Eminent domain measure in trouble

Erin Neff

Thursday, May 8, 2003 | 10:56 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- An eminent domain measure intended to help homeowners appeared to be headed for trouble this morning at a legislative committee work session.

Assembly Bill 397, sponsored by William Horne, D-Las Vegas, would remove the potential penalty of attorney's fees and costs levied on homeowners who reject an offer of settlement and proceed to trial, regardless of the outcome.

Opposition to the bill came from the Jones-Vargas law firm. That firm represents the Washoe County Airport Authority in an eminent domain case.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, works for the firm and is quick to disclose his partners' lobbying efforts and abstain from votes involving the firm.

Raggio does not sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was expected to take up the bill later today in a work session, but proponents of the measure feared the Republican-controlled committee would kill the bill.

Sen. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, has offered an amendment to allow a party to rely on an appraisal in "good faith" as an attempt to keep the bill alive.

Under the proposed amendment, if a party rejects a government's offer of settlement and proceeds to trial based upon an appraisal, the rejection of the government's offer will be considered "in good faith" for the purposes of deciding whether penalties should be imposed.

During committee testimony on the measure, resident Dona Tucker said she accepted an offer of $34,000 on her property in Las Vegas despite its appraised value of more than $200,000 because she feared being charged the city's legal fees.

Lawyer Michael Chapman opposed the measure saying settlement offers are designed to save governments money by avoiding trial.

The bill must pass the Senate committee by next Friday to stay alive.