Oklahoma City Wants $2M Judgment Reversed

The city of Muskogee wants a nearly $2 million judgment to be reversed in a lawsuit that alleges private property was taken unlawfully.

A lawyer for the eastern Oklahoma city filed an appeal Friday after Deary and Esther Vaughn were awarded a $1.95 million judgment, the Muskogee Phoenix reported Sunday.

The Vaughns owned property that the city condemned and demolished in 2005. In 2007, the Vaughns, doing business as Broadway Apartments, filed a lawsuit.

The city failed to object to the commissioners’ report or demand a trial, the Phoenix reported.

Last year, Creek County District Court Judge Douglas W. Golden directed a verdict in favor of the Vaughns. Golden issued the ruling without hearing any testimony, saying that city officials went on the Vaughns’ property and the property was demolished.

City Attorney Roy Tucker said Muskogee is appealing Golden’s verdict in the hopes that a favorable ruling would derail two similar lawsuits that could cost the city at least $1.81 million.

An order filed last month affirmed the $1.95 million verdict in the Vaughns’ case. It also denied the Vaughns’ request for pre-judgment interest.

David E. Anderson, a Miami, Okla., lawyer who represents the Vaughns, said he plans to appeal the judge’s decision to deny pre-judgment interest.

“We will be asking that the interest go back to the time when the city entered upon the property with the intent to demolish the existing structures,” Anderson told the Phoenix. “I feel strongly that if we prevail on the issue of taking, then we will be awarded pre-judgment interest.”