DAYTON, Ohio (AP) - A southwest Ohio city sued Tuesday to regain ownership of a property valued at $340,000 that it mistakenly sold for about $635.
Dayton officials filed a lawsuit in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court requesting that the title of a 5-acre plot of land that was mistakenly transferred to Eric Segalewitz in 2012 be returned to the city, the Dayton Daily News reported (https://bit.ly/1FAUsgq ).
Segalewitz said he rightfully owns the property and would sell it back for fair market value.
Assistant city manager Shelley Dickstein said that the city did not intend to sell the former site of the Cliburn Manor housing projects.
Dayton originally bought the Burns Avenue property and a smaller plot across the street using $357,500 in general capital funds and $142,000 in federal money. When Segalewitz later bought the smaller lot for $635, the city failed to separate the two properties, so the 5-acre lot was included in the deed when it was transferred to Segalewitz.
The mistake went unnoticed for years, but about two months ago, Segalewitz learned he owned both lands.
City officials said they asked him to execute a quit deed for the property to be returned to the city, but Segalewitz refused.
“Clearly, whenever you are dealing with human elements, errors and omissions unfortunately are commonplace,” Dickstein said. “The law does provide opportunity for those errors and omissions to be addressed legally- we’ve got a very strong case.”
The court will hopefully rule that the transfer of ownership was invalid, Dickstein said.
Segalewitz’s attorney, R. Jason Howard, said his client and the city are working toward a resolution, and they still might able to do so without a trial.
U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, a Dayton Republican, said last week that the transfer of the property’s deed could constitute a misappropriation of federal dollars.
___
Information from: Dayton Daily News, https://www.daytondailynews.com
Please read our comment policy before commenting.