A Jacksonville business and the bank that held the mortgage to its Little Rock property are suing the city of Little Rock over demolition of a neglected site on Baseline Road.
Shahlla Lone, through her lawyers, said in a lawsuit that the city never notified her or the bank of the impending neglect label and demolition of property at 4413 Baseline Road owned by her business, Lone's RT 92.
Lone's RT 92 and the Bank of Star City filed a joint lawsuit against Little Rock in Pulaski County Circuit Court over the matter on Friday.
Little Rock had Lone's building razed last year. A city spokesman didn't return a request for comment on the lawsuit by the end of the business day Monday.
City ordinance requires certain notifications be sent to property owners alerting them of code violations and their rights to fix up a property before it is put on the neglect list and before the city Board of Directors approves demolition.
According to the lawsuit, those notifications for 4413 Baseline Road were being sent to 14301 Arch St.
The latter address is a former Citgo convenience store development that Lone's business sold in 2014. The lawsuit said she didn't get any of the letters sent by the city to the Arch Street address in 2015.
The address on file for Lone's business with the secretary of state's office is 1605 Loop Road in Jacksonville.
The lawsuit argues that the Bank of Star City also was not notified of the code violations or demolition even though city records indicate the city did a title search on the Baseline property in May of 2015, and that search showed the bank as having interest in the property as the mortgagee.
The bank's "mortgage on the property is now worthless," the lawsuit states. The bank "could have made the necessary repairs to the property had it received notice of the code violations and impending abatement and demolition of structure."
Lone became aware of the demolition in October 2015 after a nearby property owner told her it had happened, the lawsuit said. The city board approved demolition in June of that year, but Lone said she never received notification of that board meeting.
She and the bank claim the city violated their right to due process under the U.S. and Arkansas constitutions by failing to properly notify them.
They are asking a judge to issue a summary judgment ruling that their constitutional rights were violated, and then have the matter proceed to a jury trial where they will ask for damages and attorneys' fees paid.
Metro on 08/02/2016