Video: Lawsuit Settlement Will Provide Compensation For Business Owner, Private Road

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TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) –  Tupelo City Council members have agreed to settle a lawsuit with a business owner who claims her company lost tens of  thousands of dollars after the main road used by tenants and customers was converted into a dead end.    WCBI’s Allie Martin explains.

Johnny Ross and his crew at Industrial Products Company stay busy providing inventory to several large manufacturers in the area.

Before work was completed on Highway 6,  IPC customers had easy access to the company from South Gloster Street.

“We used to have containers coming in all the time, and we had drivers calling for directions, it was so easy because you just tell them , first right, there we are,”Ross said.

But several years ago, as work progressed on Highway 6,  access to South Green Street from Gloster was cut off.  That meant anyone needing to get to IPC, or other nearby businesses, had to use Shell Street.  The affected properties are owned by JJJ Rentals, which sued the city, claiming the loss of access meant a loss in revenue.

Tupelo City Attorney Ben Logan says a “just compensation settlement”  will pay JJJ Rentals a lump sum of $30 thousand , and a fixed amount each month, until a private road is built for tenants and customers off of South Gloster Street.

That private road will be built, once the Tupelo Lee Humane Society moves to its new location and the facility is demolished. That could happen by the end of 2016.

“We’ve been trying to work this out for about a year now, it’s just one of those problems that you inherit over time, and we want to put those things behind us and move forward,” Logan said.

For Johnny Ross the new access road can’t come soon enough.

“I love it, I had heard rumors awhile back about it, but I just thought it was rumors, but it’s going to help us a lot, it really is,” Ross said.

Now, if the Humane Society takes longer to move into its new facility, the city will pay more to JJJ Rentals.  Still,  attorneys for both sides said the settlement saves money and avoids years of litigation.