314 Mass. 33 | Mass. | 1943
By St. 1926, c. 375 the defendant commission was established, and was empowered to divert into the Wachusett reservoir the flood waters of the Ware River and its tributaries, and to take lands, water rights and other property in the watersheds of the Ware and Swift rivers. The foregoing statute was supplemented by St. 1927, c. 321, which extended the waters to be diverted into the reservoir,
Both statutes provided (St. 1926, c. 375, § 5; St. 1927, c. 321, § 4) that all takings and all proceedings in relation to or growing out of the same shall conform to G. L. c. 79 except in certain particulars. By St. 1927, c. 321, § 5, provision was made as follows: "Any person or corporation owning at the time of the passage of this act any real estate which is not taken or purchased for the reservoir or the protection of the waters thereof under the provisions of this act situated within the territory comprised in the towns of Dana, Enfield, Greenwich and Prescott or within those portions of the towns of Belchertown, Hardwick, Pelham, Petersham, New Salem, Shutesbury and Ware not more than one mile distant from land required to be purchased or taken in fee under the second paragraph of section four of this act which real estate is decreased in value by the carrying out of the provisions of this act, or any person or corporation owning at the time of the passage of this act an established business on land within territory defined in this paragraph, which business is decreased in value, whether by loss of custom or otherwise, by the carrying out of the provisions of this act shall be entitled to recover damages in the manner hereinafter provided in this section. The commission, however, in its discretion, if it finds that any such person or corporation has an established business located near'to but outside the areas defined in this paragraph which has been actually decreased in value by the carrying out of the provisions of this act and which person or corporation would have been entitled to damages under this section if located within the areas defined in this paragraph, may make such settlement by agreement with such person or corporation as it may deem just, but only upon the filing of a claim therefor within the time hereinafter provided in this section.”
The plaintiffs Connor and Vaughan then brought the present bill' of complaint in this court, on the grounds that their property was appropriated without compensation, and that the statute discriminated against them by making an arbitrary distinction between their land and land situated nearer to the reservoir. A single justice reserved the case for the full court.
The material constitutional provision, apart from the less direct provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad v. Chicago, 166 U. S. 226, is art. 10 of the Declaration of Rights, which provides that “whenever the public exigencies require that the property of any individual should be appropriated to public uses, he shall receive a reasonable compensation therefor.” In Callender v. Marsh, 1 Pick. 418, it was held that there was no right to damages for lowering the grade of a street in front of the plaintiff’s house. It was said (page 430) that the article just quoted “has ever been confined, in judicial application, to the case of property actually taken and appropriated by the government,” and (page 432) that “the location of schoolhouses upon public land may materially diminish the value of an adjoining or opposite dwellinghouse, on account of the crowd and noise which they usually occasion; but it cannot be imagined, that the public are obliged to consult the convenience of the individual so far as to abstain from erecting the schoolhouse, or to pay the owner of the dwellinghouse for its diminished
In accordance with that case, it is settled that an owner whose land is not taken cannot obtain compensation for the incidental injury to that land, or to a business conducted upon it, by a public work, unless the statute so provides. Lincoln v. Commonwealth, 164 Mass. 368, 374. Earle v. Commonwealth, 180 Mass. 579. Sawyer v. Metropolitan Water Board, 178 Mass. 267. Sawyer v. Commonwealth, 182 Mass. 245. Nashua River Paper Co. v. Commonwealth, 184 Mass. 279. Beaman v. Commonwealth, 304 Mass. 443. Richards v. Washington Terminal Co. 233 U. S. 546.
