MIAMI -- The trial in a lawsuit to stop a $3 billion redevelopment plan that includes funding for a new baseball stadium for the Florida Marlins will likely last into next week.

Auto magnate Norman Braman is suing to stop the Miami mega-plan that includes money for a new ballpark, a tunnel to the Port of Miami and other projects. Braman testified earlier this week that the mega-plan is "just a shell game to finance a new baseball stadium" that would take money meant for redevelopment in low-income areas.

Braman has said he would dismiss the lawsuit if the issue were put to a referendum for voters to decide.

Court convened Friday morning with the expectation that Judge Jeri Beth Cohen would make some major rulings in the case, but the timetable changed when attorneys for Miami-Dade County and the Marlins announced that some of their witnesses were not available.

"These are the same people that have been coming before this court saying that we're delaying matters," Braman's attorney, Gonzalo Dorta, said in objecting to a request that the defense witnesses be allowed to testify Monday.

Despite the objections of Braman's attorneys, the judge granted the request, possibly prolonging the future of professional baseball in South Florida.

"I've had meetings about the possibility of moving the Marlins to other cities if there is no stadium for the Marlins," team President David Samson testified Thursday.

Under the plan, a 37,000-seat, $525 million stadium with a retractable roof and parking garage would be built on the downtown site formerly occupied by the now-demolished Orange Bowl. The team would also be renamed the Miami Marlins.

Braman, the owner of Braman Motors and former owner of the National Football League's Philadelphia Eagles, filed the lawsuit in January, shortly after approval of the plan late last year.

The Marlins, who won the World Series in 1997 and 2003, had threatened to relocate to another city if a permanent ballpark is not built. They have shared a stadium with the NFL's Miami Dolphins since the franchise began play in 1993.

Team officials hope to begin play in the new stadium in 2011, but the lawsuit could upset that timetable because groundbreaking is currently scheduled for later this year.

The judge dismissed two counts in Braman's lawsuit Thursday.