The Legislature has filed a bill that would allow landowners, whose properties were expropriated by the government for public use, to institute a claim for inverse condemnation or just compensation.
Under the proposed “Government Land Takings Compensation Act of 2015,” any person whose land was expropriated by the government between Aug. 1, 1950 and July 1, 1994 and who has not been compensated by the government may carry out an action for inverse condemnation.
“The Legislature finds that the manner and method of taking land for public easement must be in accordance with the Organic Act of Guam and the laws of Guam,” said Sen. Dennis Rodriguez, Jr., D-Dededo, main author of the proposed legislation.
Without the proper exercise of eminent domain or negotiated transfer, Rodriguez said, these encroachments have placed a heavy burden on citizens seeking redress and “only those who can afford attorney’s fees and professional surveying services have the capacity to confirm that these encroachments have violated the law.”
Any expropriation undertaken after July 1, 1994 in which the government failed to follow the eminent domain provision of the Guam Code, the claimant has five years from the time of such taking to file inverse condemnation proceedings.
The Department of Land Management, the bill proposed, would be tasked to assist any agency requesting information in the investigation of a claim, or in the determination of whether or not any land in its possession has been properly acquired from the private landowner.
The landowner, the senator pointed out, would be notified in writing by the concerned agencies or departments of the right to file a case for inverse condemnation and just compensation by the government.
The Act also sought the creation of a Land Division Court, with the Superior Court exercising jurisdiction, which would hear judicial review and determination of civil actions or matters pertaining, but not limited to, to land taking by inverse condemnation or eminent domain by the government, real property disputes, and land registration proceedings.
All decisions of the Land Division, Rodriguez added, shall be final unless, within 30 days of the rendering of decision, the claimant or government notifies the court of the intent to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court of Guam.
A Land Claims Compensation Fund would also be established, which would be utilized to pay settlement to landowners, whose properties were taken by the government for public purposes.
A sum of $500,000 would be deposited in the Fund, which would be maintained by the Department of Administration./The Junction News Team
