Recently the head of the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT), Nicole Majeski, was quoted as saying “we are grateful to all who serve and proud to continue to work to support our military community during their active service and beyond.”
I am an honorably discharged veteran. DelDOT showed its gratitude and support for my military service by using the condemnation process to take a significant part of my homesite without just compensation. This occurred during the Del. 26 widening project.
Almost every aspect of the taking of my property, an ordeal lasting about six years, exhibited corruption, abuse of power and lawlessness, in my opinion.
DelDOT originally demanded that I accept compensation for my property, which was less than half, on a per-square-foot basis, of what it paid for all of the properties near my property, or face condemnation. DelDOT paid about $8.18 per square foot for Lot 22 in the subdivision, while demanding that I accept about $3.44 per square foot for my wooded Lot 1 in the same subdivision. The legal basis for this disparity? There is none, in my opinion.
DelDOT originally demanded that I accept $8,700, and later about $15,000, for the many mature trees (some being 60 feet high) and other landscaping, which DelDOT took and destroyed. A written report by a respected forensic arborist estimated that those trees and other landscaping were worth over $42,000.
Why did DelDOT target me and my property with an unconstitutional abuse of the condemnation process? Because I criticized corruption at DelDOT, the most corrupt state agency which I have ever encountered.
Among my constitutional rights which I allege were violated by DelDOT and its accomplices are: (1) my right to just compensation, (2) my right as a defendant to be heard, (3) my right to a fair (and speedy) trial, (4) my right to due process, (5) my right to equal treatment under the law and (6) my right to freedom of speech.
Every participant in the Soviet-style taking of my property should be under oath in front of a grand jury, in my opinion. Instead, they have probably received payments, bonuses, raises and promotions.
DelDOT spent large sums of tax money in order to deny me just compensation for my property. DelDOT paid over $50,000 in 2016 alone to a what I consider a ruthless law firm. What was the total amount which DelDOT paid to that firm during DelDOT v. Lesko?
DelDOT paid $10,000 to a West Virginia-based appraiser to prepare a second derogatory (and therefore, arguably fraudulent) appraisal of my property. That $10,000 resembled a bribe more than a customary appraisal fee. That appraisal asserted that the trees and other landscaping, in the condemned area of my property, had no value.
Across America, defendants in condemnation cases are traditionally given the widest possible latitude in what they can tell a jury, subject to cross-examination. Over a period of about three years, the judge in DelDOT v. Lesko excluded all, or almost all, of the relevant, compelling and expensive expert evidence — including my written owner opinion of value — which the attorney representing me intended to present to the jury. The excluded evidence included DelDOT’s own appraisals and sale agreements. In a healthy constitutional republic, this judge would be removed from the bench, in my opinion. Instead, he was reappointed and promoted by John Carney.
I challenge Nicole Majeski to either (1) retract her dishonest or ignorant statement about DelDOT’s gratitude to, and support for, veterans or (2) see to it that DelDOT’s unconstitutional taking of my property is fully investigated, exposed, punished, corrected and prevented from happening again.
When Carney leaves office, Delaware will have had about 32 years of one-party rule. That is like asking for corruption, abuse of power and, ultimately, a police state, in my opinion. I would argue that Delaware is well on its way to becoming a police state, but that is a topic for another time.
Lew Lesko
Ocean View
