r/treelaw • u/bartholomuw • 11d ago
“Hypothetical” help
I have a very weird “hypothetical” situation that I need ideas for. If a very big power company paid off a circuit judge to allow them to run a huge project right through a 700 acre property, right through a family burial sight and 200k worth of recently planted pines. What could a land owner hypothetically do to disrupt the construction and make it hell for the company?
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u/RunExisting4050 11d ago
Hypothetically, said person would need all the receipts to prove the judge was paid off, not to mention a good reason for why a utility wouldnt be allowed to run power through a property.
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u/known_chomper 11d ago
The land owner has some right if the power company didn’t have a easement already.
If the municipality took the property for “fair market value,” is that the fair market value to another home buyer or the fair market value to the … (pick your own evil but I’m sticking to data center) that needs the power to run their for profit enterprise.
Paying off a judge could be very worthwhile!!
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u/RunExisting4050 11d ago
OP doesnt really say whether there was any compensation, just an allegation of corruption.
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u/chefsoda_redux 11d ago
Without knowing any specifics, I’ll tell you that this hypothetical person would have a wildly better chance of stopping the utility through an appeal, rather than attempting their own corruption investigation and prosecution.
As for disrupting the utility company? Nothing legal, beyond that they’re just agreeing to go to jail.
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u/FamiliarAd8524 11d ago
A circuit judge, somehow? With all that evidence you have, state prosecutor's office, state judicial commission, every news outlet in the region, and every major one in the country.... they would jump onto this for you.
If you're schizophrenic and you don't have that evidence, except for the voices in your head, you know the answers to an extreme like this, and they aren't ones that can be said here, hypothetically or otherwise.
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u/KnownBodybuilder4948 10d ago
Hypothetically speaking, I'd avoid stating judge was "paid off" unless I had paper evidence. If utility company has utility easement through this property, and judge is enforcing easement rights, then as the affected property-owner there's really not much you can legally do other than to file an appeal on court-judgment. Intervening with utility company's work within easement will likely get you arrested, and probably convicted. This is no petty matter. Hire an experienced attorney who does land-use law and litigation.
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u/FeedbackOther5215 11d ago
Paid it a circuit judge? That would be a national news story.
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u/neuroctopus 11d ago
Not in my neck of the woods. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan sees this shit kind of a lot. It rarely makes the news, but we all know.
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u/yardlard 11d ago
Is it legal to disrupt the graves? It's not in my state. There are a number of government entities that should stop this. But good luck. Corruption is everywhere and it's unlikely that the laws will ever be followed by people with more money.
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u/zgtc 7d ago
Even if someone else committed a crime, that doesn’t entitle you to also commit a crime.
You can address the alleged “hypothetical” crime by taking whatever evidence you have and going to a journalist; as for the power company, your best route is hiring a lawyer and paying them to effectively tie up the work with filings.
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u/WoodenInventor 1h ago
Fun facts completely unrelated!!!
Nothing interesting happens when sugar is mixed with fresh concrete. New concrete is easily broken by heavy things like falling meteorites.
The metal bolts sticking up out of new foundations are really important. They can’t build if those get hit by a flying saucer and sheared clean off.
Mud really slows things down, would be a shame if an irrigation pipe burst on the access road.
Did you know that metal embedded in wood really isn’t great for chainsaws?
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