCH SQUARE LAWSUIT MOVES FORWARD IN FEDERAL COURT

Dutch Square Mall, long seen as a symbol of stalled investment along Broad River, now sits at the center of a federal lawsuit moving forward after a judge issued a scheduling order, allowing the case against Richland County to proceed toward discovery and potential trial. Javar Juarez ©2025

Richland County | Courts & Civil Rights | Investigative

A federal judge has cleared the path to trial in a civil rights case against Richland County — and the clock has started on a discovery process that could force the county to answer, in writing and under oath, how decisions about this corridor were really made.

By Javar Juarez  |  CUBNSC  |  April 3, 2026  |  Columbia, S.C.

Dutch Square never fully died. It just got left. The mall that once anchored the Broad River corridor — a stretch of Columbia that has long absorbed disinvestment while more prosperous parts of the city and county got attention — became something between a punchline and a graveyard.

Empty storefronts. A parking lot that outlasted its purpose.

A building that remained upright while life was drained from it, slowly, over years.

Someone tried to change that. And if the federal court record is to be believed, that effort was met not with serious engagement, but with bureaucratic detachment dressed up as principle.

Now a lawsuit is moving toward trial.

An empty Dutch Square Mall stands as a reminder of unrealized potential, as a federal lawsuit over its proposed redevelopment moves forward toward discovery and possible trial. JavarJuarez©2025

On April 2, 2026, U.S. District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis issued a Conference and Scheduling Order in the case brought by Bishop Eric Warren Davis, the Word of God Church and Ministries International, and their affiliated development entities against Richland County and multiple county officials.

Members of Richland County Council, including now–State Senator Overture Walker, who is named in the federal Dutch Square lawsuit as the case advances toward discovery and a potential jury trial. JavarJuarez©2025

The order did not decide the case. It did something with longer consequences.

It established a full litigation timeline — discovery, depositions, mediation, and a jury trial date — meaning the court has looked at this case and determined it has enough to move forward on its merits. 

A motion to dismiss was filed by Richland County, but it did not end the case.

The lawsuit remains active and now enters the phase where evidence, not just argument, becomes the record.

What this order means in plain terms: both sides must now produce documents, sit for depositions, and build a factual record that a judge — or a jury — can evaluate.

Internal communications. Meeting minutes. Email chains. The paperwork that tells you what was said in rooms when the public wasn't watching.

The complaint at the center of this case describes a vision for Dutch Square that went far beyond retail. 

According to the plaintiffs — operating through W.O.G. Community Development Corporation and WOG LLC — the proposed redevelopment would have brought workforce development infrastructure, technology and animation training, housing, and economic anchors to a corridor that has historically been under-resourced and overlooked.

Proposed Compass Galleria redevelopment at Dutch Square Mall, which plaintiffs say would have delivered workforce training, technology, housing, and new economic investment to an under-resourced corridor. Credit: WOGCDC

This is not a minor claim.

The Broad River corridor has needed this kind of institutional investment for a long time. The question this lawsuit poses is not simply whether the project was good. It is whether the decision-making process that blocked it was lawful.

The plaintiffs say it was not.

They allege that Richland County officials treated the project differently because of its connection to a church-affiliated entity — and that the stated reason, "separation of church and state," was used as a pretext rather than as a principle.

Allison Terracio, a member of Richland County Council named in the federal lawsuit, is alleged by plaintiffs to have been a leading voice invoking separation of church and state in opposition to the Dutch Square redevelopment proposal. JavarJuarez©2024

They allege that decisions were shaped outside of public view, that officials coordinated in ways that violated civil rights protections, and that the plaintiffs were denied equal access to economic development opportunities.

Richland County has denied wrongdoing.

What comes next is the phase where cases either reveal the truth or retreat into the silence of settlement.

"Discovery is where the truth lives or goes to die."

Under the scheduling order, attorneys must exchange initial disclosures of evidence by May 6, 2026. The full discovery period runs through September 29, 2026. Mediation must be completed by December 14, 2026. And if no resolution is reached, this case could be presented to a jury as early as February 2, 2027.

Federal court notice issued April 2, 2026, as Judge Mary Geiger Lewis advances the Dutch Square lawsuit with a formal scheduling order, allowing the case against Richland County to proceed toward discovery and trial.

Litigation Timeline:

• May 6, 2026 — Initial evidence exchange deadline

• Sept. 29, 2026 — Discovery closes; all depositions and document requests must be complete

• Dec. 14, 2026 — Mediation deadline

• Feb. 2, 2027 — Eligible for jury trial

CUBNSC will continue to follow this case as it moves through discovery. The documents produced in this phase — should they become part of the public record — may say more about how economic development decisions are made in Richland County than any council meeting ever has.

Dutch Square has been waiting a long time.

So has the Broad River corridor.

So have the people who live and work there.

The courthouse at least has set a date.

— Javar Juarez is an investigative journalist based in Columbia, South Carolina, covering politics, policy, and the structures of power.