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Jury finds DPL liable to pay $239K
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Posted on Dec 08 2006
A federal court jury on Thursday found the Department of Public Lands liable to pay a landowner for the taking of his land in Gualo Rai in the early ’90s.
After deliberating for six hours, the jurors reached a finding that DPL, as the successor agency to the defunct Marianas Public Lands Authority, owes Antonio S. Camacho some $239,397.
Camacho’s property was taken on Feb. 28, 1992. The jurors determined that the fair market value of his land during the taking is $95 per square meter.
The jurors found that a 6-percent annual interest rate should be applied to compensate Camacho.
Camacho’s lawyer, Michael Dotts, said they are very pleased with the verdict.
“What the case says is that, if the government doesn’t pay your land compensation, you don’t have to wait for 14 years. You can go to court,” Dotts said.
With the jury’s verdict plus court costs, the lawyer said his client will get over $240,000 from the government.
Camacho filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the NMI in 2005 against DPL and the Department of Public Works over the government’s taking of his Gualo Rai property in 2003.
“The government said, ‘We pay you $71 per square meter. …That works out to $67 per square meter and Camacho said, ‘No, that’s too low.’ So the government said, ‘We’ll pay you $54 square meter and, by the way, about half of your land was taken by the Japanese so we don’t owe you for that,’” Dotts said.
Camacho is now working at a golf course in Seattle. He moved there in 2005 due to the bad economy in the CNMI.
