Gilbert v. State

25 Misc. 3d 552, 889 N.Y.S.2d 820
CourtNew York Court of Claims
DecidedJune 16, 2009
DocketClaim No. 107457
StatusPublished

This text of 25 Misc. 3d 552 (Gilbert v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gilbert v. State, 25 Misc. 3d 552, 889 N.Y.S.2d 820 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2009).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Philip J. Patti, J.

Claimant Joyce I. Gilbert was the owner of property located in the Town of Irondequoit by virtue of a deed dated December 28, 1984 and recorded in the Monroe County Clerk’s Office on February 5, 1985 in Liber 6659 at page 3 (exhibit 1). It consisted of five separate parcels on 6.989± acres, one of which was improved with a two-family structure having approximately 130 feet of frontage on Thomas Avenue on the east. It was bounded on the west by lands owned by the City of Rochester, on the north by lands owned by her husband Alfred Gilbert as well as lands of the defendant comprising the right-of-way for the Stutson Street Bridge, and on the south and east by lands formerly owned by the New York Central Railroad and others whose properties also fronted on Thomas Avenue (exhibit 4). A portion of her property was taken in fee pursuant to section 30 of the Highway Law and the Eminent Domain Procedure Law of the State of New York and is described in the taking map as “Stutson Street, B.I.N. 3317120 Over the Genesee River, Map No. 15, Parcel No. 15” and filed in the Monroe County Clerk’s Office on February 9, 2000. The defendant acquired in fee 1.83+ acres of claimant’s property along its northerly side and included all of the subject’s frontage property on Thomas Avenue (130+ feet) and westerly to the lands of the City of Rochester (exhibit 4). The foregoing date was stipulated by the parties as the date of acquisition. I adopt the description of the appropriated property as set forth on the aforesaid filed map. The court has viewed the property (Court of Claims Act § 12 [4]).

By way of background, claimant was the sole owner of the property described in the above-referenced deed, and she stated that she acquired it with her own funds. It abutted property owned by her husband Alfred to the north to whom she leased the property for $20,000 per year. According to claimant, he also paid the taxes as well as some other expenses. Through Voyager [554]*554Boat Sales, Inc., a corporation wholly owned by Mr. Gilbert,1 he used the unimproved portion of claimant’s property for the storage of boats. Prior to the taking, Mr. Gilbert was able to access this acreage used for storage of boats from Thomas Avenue by use of a road that ran along the northerly portion of the improved portion of claimant’s property, as well as the property of Mr. Gilbert/Voyager as shown on exhibit 5. The red line on exhibit 5 designates the westerly boundary of claimant’s property prior to the taking; the designation “A” on the exhibit represents claimant’s property, while the “B” generally is Mr. Gilbert’s property. The red “R” on the exhibit shows the location of the road on the north side of the improved portion of claimant’s property which provided access to and from Thomas Avenue to the unimproved portion of claimant’s property. This is the area that was acquired by the defendant. It is noted that the Gilberts’ properties were accessible under one or more of the spans of the Stutson Street Bridge, as well as over lands leased on an annual basis by the City of Rochester to Alfred Gilbert/Voyager.

The appropriation in fee of 1.83+ acres involved the entire north end of the claimant’s property consisting of the two-family home and her entire frontage on Thomas Avenue; the road providing access from Thomas Avenue to claimant’s property to the west and south, as well as her homestead and the Alfred Gilbert/Voyager property. The remainder, consisting of 5.159+ acres of vacant land, is bounded by the City of Rochester to the west; the New York Central Railroad to the south; by private residences as well as lands owned by Alfred Gilbert and Joseph Bettinger as tenants in common, all with frontage on Thomas Avenue to the east; and on the north by the property taken by the defendant. As stipulated to by the defendant at trial (transcript at 121), the remainder has no access to Thomas Avenue. It is claimant’s contention that her remaining property is in fact landlocked and she has incurred significant consequential damages.

The defendant, while acknowledging that claimant’s remainder has no access to Thomas Avenue after the taking, maintains that it is not landlocked. It argues that prior to the taking, despite the fact that claimant owned the subject property separately from her husband and purchased it with her own [555]*555funds, there existed a “unity of use” between the two. As a result, it argues that claimant still has access over lands of her husband on the north to a roadway designated as Marina Drive, as well as access to Thomas Avenue on the east over lands co-owned by her husband and Bettinger.

In support of its contention, the defendant points out that claimant produced no written lease between her and Gilbert/ Voyager. It further argues that with respect to the income tax summaries produced for Voyager by Mr. Gilbert, he testified that the summaries did not show payment to claimant for rental of her land and that the only documentation he would have showing these payments would be the canceled checks over the years, which he did not have time to produce because of the number of checks involved (transcript at 155-159).

The defendant also argues that in 1988, and again in 1993, claimant and her husband and Voyager entered into mortgage consolidation and extension agreements covering her property as well as that of Voyager, guaranteeing payment of certain indebtedness owed by the parties to a Fred B. Kravetz and pledging their respective properties as security (exhibits B, C). It contends that, taken together, this proves that there was a unity of use between the properties separately owned by Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert.

Initially, I must address the issue as framed by the defendant as it pertains to unity of interest. It is well settled that there is a three-pronged test to establish unity between separate parcels: (1) unity of ownership, which is not the case here; (2) contiguity, which does exist here; and (3) unity of use (4A Nichols, Eminent Domain § 14B.03 [1] [3d ed]). The proof before me shows that the subject property supported the business of Voyager by providing a storage area for its boats as well as those of its customers. In addition, when called upon, claimant, her husband and Voyager pledged their properties as security for loans made in conjunction with the business of Mr. Gilbert and Voyager, as well as the loan made to claimant for the purchase of the subject property. Further, prior to the appropriation, the properties shared a contiguity facilitating accessibility from Alfred’s property to that of claimant in connection with the business of Voyager. While claimant and Mr. Gilbert both testified that she leased the subject property to Gilbert/Voyager, there is no written lease between the parties. Also, the marked tax summaries produced by Mr. Gilbert do not show a rental business expense. Although the defendant maintains that access [556]*556to the subject’s vacant portion was never gained by use of the road from Thomas Avenue but rather over Voyager’s property, that assertion was sharply contradicted by the testimony of claimant and her husband.

While some of claimant’s testimony is confusing as it relates to this issue, the record demonstrates that this road was used by Voyager and its customers, as well as others, to gain access to their boats. That is not to suggest that this was the sole means of access, since it is clear that access could be gained over the property of Mr. Gilbert and the City of Rochester prior to the appropriation.

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Bluebook (online)
25 Misc. 3d 552, 889 N.Y.S.2d 820, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gilbert-v-state-nyclaimsct-2009.