AGO tenders $40K offer against $3-7M land claim

Attorney general Pamela Brown has offered to settle a land compensation claim by a woman being represented by House Rep. Claudio Norita, in connection with the government’s taking of private land that now forms part of Middle Road in Tanapag.

Although Brown’s office disputes the amount being asked by Julia Kotomar Norita, she said the government is willing to pay the latter immediately roughly $40,000, which is 80 percent of the amount the AGO believes as just compensation.

Norita’s claim range from about $3.5 million to $7 million, based on two different appraisals.

The lawmaker, acting as Julia Norita’s attorney-in-fact, also notified the court of another land compensation claim for a Middle Road land taken by the government, which the court has not touched. The congressman’s lawyer, Brien Sers Nicholas, noted that the court allowed the settlement of that $4.7 million land compensation claim to proceed in the regular course. The Marianas Public Lands Authority and the estate of Rita Kaipat reached that settlement.

Brown, through assistant attorney general Alan Barak, said the valuation for the 3,589-sqm property of Julia Norita should be based on the market value of the land when it was taken on March 24, 1976. An appraisal report that based the taking of land on that date pegged the value of the property at $18,000. The claim, however, would reach over $49,320 due to interests.

The Noritas contend that the land taking should date from Nov. 17, 1989, when the governor officially notified them of the taking. While the appraisal reports they have submitted to the court pegged the value of land at $337 and $550 per sqm, the lawmaker noted that the Kaipat settlement pegged the value of the land at $583.73.

Based on the settlement offer by the Attorney General’s Office, the government would immediately pay Julia Norita 80 percent of the 1976 value, or roughly $40,000. The AGO noted that the money could be used for medical costs as claimed by Norita.

“This amount will serve as a setoff to any final judgment amount in this case, or other payment which [Julia Norita] receives from the government, including MPLA, for the taking,” Barak stated in a court document.

The AGO wants separate appraisals to address the disputed dates of land taking and an independent Guam firm to conduct them. It also wants the parties to split the costs of the appraisals.