The Stigma Enigma: Doublespeak, Double Standards, Double Standards, Double Dipping and the Double-Sided Nature of Stigma in Toxic Tort Property Damage Claims

摘要

Perhaps no recent concept in real estate appraisal has gained such unquestioned popularity as the term "stigma." Numerous articles have been written in the last fifteen years applying the concept to the negative effects of every conceivable type of environmental conditions. Use of the term arose not out of thin air of from real estate markets, but after the passage of the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) in the 1980s. The very use of the term in an appraisal or published article cannotes some sort of specialized or estoeric knowledge about the impact of environmental conditions on the market value of real estate. The term stigma has been so loosely defined so as to mean anything anyone wants it to mean. One might even say that there is a stigma surrounding the use of the term stigma in toxic tort property cases. As such, stigma has become an enigma.