ADDING INSULT TO INJURY
While you are reading about the coming of the Texas Corridor, you may not realize that as of last July the Texas Supreme Court made the condemnation of your property not only easy but it made sure that you will not get a fair price for it. (Hubenak v. San Jacinto Gas Transmission Co.) I recommend you contact all the Legislators you know or have access to and propose changes in the law. If the Legislature does not act on this matter, lawyers get richer and property owners can become much poorer.
I will now describe how your property could be taken and why you may be forced to take a low-ball offer for it. Assume you own property worth $50,000, and you receive a letter from a Company owned by a Spanish Consortium offering you $10,000. According to the Texas Supreme Court, the offer does not have to be either fair, or in good faith or subject to any negotiation. It matters not if they offer you $1,000 or $25,000. If you do not agree to sell you will need to hire an appraiser and have of course a lawyer to represent you before a court to prove what your property is worth. Assuming the appraiser charges you 1% or $500 and the lawyer on a contingency fee basis charges only 25% of what he can get over and above the offer, you will be fortunate. The commissioners appointed by the Court may even agree that your property is worth $50,000, if you are lucky.
The Spanish Consortium will then appeal the verdict and now you will have to pay the lawyers another $10,000 to handle your appeal. Even if you win on appeal you have received $29,500 for your property after paying your lawyer $20,000.
This is the only legal procedure where the defendant has to prove his innocence. The Legislature can stop this atrocity by providing that your cost of proving the value of the property will be added to the final sales price. This will put the onus on the Spanish Consortium to make a fair and timely settlement instead of using the Court system to increase your costs and thus force you to settle for less than the fair value.
And here is the insult added to the injury. As soon as they make you the offer, they can instantly take possession of your property and start their project while you are waiting for the outcome of the condemnation proceedings and your money.
Contact your Legislator and hope he is not an attorney, or a beneficiary of this multi billion-dollar scam.
