Source: http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/329/329mass514.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 12:20:17+00:00

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ANNA R. TIGAR vs. MYSTIC RIVER BRIDGE AUTHORITY.
In an assessment of damages for a taking by eminent domain of a lot of land having a vacant building on it, certain testimony by a qualified real estate expert stating the estimated cost of work remaining to be done at the time of the taking to complete a development then in progress of the lot and other land as a commercial refrigeration plant must be construed in the circumstances as a statement of the landowner's estimate of such cost rather than that of the witness himself, and it was error to allow the witness thus to give the opinion of another indirectly.
PETITION, filed in the Superior Court on May 10, 1949.
The case was heard by Buttrick, J., without a jury.
Arthur V. Sullivan, for the respondent, submitted a brief.
Sidney G. Brown, for the petitioner.
WILKINS, J. This is a petition for the assessment of damages under G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 79, for the taking of land [Note 1] of the petitioner at 48-50 Second Street, Chelsea. The respondent made the taking for the construction of the bridge authorized by St. 1946, c. 562. The judge found for the petitioner in the amount of $8,900 with interest. The respondent's exceptions are to the admission in evidence of certain testimony of one Breen, who was called as a witness by the petitioner and qualified as a real estate expert.
the use of occupants of this parcel in common with others on Poplar Street and also of the petitioner as owner of two other parcels at the corner of Second and Walnut streets, which were numbered 43, 45, and 47 Walnut Street and in the rear bounded on the passageway. No part of the Walnut Street parcels was taken, but damages were sought as to them. On the parcel at 48-50 Second Street at the time of the taking there was a vacant three story brick building, nearly all the windows of which had been bricked in by the petitioner, who had caused the petitions and other portions of the interior to be removed. Some work also had been done on the roof of the building at the corner of Walnut Street.
The petitioner's husband testified that he was the treasurer and general manager of Tiger Refrigeration Company of which the petitioner was president, and that the various parcels had been acquired for the purpose of being developed as a single unit for use by that company. One building on Walnut Street was to be remodeled as an administration building and as a show room for its business of commercial refrigeration, and the property at 48-50 Second Street was to be remodeled as a freezer building, the two to be connected by a bridge over the passageway. Some time after 1946, as a result of a conversation in which the chairman of the respondent advised him to do no more work because the property might be taken, the petitioner's husband caused work to be stopped.
The assessed values for the three years prior to the taking were: 48-50 Second Street $3,500, and 43-47 Walnut Street $8,000. The parcels were purchased at three different times.
the investment and five per cent for real estate taxes and four per cent for depreciation on an investment of $37,100 under this test. If the cost of the remaining work was $20,000, the value of the parcel as a whole before the taking by this test was $17,100. Taking into account these two tests, and with general reference to my experience and knowledge of the value of similar structures for similar purposes and other places and for the highest and best uses which in my opinion was its use for the purposes of a concern engaged in the sale of deep-freeze equipment and the storage of deep-freeze products, I came to the conclusion that the fair cash value of the property before the taking was $23,000. The measure of damage resulting in the severance of the Second Street property I estimate to be equivalent to the difference between $23,000 and $3,000; which in my judgment was the value of what remained after the severance of the Second Street parcel."
resorted to." Maynard v. Northampton, 157 Mass. 218, 219.
"But market value is not a universal test, and cases often arise where some other mode of ascertaining value must be resorted to." Beale v. Boston, 166 Mass. 53, 55. Where the property is not commonly bought or sold, to confine the owner to the testimony of witnesses who could testify as to its value by their knowledge of sales of similar property would deprive him of the right to show its true value. In such a case, "it is proper to allow testimony to be given of its value for the special purpose for which it is used . . . by persons who show themselves qualified to testify thereto from knowledge derived from experience in their own business in which they have dealt with similar property. The value of land actually used for manufacturing purposes is an illustration of property of this description . . . [T]he usual rule should be departed from and testimony of this kind admitted only when without it it is impossible to prove the value of the property in question." Cochrane v. Commonwealth, 175 Mass. 299, 302-303. See Conness v. Commonwealth, 184 Mass. 541, 543-544; Assessors of Quincy v. Boston Consolidated Gas Co. 309 Mass. 60, 64-65; Nichols, Eminent Domain (3d ed.) Section 12.32. The burden is on the owner to show that it is impossible to prove the value of the property without dispensing with the usual rule. Sargent v. Merrimac, 196 Mass. 171, 175. Davenport v. County of Franklin, 277 Mass. 89, 93.
it has been held error to permit an owner to testify as to the probable future use of his remaining land. Pinkham v. Chelmsford, 109 Mass. 225, 228. Fairbanks v. Fitchburg, 110 Mass. 224. See Old Silver Beach Corp. v. Falmouth, 266 Mass. 224, 227. Nevertheless the admissibility of testimony to show value for a special purpose may be to some extent a matter in the discretion of the trial judge. Sargent v. Merrimac, 196 Mass. 171, 174. James Millar Co. v. Commonwealth, 251 Mass. 457, 464. Meisel Press Manuf. Co. v. Boston, 272 Mass. 372, 383.
In the case at bar the property, the judge could have found, had been in the course of renovation which was discontinued because of the impending taking. At the time of the taking the building resembled a hollow shell almost completely enclosed on all sides. Obviously, there might be no ready market for it. It could have been found to be something not commonly bought or sold. The intended use of all the petitioner's parcels as a unit was more than a plan for the future, for it could have been found to be a project which was already under way. In so far as the discretion of the trial judge was exercised in favor of admitting testimony of value for a special purpose, we would not be inclined to reverse his ruling.
$20,000 was his own estimate, and he phrased that part of his testimony conditionally, "If the remaining work that had to be done in connection with completing the freezing plant [would] cost $20,000." He could not, however, give the opinion of another in that indirect manner. The engineer or builder who made the estimate should have been produced and qualified as a witness competent to give his own opinion if that was sought to be shown. Cushing v. Nantasket Beach Railroad, 143 Mass. 77, 78-79. Hunt v. Boston, 152 Mass. 168, 171. Greenspan v. County of Norfolk, 264 Mass. 9, 12. See Flaherty's Case, 316 Mass. 719, 723-724.
[Note 1] The petition also was for the taking of a parcel on Williams Street, but that is not material to the bill of exceptions.

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