City Court Issues Fine In Public Nuisance Case

The saga surrounding the city’s efforts to force the clean-up of a dilapidated building on Cordell’s city square entered a new phase Monday evening. City Judge Jimmy Hines ruled that the building located at 106 South College constituted a public nuisance and issued a fine to the previous owner, with an ongoing fine until the nuisance is properly abated.

The hearing in Cordell city court was the result of a citation issued Aug. 5, 2019, to the building’s previous owner, Craig Holman. Cordell’s city attorney, Johnny Beech argued that Holman, who held title to the building from 2015 until October 2018, was liable under law for the public nuisance created by the lack of care and maintenance of the building. Beech cited Cordell city ordinance 5-3-5: “Every successive owner of property who neglects to abate a continuing nuisance upon or in the use of such property, created by a former owner, is liable therefor in the same manner as the person who created it.”

Beech offered as evidence of ownership a quit claim deed showing title to the property was transferred to Holman from the former owner, Jim Mosier, in 2015. Holman claimed to be unaware that Mosier had filed the deed until he received a citation for the property’s condition in December 2017. He claimed the building had been purchased by his late wife to house her now defunct wireless internet company, in which he claimed to have never had a legal interest.

Beech then presented a check for $15,500, drawn on his late wife’s business account, but written and signed by Holman, for the purchase of the building in 2008. Holman acknowledged writing the check, but claimed he didn’t know what it was for. He said he wrote it because his late wife was unavailable to do so and he did have legal signing authority for the company’s checks.

Holman transferred title to the property in October 2018 to an Indiana woman with whom his late wife, from whom he was estranged, was having a relationship. His late wife, he said, left a will that never went through the probate process, bequeathing the property to the other woman. The will was not presented as evidence. The new owner has reportedly been refusing the mailed citation.

Beech called several witnesses to the stand and entered numerous photos into evidence to show the condition of the property, dating back to the December 2017 citation. He argued the dilapidated condition of the property, coupled with infestations of various species of rodents and insects, creates a public nuisance and health hazard in Cordell.

Holman’s attorney did not challenge the evidence of nuisance. Instead, he focused his defense on the ownership of the buildng.

Beech asked the judge to levy a fine of $16,845, representing $25 per day for 671 days of non-abatement dating back to the December 2017 citation, as well as an ongoing fine of $25 per day that the condition remains unabated.

Judge Hines ruled in the city’s favor, holding that the building’s condition not only constituted a public nuisance, but that Holman’s ownership of the building from 2015 until 2018 made him liable under law. He did not, however, award the full amount requested by Beech.

Hines agreed with the defense that the December 2017 citation had been dismissed by the court based upon testimony last year from the city’s then code enforcement officer, Brian Holden, that the situation had been satisfactorily abated. He dated the continuing fine back to the Aug. 5, 2019, citation and assessed a fine of $1,750, plus $70 for court costs and a continuing fine of $25 per day until the nuisance is abated.

Holman’s attorney argued he was being given an order with which he couldn’t possibly comply, as Holman no longer owns the building. Hines rejected the argument and left the ruling and fine intact.