Lawyers in Louisville traveled to western Kentucky last week to meet with Camp Breckinridge land heirs about how to pay out the $34 million settlement they finally won April 18, 2008. Look for the movie one day.
We’re talking ‘A Civil Action’ meets ‘Ellen Brockovich.’ That kind of blockbuster. Our only hope is that the heirs and the lawyers in this case can now find a way to make everyone involved in this suit happy.
It’s been a long time coming, this settlement. Sixty years after the U.S. government forced landowners in western Kentucky to sell their land so it could be used for the Camp Breckinridge army base, a federal judge took a courageous final step and approved compensation.
The case it absolutely fascinating, if only because of the tenacious fight waged by the Kentucky land heirs. They battled the government in Congress and court, refusing to go away despite efforts by government officials and branches to stall and stymie the compensation effort.
Judge Susan Braden made good on her word to rule on this case. She found that the government benefited to the tune of $127 million on the land “bought” for the army base, but was then re-sold in huge lots to developers, with gas, coal and mineral rights also leased for huge gains. The landowners were able to prove, despite the government’s suppression of evidence, that gas, coal and mineral rights were not theirs to sell or lease.
1 Comment
April 4, 2009 at 11:40 pm
I love it. Even the government ought to know that mineral, gas and coal rights do not come along in a land purchase as a ‘package deal’. More power to the people, and kudo’s to their determination to keep this going and not give up.