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Judge rules in favor of Mart over Battle Lake residents
Trib reporter Tim Woods has just informed us that state district Judge Vicki Menard denied the temporary restraining order requested by 19 Battle Lake residents to prevent the city from forcing them off city-owned property.
In her ruling, Menard cited a lack of jurisdiction in the matter.
It’s interesting in that Mart city attorney Roger Gordon told Woods afterward, “There are no winners in this matter.”
The dispute centers around a tract of land near Battle Lake, which lies outside of Mart but is owned by the city. The 19 tenants lease the land from the city but own the homes on the land. The leases hold the tenants responsible when they vacate the land for the cost to remove any structure they built on the property. Some of the tenants have lived there as long as 25 years.
At a city council meeting in January, Mart’s council decided the city would not renew the leases beyond 2008 and would explore options for selling and/or developing the property. The money would be used for improvements to Mart’s infrastructure.
The 19 plaintiffs, represented pro bono by attorneys Rick Bostwick and Ryan Johnson, were claiming that the city of Mart had not negotiated new property leases in good faith.
Here’s the story we had in Thursday’s edition.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: Headlines, Courthouse
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By david
February 1, 2008 12:17 PM | Link to this
If Judge Vicki Menard cited she has “No Jurisdiction”, then the leaseholders should have been informed which court DOES have jurisdiction. There has to be some court that has reponsibility to challenge in court action of city government.
This is just another example of bad law…bad judgement. unfair government action.
“Little” people lose again.
By dave
February 1, 2008 12:20 PM | Link to this
Then what court DOES have jurisidiction in this matter? The legal “Buck” has to stop somewhere.
By Wise Up
February 1, 2008 3:52 PM | Link to this
They BUILT houses on LEASED land. Not a good idea. However I would be angry too if I would have made the mistake of doing that. Time to learn from your mistake and MOVE on.
By John
February 1, 2008 4:14 PM | Link to this
the City of Mart owns the land..they can do what they want with it..people don’t have the option of buying an apartment after they painted and hung pictures..
By Bob
February 4, 2008 11:24 AM | Link to this
These people were told that they had a 99 year lease on the property when they built houses. The City of Mart changed that after the lease was signed.