County pays $30K in legal fees in eminent domain case
“Cumberland County was ordered to pay nearly $31,000 in legal fees last May after a failed legal attempt to gain easement access to a water tower on Renegade Mountain in a condemnation suit.
The county filed the suit in January 2014 in order to condemn and use the water tower via eminent domain for public purposes to construct, operate, maintain, repair, replace and inspect Cumberland County Emergency Management Communication tower mounting its antenna for the county’s P-25 emergency communications radio system under Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA) 5-1-101.
The county commission unanimously approved filing the suit in July 2013. The water tower was not in use and had not been in use for several years. The county previously had its emergency communications radio antenna on the water tower but removed it so the tower could be repaired and painted.
Ultimately, the county lost the case and was ordered to pay the legal fees in the amount of $30,957.08 by Circuit Court Judge Amy T. Hollars in the case of Cumberland County vs. Laurel Hills Condominium Property Owners Association and Moy Toy, LLC, commonly known as Renegade Mountain Resort.
The case, number CCI-2014-CV-5802, and ruling was not discussed in public by the Cumberland County Commission, other than the initial action authorizing county attorney Randal Boston to file the suit. In July 2015 the Cumberland County Finance Department issued the payment via check. “
Nelson, Gary. Crossville Chronicle 29 October 2015.