Dec. 01–The man who vowed to revive litigation over the redevelopment of city's World Trade Center building has made good on his threat, filing notice of a long-shot appeal that will nonetheless delay plans to turn the building into a Four Seasons Hotel.

Two Canal Street Investors Inc., the firm that sued the city over the revamp last year, filed its intent to appeal a New Orleans judge's dismissal of the case late Wednesday afternoon.

Stuart "Neil" Fisher, the company's president, said last month that he would fight the decision from Orleans Parish Civil District Court Judge Tiffany Chase, who ruled that Fisher's company amounts to little more than a vehicle for the lawsuit.

Chase also dismissed Two Canal's case after neither Fisher nor an attorney showed up to represent it. She further agreed that Fisher's case should be tossed because Fisher was a no-show at a court deposition.

"This litigation is going to be long and protracted," Fisher said in a Thursday interview.

The attorneys now representing Two Canal said only that they were still reviewing its case.

Meanwhile, the development team of Carpenter and Co. and Woodward Design + Build, which wants to build the Four Seasons, quickly decried the appeal.

"A plaintiff who didn't even show up for trial continues to delay the largest private development in the history of the city — over $ 400 million," spokesman Greg Beuerman said. "The Four Seasons team will move forward with this important project as soon as appeals are exhausted and final."

That delay will happen even as Fisher faces an uphill battle in court. Chase dismissed Two Canal's case with prejudice, meaning his new attorneys — the law firm of Varadi, Hair & Checki — may not revive the specific claims he originally brought forth. They may only challenge the dismissal itself.

Hired only within the past week or so, those lawyers must also get up to speed on the thousands of documents involved in the 18-month case.

The litigation began when Two Canal filed suit in April 2015, not long after city officials passed over its proposal to turn the building into a Hotel Alessandra. Two Canal said its plan should have been chosen because it offered the city the most money in lease payments and the city thus was legally required to select it.

But Carpenter and Woodward argued that Fisher had bought Two Canal for $10 after its offer was rejected, solely to be able to file suit and try to get money.

The city has said the New Orleans Building Corp., the agency that acts as landlord for the city-owned building, is exempt from the state law Two Canal has cited.

Two Canal had been represented in court until October by the Davillier Law Group, but that firm cut ties with Fisher's firm after it refused to follow the attorneys' advice.

The case took another bizarre turn when it was learned that Fisher had stepped down from the helm of Two Canal in October to allow someone named Amjat Neel, Amjed Abu Neel, Amjed Abu Neil or Amjad Abu Al Neel — at least four different spellings have been used in court — to take his place.

Fisher said he resigned to take attention off of himself and put it back on the case's merits. But he resumed his role only a week later.

Still, with no attorney at the time willing to take the case so close to Nov. 21 trial date, Fisher said, he was left without representation and thus, stayed home.

Barred from defending the merits of its case, Two Canal's appeal will likely focus on what led up its case's dismissal. And that includes the scheduling of trial, Fisher said Thursday.

Chase's Oct. 20 selection of the November trial date is in line with a state law that allows such cases involving public benefit corporations to progress quickly, she has said.

That law, passed in the spring, was created with the Two Canal case in mind. City officials said a tighter timeline was needed to stop baseless lawsuits from delaying important developments.

But Two Canal may take issue with Chase's implementation of that law, Fisher said.

"The appeal would be of SB 447, and the implementation by Judge Chase erroneously. But I've been advised not to talk about it," he said.

In addition to appealing the ruling, Fisher has accused the Davillier firm and Chase of malpractice, and has asked several federal, state and local agencies to look into the whole process.

Two Canal had 10 days from the date of Chase's dismissal to find an attorney and file notice of its intent to appeal. It now has 20 days to petition the state's 4th Circuit Court of Appeal, said Sarah Kalis of the firm now arguing its case.

She said her team was still reviewing the defense it would mount, but offered no further comment.