Court rejects eminent domain amount

Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2006 | 7:28 a.m.

A Clark County District Court jury has determined that North Las Vegas should pay $350,000 to Carol Pappas for land that the city took from her two years ago through eminent domain for a street widening project.

The city initially offered Pappas roughly $45,000 and later upped that offer to $55,200 for 2.1 acres of her property at the southeast corner of Ann Road and Simmons Street to be used as part of a flood control project. But Pappas, through her attorneys, argued that the property's fair market value was about $1 million.

One of her attorneys, Kermitt Waters of Las Vegas, said Pappas may appeal the verdict in a bid to get more money from the city.

"When you get seven times the city's offer you can't say it's a loss, but it's not what it takes to put her back in the position she would have been had the property not been taken," Waters said of Monday's jury verdict.

"It's not fair that she didn't get credit for replacement value, but it's better than what the city tried to do to her."

Las Vegas attorney Gregory Walch, who represented North Las Vegas, said the jury "didn't accept either side wholeheartedly."

Asked if the city would appeal, Walch said: "We haven't had a chance to talk about it."

Pappas has been involved in eminent domain issues before. Her family won a $4.5-million settlement from Las Vegas two years ago in return for downtown land that the city took through eminent domain in 1993 to build the Fremont Street Experience garage.

In the North Las Vegas case, Pappas' attorneys had argued that the Nevada Supreme Court ruled in 1984 that property taken by Clark County for Flamingo Road should have been acquired at fair market value rather than at a value tied to a public works project.

North Las Vegas argued that the 2.1 acres taken from Pappas -- part of a 17.5-acre parcel that she owns -- had limited uses and therefore limited value. If Pappas wanted to develop her property, the city has said, she likely would have needed to dedicate the 2.1 acres to the city for street improvements.

Steve Kanigher can be reached at 259-4075 or at steve@lasvegassun.com.