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Nov 21, 2008 6:28 pm US/Central
City To Pay Big After Cowboys Stadium Settlement
Arlington Homeowners Settle Eminent Domain Case
ARLINGTON (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
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A crane accident left workers injured at the still-under-construction Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington, Texas, on June 12, 2008.
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A handful of people who owned homes where Cowboys Stadium now stands threatened a long legal battle over eminent domain.
What they wound up with is a cash settlement worth six times what they were first offered for their homes.
People in the neighborhood across Collins Street from the stadium are taking notice as they worry about future buyouts.
"This neighborhood has really changed in the last ten years compared to what it was," said homeowner Bill York. "It's really upgraded. And now this turns right around and really degrades it," he said, looking at the stadium looming over his neighborhood.
York and his neighbors have watched with worry as the stadium projects have dominated into their neighborhood. First the stadium, then property bought up across the street. Those homes now stand empty, waiting to be bulldozed for a parking lot.
York fears his street is next. But he sees hope in a money battle from one of the first areas bought out.
"We had a widow who lived in one of those houses," said attorney Glenn Sodd, speaking about the homeowners he represented against the City of Arlington. "Just good old, salt of the earth Americans who make the world go round you know? All of them working people."
Sodd represented thirteen people who's 15 houses once stood in the footprint of Cowboys Stadium. Those homeowners rejected a million-dollar deal that would have meant about $68,000 per home.
Faced with threats of legal action stalling the Cowboys opening day, Arlington gave the homeowners a $5.8 million payout. It took three years, but now each property earned its owner $387,000.
"David can win in the Goliath fight," Sodd said. "He did in the first one and he did in this one."
"If they come over here and say, 'We're offering you fifty or sixty thousand dollars for your house?' No," said York. "I'd be right there knocking on the door of the same lawyer saying, 'Hey, let's fight this thing.'"
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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