BRENTWOOD, Fla. – Chanting and rallying against a medical examiner’s office opening in the Brentwood community rang out in front of the federal courthouse in downtown Jacksonville.
A local woman has filed a civil lawsuit against the city of Jacksonville for building a medical examiner’s office in her neighborhood. She says the community never approved it, nor did they ask for it.
This group of various organizations is rallying against a new medical examiner’s office being built in their community; however, it will likely open this fall.
Lydia Bell filed this civil lawsuit: “Metro Gardens Neighborhood Association against the City of Jacksonville” on June 20, which has 20 plaintiffs listed.
“We are going to ask for that injunction, and we are going to ask for him to hear the facts and truth of this case,” said Lydia Bell, who filed the lawsuit against the city.
The new medical examiner’s office is almost complete.
The protesting began in 2023, with the Metro Gardens Neighborhood Association led by Lydia Bell, protesting against this building becoming a liquor store, just across the street from a KIPP for children.
“No more liquor stores, no more liquor stores,” they chanted.
The community won that victory in 2024. The liquor store never opened. The city of Jacksonville purchased the building and changed it to a business center.
Planning for the new medical examiner’s office began in 2016 during the Lenny Curry Administration. The need for a new MEO gained more attention during the opioid crisis when the office ran out of space and had to put a body on the floor.
The then-Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Valerie Rao, had been sending emails to the city council and the mayor’s office for months, asking for more funding and attention to the dire issue.
Bell and others say that doesn’t matter to them, and they want the new facility moved to an industrial zone.
Challenges to the operation of the new medical examiner’s office mentioned in the lawsuit includes:
- Saying the new MEO threatens the health, safety, and dignity of Brentwood residents
- Asks for an injunction
- Violation of Civil rights
- Violation of due process
- Violation of county and city zoning
This same group of people had a victory by stopping a liquor store on Golfair Road from opening. Instead, it was transformed into a community building.
The plaintiffs hope they can have a similar victory with the medical examiner’s office by getting an injunction to stop it from opening.
News4JAX contacted the city regarding the lawsuit and received a response that read, “We decline to comment due to active litigation.”