The statute in the present case (St. 1927, c. 321, § 5) provides that the owner of land not taken or purchased situated in Dana, Enfield, Greenwich or Prescott, or in other towns named including New Salem within one mile of land required to be purchased or taken for submerging by the reservoir, which land is decreased in value by the proposed work, or the owner of an established business on land within the same territory which is decreased in value thereby, may recover damages therefor as of right. The plaintiffs Connor and Vaughan contend that the statute is unconstitutional because it discriminates against them by making an arbitrary distinction between their land and land situated nearer to the reservoir. It appears from §§13 and 14 that the corporate existence of Enfield, Greenwich and Prescott was to be terminated. By St. 1938, c. 240 the corporate existence of Dana was terminated. It is a fair inference that substantially all of those towns was to be submerged. Unless damages were to' be given for injury to land not taken, or to business conducted on land not taken, wfithout territorial limits, the line had to be drawn somewhere. The territorial
The second case is a similar bill of complaint brought by Guy L. Marvell, the owner of land in Dana (now annexed to Petersham) on which land he had an established business. Part of bis land was taken, and he has been awarded damages
This plaintiff’s complaint is that the defendant commission determined to take his land as early as October 1, 1926, but did not actually take it until March 24, 1938, with the result that during the interval the value of his land and business was decreased because of the impending submerging of his land. He contends that the failure to provide damages for such loss of value was a violation of art. 10 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. He contends that he suffered a two-fold injury, "first, in limiting him in the beneficial use of his land for many years, and second, in deferring the date as of which compensation was to be determined until the fair market value of his land had substantially diminished.”
By St. 1926, c. 375, § 5, and St. 1927, c. 321, § 4, the takings were made to conform generally to G. L. c. 79, § 12, under which the damages for land taken shall be fixed at the value thereof before the taking. A reference to an earlier form of the statute shows that the words “before the taking” are not limited to the taking of the particular land, but mean "before such laying out, relocation, alteration, widening, grading or discontinuance”; in other words,
The plaintiff Marvell also objects that he will not be compensated for damage resulting from the impairment of his business on the land from 1926 to 1938. That the Legislature intended compensation for such damage is clear. Section 5 of the special act provides such compensation where the land is not taken. Section 6 provides such compensation where the land is taken and the referees determine the damages. Section 4 makes no explicit provision for such compensation where the land is taken. Sections 5 and
Even if no compensation was provided by the statute for business losses, there is no constitutional necessity for compensation for such damages. It is well established that, when property is taken, the owner need not be compensated for the good will of his business and general business losses. Edmands v. Boston, 108 Mass. 535, 549. Williams v. Commonwealth, 168 Mass. 364, 367. Bailey v. Boston & Providence Railroad, 182 Mass. 537, 539. Boston Belting Co. v. Boston, 183 Mass. 254, 259. Nashua River Paper Co. v. Commonwealth, 184 Mass. 279, 281. Allen v. Commonwealth, 188 Mass. 59, 61. Whiting v. Commonwealth, 196 Mass. 468, 470. Bothwell v. United States, 254 U. S. 231, 232. Mitchell v. United States, 267 U. S. 341, 344.
The plaintiff Marvell contends that the delay in taking the land made a denial of compensation for business losses unconstitutional. It may be that there was an unreasonable delay in making the taking, for in 1931 it became reasonably certain that the whole or the greater part of the land of the plaintiff would be within the flow line. But it does not appear that the plaintiff complained of the delay. Courts have granted relief where condemnation proceedings have been unreasonably prolonged and are finally abandoned. Winkelman v. Chicago, 213 Ill. 360. McLaughlin v. Municipality No. Two, 5 La. Ann. 504. Mayor & City Council of Baltimore v. Black, 56 Md. 333. Simpson v. Kansas City, 111 Mo. 237. But if there is no remonstrance or complaint by the condemnee, the public authorities are justified in concluding that no one is being damaged, and cannot be charged with negligence or bad faith in the delay. Black v. Mayor & City Council of Baltimore, 50 Md. 235. Mayor & City Council of Baltimore v. Black, 56 Md. 333. Smith v. Erie Railroad, 134 Ohio St. 135. The use of the land until the taking is effected “is deemed by the law to be sufficient compensation to the owner for the delay in assessing damages.” Mayor & Aldermen of Taunton, petitioners, 290 Mass. 118, 122, 123. In our
In each case a decree is to be entered dismissing the bill.
Ordered accordingly.