A federal judge has significantly narrowed a developer's lawsuit against Minneapolis City Council Member Lisa Goodman and two neighborhood activitists.

Judge Susan Richard Nelson dismissed the allegations against the two Loring Park activists and eliminated one of two allegations against Goodman. Developer Brad Hoyt sued them over their opposition to housing he proposed in the neighborhood in 2004 and 2005.

Nelson said that activists Scott Mayer and Michael Marn are protected a state law that shields people from lawsuits that are intended to chill their public participation, typically brought by developers in development disputes. Dismissing them as defendants also eliminates a conspiracy allegation against Goodman because a conspiracy requires more than one person, Nelson ruled.

Nelson asked for additional briefs from both sides on the request by Goodman's attorneys to dismiss a remaining allegation by Hoyt that his constitutional rights were violated by Goodman.

Hoyt and his Contingental Property Group earlier sued the city in state court over his allegations that Goodman impermissibly organized community and council opposition to his proposal when she was supposed to be acting in a quasi-judicial manner. An appeals court found that Goodman was biased against the proposal and ordered a rehearing by the council of Hoyt's 21-story, 104-unit proposal, but rejected his claims for damages.

The council reheard the matter this and rejected the project again, but had already granted approval last summer for a lower-profile development Hoyt proposed for the same 401 Oak Grove St. site