You Break It, You Bought It
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| That seems to be the attitude of Landmark America,
the company suing Lenoir City for demolishing the old "A" Street
apartments. After city council voted not to buy the city condemned
apartments, the city moved forward with the demolition of the buildings
leaving much of the demolished material on the site.
True to the predictions of city attorney, Shannon Littleton, Landmark America, owners of the property is suing the city for an undetermined amount of money. In the suit, Landmark claims that by tearing down the building, the city was guilty of seven counts of violations of the law including, the codes officer, Deann Bogus and the housing board failed to follow their own regulations in the condemnation of the building. That Landmark was mislead by the city of it's interest in buying the property. The city trespassed and committed "unlawful taking of property." The suit goes on to state that the city's actions were "accompanied by out rage or other aggravated circumstances." While the city's actions to eliminate what they felt was a problem property within the city may have been the right move, if Landmark's claims are up held by the court the decision may wind up being very costly for the tax payers. The trial is set to go to court in December. |
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