Pappas could still get money in Neonopolis garage case

By Matt Pordum (contact)

Monday, July 19, 2004 | 9:34 a.m.

Although the Pappas family will not get a chance to argue that the fair market value of their property taken by Las Vegas for the Neonopolis parking garage was more than $1.4 million, they could still collect additional money in the contentious and drawn-out eminent domain court battle.

District Judge Mark Denton on Friday ruled that Discovery Commissioner Tom Biggar should decide whether any additional witnesses would be allowed to testify for the Pappas family but made it clear any witnesses would not be allowed to testify that the amount should be higher than $1.4 million. Members of the Pappas family have argued the property is worth $7 million.

Denton made it clear he "wants this case to go to trial," saying even if Biggar rules to allow all or some of the 22 witnesses the Pappas family failed to have deposed before the discovery deadline, none of them could change "what had already been framed in the case."

Biggar, who will hear arguments during the first week of August, will also decide whether or not the Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency can use both of its two appraisers at trial.

The redevelopment agency's appraisers have said the land is worth between $340,000 to $500,000.

The Pappas family's attorney, James Leavitt, argued that if the Pappas family is going to be forced to follow the deadline restrictions for the case, so must the city. Leavitt said the agency missed the cut-off date for exchanging expert reports.

Leavitt also said the fair market appraisal is only one of the four areas the Nevada Supreme Court has ruled as elements of just compensation in a case of eminent domain, and that the Pappases may come out of the case with more than $1.4 million as a result -- perhaps more than $7 million.

The city used eminent domain, the power the government has to force landowners to sell property for public use, to take the Pappas family's property.

The state's high court has ruled that individuals whose property is taken by eminent domain are entitled not just to fair market value but also to lost rent revenue, pre-condemnation damages and pre-judgment assessments.

Leavitt said lost rent represents an appraised amount the property would have brought in for rent since the day it was taken to the present. For example, if it was determined the property could rent for $100,000 a year, the Pappas family could be entitled to $1.1 million because the land case has been going on for 11 years, according to Leavitt.

Pre-condemnation damages refers to the impact taking a property by eminent domain can have on the property owner's current and future tenants. When the city said they were taking the land, they didn't immediately take the property, but the pending action made tenants of the Pappas property leave, causing a loss to the Pappasses, Leavitt said

The final area in which the Pappas family can seek compensation is prejudgment assessments, which could represent interest the Pappases could have made on the original settlement had it been invested.