FERRIDAY, La. &045;&045; A Ferriday drinking water case more than five years old is finally showing some signs of coming to a close.

Martello v. the City of Ferriday and Owen and White, Inc. will finally go to trial next year, attorneys for both sides said after a court hearing Friday.

The first phase of the trial &045;&045; a fraud case against the defendants &045;&045; will go to trial in May 2006. The second phase, the liability trial, will be taken up in court in October 2006.

The case stems from a 124-day long boil water notice the city issued in 1999 because of a breakdown in Ferriday’s water treatment plant. Gloria Martello, owner of Ferriday restaurant Brocato’s, filed the lawsuit seeking damages against the city and the firm that built the plant, citing losses she suffered because she was forced to bring in water and ice during the notice.

The suit was expanded into a class action suit and has been winding its way through the courts &045;&045; with several trips to the Circuit Court of Appeals in Lake Charles &045;&045; ever since.

But lawyers for all parties recently agreed on a schedule for the remaining hearings and trial dates, Stephen Wilson, attorney for Owen and White, and Lynda Harang, a lawyer for Martello and the plaintiffs, said.

Harang said she and her fellow lawyers, including Vidalia’s Chuck Norris, are still taking depositions and getting discovery information at this point in preparation for the trial.

Wilson said he is waiting to find out from the plaintiffs what the specific allegations of fraud in the case are.