Port must pay $10.5M in eminent domain case - Jacksonville Business Journal:

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million to lawyers who defended fromthe authority’s failed attempft to acquire the property through an eminent domain The port plans to appeal the decision on the ground s that the fees should have been determiner in regards to what a “reasonable would be instead of in relation to the amounft of the judgment, said Nancy Rubin, the authority’s In comparison, the authority’ds attorneys were paid about $1.5 million. “Th e reasonableness of the fee is in proportion to the unreasonableness of saidAndrew Brigham, who represented Keystone Coal Co. “Iff Keystone is a check and balance of this type of eminenttdomain exercise, that is a good thing.
” The $61 milliob verdict for the 70 acrezs of industrial waterfront property at the northern terminus of Talleyran d Avenue was nearly four timeds the authority’s appraiser’s opinion of its value. The authority decided not to appealp JudgeRichard Watson’s rejection of a request for a new triao because of the cost and potential environmentalk difficulties tied to the property, said Rick the authority’s executive director.
Brigham said Keystone would be responsible forthe $7 million wortn of environmental cleanup, leaving the owner with only $1 millioj if he took the authority’s “The jury understood that [Tom Scholl] has acquired it for a bargaih price and Jaxport should be responsible to pay market said Brigham. Ferrin said in a news releasw that the order could have a chilling effectf on futureeminent “While currently there are many safeguardsw in place for the protection of private property Jaxport will appeal this decision in hopew of seeking some protection from unreasonable attorne fees for ourselves and the other public agenciezs working diligently to bring jobs and opportunity to the citizens of Ferrin said in a news