Daufuskie water utility stuck trying to reclaim its own land, equipment
The Daufuskie Island Utility Co. is stuck trying to reclaim its own land and equipment in a strange, two-year legal battle now headed to the S.C. Court of Appeals.
Reclaiming the small parcel could lead to a big windfall for one Ohio man, who stands to turn his $500 purchase into much more if the courts agree the utility cannot condemn the parcel. That would force the utility to lease the property or buy it back.
The utility lost the small parcel in 2010 when it was auctioned at Beaufort County's delinquent tax sale. Boston-based Guastella Associates, which manages the company, failed to pay property taxes on the land, according to court documents.
The one-third acre is home to the utility's 125,000 gallon water storage tank and other equipment.
Mamdouh Sabry Abdelrahman bought the property for $527 at the sale, and the utility has been in a legal fight since then to get it back.
Last year, the utility filed to condemn the land under eminent domain and offered to pay Abdelrahman $3,700.
Abdelrahman challenged the condemnation in Circuit Court, but in July, Judge J. Ernest Kinard Jr. ruled the company is allowed to exercise eminent domain because it is the island's public water utility, according to court records.
Abdelrahman is appealing that decision. He contends the company already tried unsuccessfully to reclaim the property once through the courts, which should bar it from attempting to condemn the land, according to Beaufort attorney Thomas Holloway, who represents Abdelrahman.
"The rationale in our clearly stated statutes and cases are that people should be free from repeated attacks on their ownership of land and should not have to continually defend their ownership," Holloway said.
The utility first attempted to regain ownership two years ago with a lawsuit filed against the county Treasurer's Office in Circuit Court. The lawsuit alleged the county did not properly notify Guastella Associates that it owed taxes on the property, and that should nullify its sale at the tax auction, according to court documents. The court disagreed, and the case was dismissed in April 2013.
In his July ruling on the condemnation, Kinard dismissed Abdelrahman's claims that the previous lawsuit prevents condemnation because the cases are "so dissimilar," according to court documents.
The legal battle has not interrupted water service on the island. Repeated attempts to reach John Guastella, president of Guastella Associates, were unsuccessful.
Holloway, Abdelrahman's lawyer, said this week that several offers to mediate the dispute have gone unanswered.
Follow reporter Zach Murdock at twitter.com/IPBG_Zach.
Related content:
- Column: Daufuskie Island's 'keepers of the gate' are all going away, Aug. 9, 2014
- BJWSA water, sewer rates to rise next month, June 26, 2014
This story was originally published September 12, 2014 at 12:16 PM with the headline "Daufuskie water utility stuck trying to reclaim its own land, equipment."