A lawsuit filed Nov. 19 in Warren County Circuit Court claims the City of Vicksburg demolished a building at 2232 Grove St. in 2013 without properly notifying its owner.
The suit filed by Raymond attorney Bernard C. Jones on behalf of the building’s owner, Infinity Holdings LLC of Vicksburg, seeks $58,200, the appraised value of the property when Infinity bought it in 2010.
“On May 28, 2013, without any hearing or proper notice and the opportunity to be heard (as required by state law)… the City of Vicksburg wrongfully demolished an apartment building owned by Infinity Holdings LLC located at 2232 Grove St.,” according to the suit.
According to the suit, Infinity bought the property on Sept. 24, 2010, about two months after the building was heavily damaged in a fire. On June 30, 2011, the suit claims, the company was notified by city officials to attend a July hearing on the property, which had been labeled a menace to public health and safety.
The suit claims the company was rehabilitating the property at the time of the letter, and company representatives met with city officials to discuss the work.
“Beginning on or about Aug. 26, 2011, the city sent several letters to plaintiff seeking progress updates regarding repairs and/or threatening demolition,” the suit states.
Citing state law, the suit claims the city had one year after the July 2011 hearing to go on the property if the company did not clean it without another hearing if a notice was posted on the property and at city hall or another public place for seven days. The city, it claims, never exercised that right between July 2011 and July 2012, and the company received no notice of the demolition in August 2013.
“Plaintiff was not afforded adequate or sufficient due process prior to demolition under the United State Constitution and/or the Mississippi Constitution.”