After the city won the case in July 2000, Lundgren's attorneys appealed. But now the case is coming back from the U.S. District Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit to the court of U.S. District Judge John Sedwick in Anchorage. Sedwick is the judge who initially awarded Wasilla title to the property. Jacobus was Wasilla's attorney when the case was filed, and although he is no longer contracted as city attorney, he continues to represent Wasilla in the lawsuit against Lundgren and TNC.
"Don't accelerate [the project] or delay it, because of these alleged legal issues that Lundgren is raising," Jacobus told the council Monday.
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Jacobus gave two reasons for staying the course at Monday's meeting: First he said the city won't likely lose, but even if they do, Jacobus said the city can take the property by condemnation. Jacobus told the council he would argue that the two properties were purchased in separate deals so right-of-way issues brought up by Lundgren's attorney would be moot in the case of the parcel where the sports arena will be built.
"It's my opinion that the city is going to win again with respect to tract D," Jacobus said.
Lundgren's attorney Jim Gorski said he is preparing to argue that Wasilla's purchase of the two tracts was one land deal and that Judge Sedwick should declare it void.
"Our argument is that the two are intertwined together," Gorski said. "There's one contract, not two."
Gorski also said he and his client "aggressively disagree" with many of the points in an opinion column from Wasilla mayor Sarah Palin which was published in the July 16 issue of the Frontiersman.
"I stand by my statements. We are back to where we were more than two years ago," Gorski said.
On the subject of condemnation, Jacobus told the council there was a potential solution that could be used even after the sports complex and associated street and utility projects were complete. Jacobus didn't go into detail, but he was talking about a practice called inverse condemnation.
Condemnation is the practice of taking private property for public use by a government or a public utility. The private owner is paid market value for the property, although market value is sometimes negotiated or even argued in court. Inverse condemnation is a legal practice where the property owner may claim damages for loss of value when the proposed condemnation hasn't been instituted by the government or other condemning body.
According to Jacobus, city leaders shouldn't worry that the construction project will add value to the property only to pay more after an inverse condemnation is completed.
"When you value a property for condemnation you value it without taking into account the public facility that's being built," Jacobus said. " ... I just have to go forward with knocking down all of Lundgren's roadblocks."
Comments
25 comment(s)anita wrote on Mar 7, 2009 4:08 PM:
you have the right to judge? u must not have a life, or anyone in your family who have had altercations in their youth that made them grow up, and furthermore, the thing that matters, is, if they turn out to be useful good members of society, right? are u perfect? exactly! "
Gerry Ardo wrote on Nov 15, 2008 1:59 PM:
jill wrote on Nov 5, 2008 6:15 AM:
LMAO wrote on Oct 28, 2008 9:04 PM:
The Truth wrote on Oct 5, 2008 11:48 AM:
Michigan Lady wrote on Oct 5, 2008 8:48 AM:
Michiganvoter wrote on Oct 1, 2008 5:53 PM:
Marci Bereu wrote on Sep 24, 2008 3:25 PM:
The report is true, including going into the army to avoid jail. I'm sure strings can be pulled for kids of VIP parents. "
Steve McAdam wrote on Sep 16, 2008 4:19 PM:
California Gal wrote on Sep 16, 2008 3:23 PM:
Doug Polcin wrote on Sep 14, 2008 9:49 AM:
Will wrote on Sep 13, 2008 6:31 PM:
Log Dog wrote on Sep 11, 2008 2:27 PM:
Fran wrote on Sep 11, 2008 12:32 PM:
DEMSWRONG wrote on Sep 10, 2008 4:15 PM:
Rock Roll wrote on Sep 9, 2008 9:42 AM:
wes wrote on Sep 8, 2008 8:08 AM:
Jay wrote on Sep 6, 2008 4:58 PM:
Sue wrote on Sep 6, 2008 1:14 AM:
Foobar wrote on Sep 5, 2008 2:59 PM:
The entire Palin family is like a well-dressed episode of Jerry Springer. "
MrUniteUs wrote on Sep 5, 2008 5:31 AM:
Was Sarah Palin's son "Track Palin" arrested for vandalism ... Most recently there is discussion that Track Palin, then 16, was one of the 3 boys arrested for vandalizing 44 Mat-Su school buses - an incident that forced ...
answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080904193702AAGlSCL - "
aklocal wrote on Sep 2, 2008 8:07 PM:
Destyne Pope wrote on Feb 12, 2008 4:20 AM:
vacation wrote on Jan 30, 2008 12:39 PM:
Thank you! "
Nyakeh Sam Suale wrote on Nov 14, 2007 10:59 AM: