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Last updated on Friday, January 31, 2014
(MITCHELL) - Lawrence County Circuit Court Judge Andrea McCord accepted the city of Mitchell’s request to dismiss a complaint against CTC Corp.
The suit was filed by the city in October to quiet title a portion of land on the city's east side. CTC owned and operated by Bryan and March Curl, of English, purchased the almost 9 acres parcel from the estate of Steve Jones in September.
CTC Corp. installs overhead conveyors, belt conveyors and perform preventative maintenance in factories. The company is located near Contech, south of the Lehigh Cement Co.
The recently purchased tract included two buildings. The plan was for the larger one to be used for fabrication, and the smaller one to be converted into an office area. Also, located on the corner of the property, is a concrete block area used to store the city of Mitchell's salt and sand reserves.
Kelley says the plan was to deed the property where the salt and sand reserves were located back over to the city.
The city, under the belief it had "squatter's rights" to the property, had city Attorney Bryon Steele file a lawsuit to quiet the title on 1.13 acres the city needed to store its reserves.
However the owners were upset when the city filed the claim without discussing the situation with them first. CTC Corp. Assistant Kellie Kelley, who works for CTC contends that if the city had contacted the Curls they would have given the land to the city.
CTC then filed a counter claim against the city wanting costs and attorneys' fees. The counter suit claims that Indiana law Squatter's rights" the person much pay the property tax on the land.
The Curls attorney, John-Paul Isom, of Paoli says municipalities do not pay property tax thus they can't claim squatter's rights. He also state the claim was frivolous, groundless and unreasonable. No date has been set by the court yet to hear the Curls' counter claim.
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