Claim No. 33271 | N.Y. App. Div. | Nov 15, 1957
Claimant appeals from a judgment of the Court of Claims which awarded her the sum of $10,000 for an appropriation of land in the town of Clarkstown, Rockland County, New York, taken in connection with the construction of the State ThruWay system and a highway known as Route 59. Claimant had a restaurant and bar upon the premises which lay east of the Thruway and on the north side of Route 59. The State appropriated two parcels in fee: (1) a triangular piece adjacent to the Thruway, .08 of an acre in size, and this taking left no right of access across it; and (2) a strip of land abutting and extending along Route 59 for a distance of 268 feet in length and about 12% feet wide. Prior to the appropriation the restaurant building was 30 feet from the bounds of Route 59, and the appropriation of the second parcel reduced this area to 19 feet. The easterly 17.75 feet of frontage on Route 59 were not appropriated. Claimant argues that the appropriation of the fee for the strip of land along Route 59 without expressly reserving to her the right of access cut her property from the public highway except for the 17.75 foot frontage which was not taken. Her appraisers testified as to damages upon this assumption without offering alternative opinions as to value. It clearly appears from the record that the land so taken was for the purpose of widening the highway at that point to connect with an overhead bridge to be constructed over the Thruway. Hence the land thus taken was devoted to a highway use and became a part of the highway, and the Court of Claims so held. As such, claimant had a right of access over it in its entirety to every part of her land (Griefer v. County of Sullivan, 246 App. Div. 386, affd. 273 N.Y. 515" court="NY" date_filed="1937-01-26" href="https://app.midpage.ai/document/griefer-v-county-of-sullivan-3582359?utm_source=webapp" opinion_id="3582359">273 N. Y. 515; Robinson v. State of New York, 3 A D 2d 326). The situation in this respect was wholly different from the parcel taken for the Thruway itself over which there was no right of access. The appropriation was made in February, 1954 and in May, 1956 claimant sold the remainder of the property for the sum of $65,000. Several times in the trial the State attempted to introduce evidence of the after sale and finally succeeded in getting the fact in the record from cross-examination of claimant. When asked if the remaining property had any value as a restaurant she answered in the negative, and then the trial court accepted proof of the after salé, and also proof that the purchaser bought the remainder for use as a restaurant. Appellant assigns this ruling as a serious error. While it may be that the manner in which this testimony was elicited was irregular we are of the opinion nevertheless that the evidence was admissible. It seems reasonably clear that the sale was made in good faith and in the ordinary course