County to pay in land case

A Las Vegas family stands to receive more than $10 million after an appeals court ruled Tuesday that Clark County took their land in the early 1990s without offering compensation.

Carol and Evelyn Heers, who had stake in property once known as Vacation Village, battled the county for nearly 14 years before Tuesday's ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

While pleased with the court's decision, the family saw it as coming too late; they lost the property to bankruptcy in 1993. "The Heerses lost their dream; that's the way they feel about it," said attorney Paul Ray, who represented the family.

Carol Heers and his brother, Chuck Heers, purchased 25 acres south of Sunset Road on Las Vegas Boulevard in the 1960s. In 1998, the brothers decided to expand Vacation Village to include three seven-story towers.

But in 1990, their plans were derailed by McCarran International Airport's decision to expand its north runway. Because the runway was designed to accommodate larger jetliners, which land at flatter angles than lighter aircraft, height restrictions were placed on the Heers' land below flight paths.

"It left them in a bind because they weren't paid for the taking," Ray said.

Carol Heers, who died during the legal battle, took over the property with his wife and children. But because of the restrictions and the legal wrangling with the county, the Heerses were unable to refinance the property and lost it to bankruptcy.

The land later was bought out of bankruptcy for $17.8 million by investor Shawn Scott, who sold it in 2004 to Centra Properties and Turnberry Associates for $25.5 million.

In 2005, U.S. District Judge Robert Jones ruled that the county took the Heers' land without compensation. Even though the restrictions involved airspace, it limited the Heers' use of the property and their plans to build a hotel-casino.

The Heers' case resembled a lawsuit filed in 2001 by university Regent Steve Sisolak, who was awarded nearly $15 million after his battle with the airport over airspace rights. The appeals court said the same arguments it heard in the Sisolak case applied to the Heers case.

"Although airplanes flying over Sisolak's property are not constantly occupying the airspace in a temporal sense, the invasion is nevertheless permanent because the right to fly through the airspace is preserved by the ordinances and expected to continue to the future," the ruling in the Heers case states.

The appeals court upheld Jones' decision to award the Heers $10,121,687. When interest and fees are added to that figure, Ray said the final amount could exceed $12 million.