Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

Buys submerged land, sues to have it drained

Curious goings-on in North Carolina: Kristin Wallace bought some very wet land as an investment. Eight acres of it, all underneath Lake Lynn. The Cary woman bought the land for $12,500 last year at a public auction of property with delinquent taxes. Now she is suing to try to force the city of Raleigh or […]

Curious goings-on in North Carolina:

Kristin Wallace bought some very wet land as an investment. Eight acres of it, all underneath Lake Lynn.

The Cary woman bought the land for $12,500 last year at a public auction of property with delinquent taxes. Now she is suing to try to force the city of Raleigh or Wake County to buy the soggy land from her or drain it.

“It’s extremely valuable to me,” Wallace said, “dry.”

City and county officials say Wallace, who started investing in real estate less than two years ago, knew the land was lake bottom when she bought it, something she doesn’t dispute.

“It’s bought as is,” said Shelley Eason with the County Attorney’s Office.

(Sarah Ovaska, “Pull the plug on Lake Lynn, suit demands”, Raleigh News & Observer, Dec. 6).

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4 Comments

  • This reminds me of something I remember hearing about as a child years ago, about a guy who bought cheap land near a busy international airport and then sued over airplane noises.

  • OTOH, how could land that’s permanently under water go up for auction for delinquent taxes? It’s valueless, so taxes should be zero.

    • By markm

  • Either this woman is very stupid or very smart.

    • By CSS

  • This looks like it’s shaping up to be the classic no-win situation if she prevails because It’s probably designated as a federally protected “wetland.” Drain it and risk a prison term.