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NEWS & LETTERS, DECEMBER 2003Memphis homeowner's airport nightmareMemphis, Tenn.--My family moved near the Memphis International Airport in 1976. It was a beautiful neighborhood with a 500-acre park with a golf course across the street. The neighborhood was destroyed by 1990. Now we have no neighbors in sight. There is a seven-foot barbed wire fence erected in 1998, almost surrounding our house. The only egress we have is to the front. There is a huge tracking device for planes less than 2,000 feet from our house. When it's operating it roars loudly and the vibration is awful. In 1976 we were not aware that the Office of Planning and Development had done a study forecasting that the noise exposure around the airport was unacceptable for people living in the area. In 1986 the airport announced a proposed buyout. The property value dropped dramatically. In 1987 a Noise Compatibility Program was set up according to the noise level experienced and the length of time people lived there. The buyout area shrank drastically--by five miles east to west and a smaller amount north to south. A class action suit was filed in 1989 with about 28 named plaintiffs, mostly elderly people. The named plaintiffs were instructed to represent, protect, and report to the other plaintiffs--more than 12,000 homeowners were affected. We asked counsel to add claims for the residents in the buyout area. He refused! We filed a motion to amend the complaint to add inverse condemnation, because they had taken our property without compensation. We also filed a motion asking that the Tennessee Eminent Domain statute be used fairly since they were only condemning some properties, and paying for them, but not all the affected ones. It was discriminatory. Counsel for the plaintiffs eventually refused to represent us and dropped our name from the list of named plaintiffs. The judge ordered us back on. The class action was certified in 1993 and set for trial in 1994. Then the judge announced he was retiring! In 1996 the lead counsel for the plaintiffs was appointed as D.A. for Shelby County. Then we were told by the remaining counsel that the previous lead counsel had taken the escrow money that had been raised by our group. In 1997 we were told that a $22 million settlement had been reached. The group turned that down. The named plaintiffs were then called, one by one, to meet with counsel--all except us. After that meeting they didn't talk about what happened and no more meetings were held. Then the 12,500 homeowners were offered between $325 to $4,200. Plaintiffs were given the option to take the settlement or to opt out and fight on their own. Many objected, including us. We didn't feel the settlement was fair or just. We did not opt out, however, we appealed the settlement and so did some of the others. All appeals were denied except ours. It has been 16 years and we've recently received a Joint Motion from the Class Counsel and the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority to close our case. They wanted us to sign a release and agree never to collect personal or property damages for what was done in the past or will be done in the future. We refused. --Mattie Lindsey |
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