Countywide
San Diego County on Friday deposited $21.5 million in a court account while the legal wrangle continues over how much the county owes developer Roque de la Fuente II for 525 acres seized for the East Mesa jail site.
State law requires the county to lodge with the court a deposit equal to the land’s value, plus interest. In December, San Diego Superior Court Judge Jeffrey T. Miller cut a $55.6-million jury award and said the land was only worth $22.9 million.
The county took the land from De la Fuente in 1987 under the power of eminent domain. When Miller’s lowered the jury award, De la Fuente appealed to the 4th District Court of Appeal which now has the case.
The jail site is near the U.S.-Mexico border, about 7 miles east of Interstate 805.
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