Brown County Magistrate Frank Nardi will preside over the City of Bloomington's lawsuit challenging a state law that halted the city's annexation efforts.
The city and state filed a joint motion in Monroe County court last week requesting Nardi as the special judge after Monroe County Judge Frances Hill disqualified herself from presiding over the case.
Bloomington filed the lawsuit in May after a line in the biennial state budget prevented the city from moving forward with plans to annex about 10,000 acres. The city says it spent at least $770,000 on the proposal before state lawmakers stopped it in its tracks.