Lawsuit filed to keep confederate statue in Louisville

A Louisville man is seeking a federal injunction to stop the city's controversial Confederate monument from being moved to Brandenburg, Ky.

On Friday afternoon, Brennan James Callan filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky seeking an immediate restraining order to prevent the statue's removal, which was supposed to begin Saturday morning. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and former University of Louisville President James Ramsey are among the 17 defendants named in the suit.

In the lawsuit, Callan claims Louisville metro government does not own the memorial and that Kentucky legislature says only the state treasurer has the authority to claim the monument. State treasurer Allison Ball is named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Callan also claimed that the non-profit University of Louisville Foundation, which is slated to spend at least $350,000 to move the monument to Brandenburg, cannot legally pay for the removal.

Fischer's spokesman, Chris Poynter, said the mayor's office is aware of the lawsuit but will continue with removal of the monument.

"We have no information that the injunction was actually granted, so we are planning to move ahead as scheduled," Poynter said.

Poynter also disputed Callan's claim that Louisville metro government does not own the monument.

"I think it's pretty clear the city owns it," Poynter said, "but we haven't really looked into it other than that it's been filed."

The 121-year-old monument was given to Louisville by the Kentucky Women’s Confederate Monument Association in 1895 to commemorate the Kentuckians who fought and died for the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Speaking to the Courier-Journal, Callan said he believes removing the statue would be an act of discrimination against veterans and an affront to the city's history.

"That's what ISIS is doing, tearing down monuments so they can forget history and say what they want to say," Callan said Friday night.

Callan's business card lists him as the founder of the Kentuckiana Cinematography Club. In 1999, he was convicted of partly sinking of the Belle of Louisville steamboat.

►SEE ALSO: Louisville's controversial Confederate monument moving to Brandenburg 

►SEE ALSO: It will cost $400k to move Confederate memorial 

This story will be updated.