93-year-old tenant wins eminent domain case - Hospital will have to pay five times its original offer if it condemns house
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(Note: What a delight to
have such a winner in this unconstitutional attempt to steal property
rights!)
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February 10, 2006
Julia Lemon stands outside the home she has lived in for 26 years in Albany, Georgia, in August 2005. Joe Bellacomo/AP. http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060210/060210_eminent_domain _hmed_4p.hmedium.jpg � By Elliott Minor [email protected] Associated Press � Albany, Georgia - A jury decided that a Georgia hospital is going to have to pay nearly five times what it offered if it wants to condemn a rental house where a frail, 93-year-old woman has lived for nearly three decades. The jury said Thursday that Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital would have to buy the 60-year-old brick duplex for $200,000�-- it has been appraised at $50,000 to $60,000�-- and give the tenant $51,000 to help her move from her home of 26 years. �It just proves that no one can assume absolute power over someone�s life without having to answer to the legal system,� said attorney Eddy Meeks, who represented the tenant, Julia Lemon, and the home�s owner, Julie Montgomery. Lemon, who walks with a cane, said she wished she could stay in the home. �I lost my husband, a son, my daughter and a granddaughter while I was living here. So I've got a lot of memories, some happy, some sad,� she said as she watched television from an easy chair in a bedroom. � Hospital wants property for day care center � Phoebe, southwest Georgia�s largest hospital, condemned the property last year so that it could expand a child development center for employees� children. Phoebe officials said they may appeal the verdict. Meeks said he may appeal the condemnation, which was approved by a court last year. The jury verdict came a day after Governor Sonny Perdue called for a state constitutional amendment to provide Georgia property owners with more protections from government seizure of their property. He also announced a new bill reforming the state�s eminent domain laws in response to an unpopular U.S. Supreme Court decision that gave governments power to take land for private development. About 40 other states are also re-examining their laws in response to last June�s ruling, which gave officials of New London, Connecticut, the authority to condemn a group of waterfront homes for a private developer. Lemon plans to start looking for a new home and said she might even buy one. �This place is quiet,� she said. �I want a quiet place.� � Copyright 2006, Associated Press. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11280106/ � Tenant,
93, wins Ga. eminent domain case |
