Man Wants Back Property NYC Took From His Family In 1967

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- There is a property battle that has been brewing in the Bronx for some time.

A man is fighting to get back a piece of land that he claims belongs to his family.

He says the city took the land five decades ago saying it wants to extend a road, but all these years later nothing has changed, CBS2's Mary Calvi reported Monday.

Fred Filomio fixes what's broken on trucks in the Bronx. For decades, one problem has lingered, unfixed.

You see, back in 1967, when he was entering military service, the city of New York, using eminent domain, took part of his family's property.

"When my uncle Freddie came back from World War II, they bought the whole block," Filomio said.

A 13,000-square foot piece that sits up 22 feet above street level is a small part of a larger piece of property on Boston Road in the Bronx for his family's trucking business. Back those 50 years ago, the city said it had to have the property in order to widen a street adjacent to it.

"They haven't used one square foot of the property," Filomio said, adding it looks the same as it did five decades ago.

In 50 years, the city has literally done nothing with the property. Filomio even uses it to park his trucks. His lawyer, Richard Apat, has filed suit.

"We feel showing number one it was an excess taking. Number two, it's now being held as a proprietary. Number three, that we have been in possession we should get it back. But even with that, Fred is a reasonable person. If the city will talk to us and say let's work something out, he'll pay them some money, he'll start paying taxes and that's why I say I think it's win-win," Apat said.

The city responded to CBS2's numerous requests for comment, with only the following from a spokesperson: "The property involved in this ongoing litigation is not subject to a claim of adverse possession, as a matter of law. We have no further comment while this litigation is pending."

Professor David Reiss teaches students about eminent domain at Brooklyn Law School. He said he believes this one, like most others, is a difficult one to win.

"It looks like they have a tough row to hoe," Reiss said. "Once the government takes ownership of the property, generally it's theirs."

Filomio said he is willing to even buy the property back, if necessary. There was no comment from the city on that, either.

"It's the property they took from my family since then and we want it back," Filomio said.

He said he hopes the courts will help him fix what for decades has sat broken.