Following a $12.8 million jury verdict in favor of 24 plaintiffs, taxpayers of the City of Brotherly Love are on the hook for an aggregate $54.8 million so far -- and still counting -- over the destruction of 61 modestly valued row houses 20 years ago when the city ill-advisedly blew up a house being occupied by members of a radical group, MOVE. The editorialists at the Philadelphia Daily News are crying foul (reg): "it's hard to call it justice when it also serves as a nasty and unfair slap in the face to the 37 residents who accepted the city's offer of $150,000 to move" and now are left looking like suckers for not holding out for a million. "We hope this unfair verdict is overturned. If it isn't, we hope the city appeals. The tragedy of the original MOVE event should not be matched by the tragedy of an unfair ruling."
Philadelphia: MOVE debacle
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Rafael Mangual Project Manager, Legal Policy rmangual@manhattan-institute.org |
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Katherine Lazarski Manhattan Institute klazarski@manhattan-institute.org |