Sorenti Bros., Inc. v. Commonwealth (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-088-14)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us SJC‑11420 SORENTI BROS., INC. vs. COMMONWEALTH. Barnstable. January 9, 2014. ‑ May 19, 2014. Present: Ireland, C.J., Spina, Cordy, Botsford, Gants, Duffly, & Lenk, JJ. Eminent Domain, Damages, Extent of taking. Damages, Eminent domain. Way, Public: access. Practice, Civil, Eminent domain proceeding, Instructions to jury. Civil action commenced in the Superior Court Department on September 26, 2006. The case was tried before Christopher J. Muse, J. After review by the Appeals Court, the Supreme Judicial Court granted leave to obtain further appellate review. John E. Bowen, Assistant Attorney General (Joseph Callanan, Assistant Attorney General, with him) for the Commonwealth. Nelson G. Apjohn (Robyn Smith Maguire with him) for the plaintiff. BOTSFORD, J. This eminent domain case involves the Sagamore Bridge Flyover Project (flyover project) in Bourne that, among other changes, eliminated the Sagamore traffic rotary (rotary) just north of the bridge. The plaintiff, Sorenti Bros., Inc. (Sorenti), owns parcels of land near the former rotary; it operates a gasoline station on one of them. Sorenti commenced this action in the Superior Court, seeking damages from the Commonwealth on account of the temporary and permanent land takings that the Commonwealth made in connection with the flyover project. At the conclusion of a jury trial, judgment entered awarding Sorenti almost $ 3 million in damages. The Commonwealth appealed, and the Appeals Court, in an unpublished memorandum and order issued pursuant to its rule 1:28, affirmed. Sorenti Bros., Inc. v. Commonwealth, 82 Mass. App. Ct. 1123 (2012). The case is before us on further appellate review. At issue is the applicability of G. L. c. 81, § 7C (§ 7C), to Sorenti’s gasoline station parcel (Shell parcel), and whether the elimination of a portion of Canal Street as part of the flyover project resulted in a substantial, and compensable, impairment of access to that parcel. We conclude that (1) under § 7C, for a property owner to be entitled to damages on account of the construction of a limited access highway, the highway must be constructed in whole or in part over the public way on which the owner’s property directly fronts or abuts; and (2) under G. L. c. 79, § 12 (§ 12), when a partial taking of property has been made, the property owner is entitled to recover damages for loss of access to […]