WE STAND CORRECTED: JURY AWARDS TOMPKINS HEIRS $22 MILLION OVER LAND; COURT TO DECIDE TO APPEAL OR SETTLE

By Juan Montoya
A long-simmering dispute between the heirs of John L.Tompkins and Cameron County over use of 225 acres he donated in 1952 “for public park, and parkway and park road purposes" has resulted in a jury verdict requiring the county to pay them approximately a combined $22 million in cash and land.
The case was remanded to the 138th District Court by the 13th Court of Appeals in 2013.
Visiting Judge Federico Hinojosa presiding presided over the trial court case this past week. The jury reached the verdict Friday in his court. The commissioners court will be assessed of its impact on the county this coming Thursday in executive session during their regular meeting  to be held at 8:45 a.m. at the Dancy Building.
The agenda items reads that legal counsel will touch upon "possible settlement of the case, the legal status of the case, recommendations for continued handling, and legal issues pertaining thereto..."  
No county officials would comment on the verdict, but sources close to the court confirmed that is the case.

At dispute was the ownership of the land that comprises a portion of Andy Bowie Park on South Padre Island.
The Tompkins heirs sued the county, County Judge Carlos H. Cascos, and commissioners Sophia Benavides, John Wood, David A. Garza, and Edna Tamayo in their official capacity, alleging various causes of action, and contending that the lease violated an easement that the land be used only “for public park, and parkway and park road” purposes.
An Isla Blanca Park advocacy group contends that at that time former Cameron County Parks Administrator Javier Mendez staged a sham public hearing to facilitate the misuse of the donated property for park purposes only.
In the case remanded by the appeals court, the Tompkins contended that on October 16, 2007, without the the heirs' knowledge, or agreement, Cameron County, as approved by the county judge and the commissioners, entered into a concession agreement with Bharat R. Patel, President d/b/a Affiliated Management Systems. Pursuant to the concession agreement, Cameron County leased to Patel approximately 6.5 acres in Andy Bowie Park, thereby abandoning the alleged Park Purposes easement on the leased property.
The leased property is within the area covered by the alleged Park Purposes Easement. The concession agreement stated that the leased “property shall be used for business...including, but not limited to, hotel amenities and the sale of restaurant-related food items...or any similar forms of
recreation/business facilities or shops normally found in a resort, spa, or Convention Style Development Hotel.”
Later, on March 2009, Cameron County and Affiliated Hospitality LLC entered into ground lease agreements, leasing approximately 6.5 acres in Andy Bowie Park to Affiliated Hospitality LLC. Affiliated Management Systems, Affiliated Hospitality LLC, and Patel thereafter constructed a Hilton franchise hotel on the acreage of Andy Bowie Park leased pursuant to the concession agreement and subsequent ground lease agreements.
The Tompkinses further alleged that Cameron County later sought to lease additional acreage of Andy Bowie Park to a private company, which was to be used as a commercial hotel resort.
They contended that on or about February 11, 2008, Cameron County published a Request for Proposal for Hotel Resort Development on 20.91 acres of Andy Bowie Park. The Request for Proposal stated the “County is interested in the development of a Time Share Resort Hotel” and “may consider a lease for a minimum of an initial 40 year term with an option to extend.”
 In October 2009, Frank A. Tompkins and Carolyn Tompkins sued the county and its officials alleging by their conduct they abandoned the easement to use the land for Park Purposes and that Frank A. Tompkins, as Trustee, is the fee owner of the 6.5 acres leased for the first hotel and the 20.91 acres proposed for the second hotel.
According to the Tompkinses, Frank A. Tompkins presently owns the hotel and proposed-hotel acreage, “including” the acreage which “comprises Andy Bowie Park,”for his benefit and that of the other appellees.
The Tompkinses asserted an inverse-condemnation claim against the County and County Officials under the Texas and United States Constitutions; seek a declaratory judgment that the County abandoned its entire easement because a hotel is not a Park Purpose; seek declaratory judgment that they own the Property in fee simple; and seek to quiet title to the Property based on the County and County Officials’ abandonment of the easement. Cameron County maintains that it is the fee owner of the acreage it leased to the hotel or alternatively that the hotel is a Park Purpose.
Cameron County leased the land to a third party so that a hotel could be built on it.
The appeals court affirmed in part and reversed and remanded in part and sent it back to the 138th where the verdict was reached Friday.
County officials can ask the judge to set aside the jury's verdict and make the decision himself or appeal parts of the verdict.