MUTH'S TRUTHS 06/17/20213

This C.R.A.P. Simply Isn’t Constitutional

By Chuck Muth

I’m no lawyer; nor do I play one on TV…but I can read plain English, including much of what appears in the Nevada Constitution.  For example, take Article 1 (“Declaration of Rights”), Section 22 (“Eminent Domain Proceedings”)…

Section 22-1 clearly states: “Public use shall not include the direct or indirect transfer of any interest in property taken in an eminent domain proceeding from one private party to another private party.”

Yet what the city or North Las Vegas is contemplating abusing its eminent domain powers to seize a performing home loan from one private group of investors and then transferring that home loan to another private group of investors…providing the homeowner can qualify for a new loan.

If not, the homeowner could very well end up homeless!

Section 22-4 clearly states: “In all eminent domain actions, just compensation shall be defined as that sum of money, necessary to place the property owner back in the same position, monetarily, without any governmental offsets, as if the property had never been taken.”

But here’s how this C.R.A.P. (Community Resolution Assistance Program) will work: 

Let’s say a homeowner has an outstanding loan of $300,000.  The government would seize this loan from Investor A and have Investor B pay Investor A, say, $160,000 for it.  Investor B would then try to get the homeowner refinanced for, say, $190,000…pocketing the difference, less a fee to the middle man, Mortgage Resolution Partners, as well as a juicy $10,000 “taste” for the city.

Now… please explain to me how seizing a performing loan valued at $300,000 and compensating the loan owner with just $160,000 places the owner of the original loan “back in the same position, monetarily…as if the property had never been taken”?

One more point: Section 22-7 clearly states: “A property owner shall not be liable to the government for attorney fees or costs in any eminent domain action.”

If North Las Vegas attempts to abuse its eminent domain powers to seize the loans of investors and not compensate them in a manner putting them back in the same position monetarily as if the eminent domain seizure had never occurred, those original investors will rightly sue the city…and the taxpayers of North Las Vegas will have to foot the bill for this foolishness!

Now…please explain to me again why North Las Vegas is considering this C.R.A.P.?