ANDY MEEK - The Daily News -

A few hundred lawsuits targeting the owners of run-down properties are likely to be filed by the city of Memphis not long after 2011 rolls around, according to one estimate of the city’s timetable.

The suits would represent the next wave of a campaign to stamp out blight, for which the city’s legal department has already filed a large batch of suits and enlisted extra help from outside attorneys who specialize in social justice legal work.

But the campaign is about more than sending out a summons and showing up for court hearings. The suits are grounded in the state Neighborhood Preservation Act that provides a legal framework under which blight can be identified and addressed.

Senior Assistant City Attorney Patrick Dandridge said the city could have kicked off the effort by targeting more than 500 properties. Instead, the city selected 138 on the recommendation of code enforcement officials.

Owners of those properties began appearing in General Sessions Civil Court for hearings that began in November to address them.

The city is now in the process of identifying and preparing to take fresh action in early 2011 against a new wave of owners whose properties are believed to present a public nuisance.

“The city’s goal is to change the culture of vacant, neglected property in the community,” said Steve Barlow, an outside counsel hired by the city for the blight campaign. “And to that end, the 138 lawsuits and the lawsuits to come – of which we anticipate there are hundreds more in 2011 – are a step in that direction.

“They’re not intended to solve the problem (completely), but they’ll make a strong statement about the city’s position.”

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. – who promised a sustained fight against blight and that defendants “can run, but you can’t hide” – said the push is off to a strong start.

“More and more over the year ahead, people will see for themselves the benefit this strategy is having to our core city,” said Wharton, who added he couldn’t be more pleased with the work done so far by Barlow and Dandridge.

“The message is being heard loud and clear. If you own property in the city of Memphis, you will maintain that property or you will end up in court. Neglected and blighted houses are a cancerous rot in any neighborhood, and they will absolutely no longer be tolerated in my city.”

Wharton also said he hopes state lawmakers in Nashville do more to advance blight-fighting legislation to give Memphis and Shelby County more arrows in their quiver.

They arguably have a powerful one already in the form of the Neighborhood Preservation Act. Defendants sued under the act are required by a court to present a plan to make derelict properties livable again.

A receiver can be appointed to handle the property if an owner takes no action or cannot be found.

“Once we get notice or service of process on the defendants, we’re asking the court for an order certifying the public nuisance and an order to submit a development plan, usually within 30 days,” Barlow said. “Along with that comes an order barring transfer of the property.

“We knew that this process would take a little time on some of them, but it’s going very well. It’s going as planned so far, and we’re beginning to get a very good result.”

The targets of the lawsuits the city has filed so far run the gamut and are spread out across the city. They included everything from a collection of townhouses east of Memphis International Airport to Southern Funeral Home at 440 Vance Ave.

When the suits were filed, Wharton held up a photo of one of the 138 properties. He said “things like this” shouldn’t be allowed to exist in Memphis.

Tim Bolding, executive director of United Housing Inc., congratulated the effort for several reasons. Among them, he likes the city’s invitation for people to submit addresses of other properties that need to be looked into.