Hanna v. Massachusetts Turnpike Authority

16 Mass. L. Rptr. 590
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedMay 27, 2003
DocketNo. 974161
StatusPublished

This text of 16 Mass. L. Rptr. 590 (Hanna v. Massachusetts Turnpike Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hanna v. Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, 16 Mass. L. Rptr. 590 (Mass. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

Fabricant, J.

The background of this case appears in HTA Limited Partnership v. Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, 51 Mass.App.Ct. 449 (2001). The Appeals Court there remanded the case for further proceedings on counts alleging that the defendant Authority’s taking of the plaintiffs’ property was made in bad faith, “solely or dominantly” to confer a benefit on the private owners of the so-called “9/90 Development,” rather than for the stated public purpose of a park and ride facility. Id. at 454-55, 457-58. Support for such a claim, the Court noted, could include evidence that the taking authority had departed from its usual practices, or that it had previously considered the site unsuitable, or not considered it, for the stated purpose. Id. at 456. The Court further noted allegations of the complaint that, if proved, would assist the claim, including that the defendant had departed from common procedural safeguards, and that technical studies known to the Authoriiy had shown the site to be unsuitable for the purpose, while the Authority was aware of alternative sites that would have met its goals. Id. The Court cautioned that such allegations, while sufficient to withstand a motion to dismiss, would not suffice at the stage of summary judgment.

That stage has now arrived. After hearing, and having examined the entire record provided in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, the Court concludes that the plaintiffs have no prospect of proving that the sole or dominant purpose of the taking was anything other than the stated public purpose of a park and ride facility. Accordingly, the defendant’s motion for summary judgment will be allowed.

The Court’s review of the record, and consideration of the plaintiffs’ arguments, has been substantially hampered by the plaintiffs’ approach to presenting the facts, a task governed by Superior Court Rule 9A(b)(5). As required by that rule, the defendant has provided a concise statement setting forth in short numbered paragraphs the subsidiary facts that it contends are undisputed. The plaintiffs’ response admits virtually all the facts stated, but goes on in each paragraph to assert a series of qualifications, arguments, and conclusions, with reference to evidentiary material purporting to provide support. This approach does not comply with the rule, either with respect to disputing facts asserted by the moving party or with respect to asserting additional facts. See Dziamba v. Warner & Stackpole LLP, 56 Mass.App.Ct. 397, 398-401 (2002). Nevertheless, the Court has reviewed those of the cited materials that have been provided.1 That review reveals that virtually none of the referenced material supports the proposition for which it is cited.

As to the facts asserted by the defendant, the plaintiffs purport to dispute three. With respect to each of paragraphs 7 and 10, the asserted dispute involves a minor discrepancy in dates, which is resolved in each case by reference to documents provided. As to paragraph 13, the plaintiffs dispute the assertion that the Authority presently intends to expand the park and ride lot on the site to 250 spaces. Among the references provided are none that address the present time, but some that reflect consideration in 1997 of proposals that would have reduced the size of the lot. The defendant’s consideration of such proposals in 1997 sheds light neither on its present intentions nor on its intentions at the time of the taking, which is the issue presented in this case. The record thus presents no genuine dispute of material fact.

What the record shows, in substance, is the following. In the early 1990s, the Authority engaged a consultant to evaluate various approaches to reducing the number of vehicles using the Turnpike during peak traffic hours, so as to meet regulatory requirements under the Clean Air Act. The consultant, after gathering and evaluating data, concluded that a park and ride program would meet the need, and projected demand in the area of interchange 12 at 250 spaces. The plaintiffs’ expert disagrees with the consultant’s methods, and with the conclusions it drew from available data. The Authority, however, accepted those conclusions, and undertook to establish park and ride lots at most turnpike interchanges.

With respect to interchange 12, Authority personnel considered the site and one other potential location, and selected the site. The site had a significant drawback, in that access between the site and the Turnpike was less than direct, but no evidence indicates that the alternative location considered, or any other potential location, was better in this regard, still less that any alternative was better or even equal financially or in other respects. The plaintiffs refused to sell the site to the Authoriiy, expressing only a willingness to consider a lease “on my terms.” The Authority took the site by eminent domain in August of 1994. It did not conduct a public hearing prior to the taking, nor does any evidence indicate any practice of doing so.

Immediately after the taking, the Authority established a park and ride lot for 110 vehicles. The projected 250 users did not materialize, and the lot has been under-utilized since its inception. In 1997, some three years after the taking, a developer proposed to the Authority an arrangement under which part of the lot would be used for access to the adjacent “9/90 Development." The Authoriiy engaged in negotiations over that proposal. No evidence indicates that those negotiations ever culminated in any agreement.

As to the allegations cited by the Appeals Court as potentially supporting the claim, the record reveals a [592]*592lack of supporting evidence. Nothing in the record indicates that the Authority departed from its usual practices or from common procedural safeguards; indeed the evidence is devoid of any basis on which a fact finder could identify any procedures usually employed by the Authority or by other taking authorities in Massachusetts that were not employed in this case. As to the Authority’s consideration of the site, the only evidence is that its staff considered this site, along with one other, from the outset of its planning process for a park and ride lot at interchange 12; nothing suggests that the Authority ever considered the site unsuitable for the purpose, despite recognition of its drawbacks. Nor does any evidence indicate that any technical studies had shown the site to be unsuitable for the purpose. That the plaintiffs expert disagrees with the conclusions reached by the Authority’s consultant does not provide such evidence. The evidence offered fails to support plaintiffs claim that the Authority took the site in bad faith, for any purpose other than that stated, and the Authority is entitled to judgment as a matter of law on the two counts of the second amended complaint that are predicated on that claim, counts I and II.

Count III alleges that the taking was arbitrary and capricious. In the eminent domain context, that allegation means nothing more than that the taking was for a purpose not authorized by law. See Chandler v. County Commissioners of Nantucket County, 437 Mass. 430, 434 (2002). As discussed, the record here establishes otherwise. Moreover, the proper procedural mechanism for raising that allegation would be an action in the nature of certiorari, pursuant to G.L.c. 249, §4, under which the Court would review the record of the administrative action, without ajury, and without receiving evidence outside that record. See id. The plaintiff has not asserted a claim for such review,

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Related

City on Boston v. Talbot
91 N.E. 1014 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1910)
Opinion of the Justices to the Governor & Council
330 Mass. 713 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1953)
Chandler v. County Commissioners
437 Mass. 430 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 2002)
HTA Ltd. Partnership v. Massachusetts Turnpike Authority
747 N.E.2d 707 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2001)
Dziamba v. Warner & Stackpole LLP
778 N.E.2d 927 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 2002)

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Bluebook (online)
16 Mass. L. Rptr. 590, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hanna-v-massachusetts-turnpike-authority-masssuperct-2003.