Hensley v. Commissioner of Transportation

558 A.2d 971, 211 Conn. 173, 1989 Conn. LEXIS 123
CourtSupreme Court of Connecticut
DecidedMay 9, 1989
Docket13586
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 558 A.2d 971 (Hensley v. Commissioner of Transportation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hensley v. Commissioner of Transportation, 558 A.2d 971, 211 Conn. 173, 1989 Conn. LEXIS 123 (Colo. 1989).

Opinion

Arthur H. Healey, J.

In this appeal, the plaintiff challenges the damages that she was awarded in connection with the defendant’s condemnation of her property for highway reconstruction purposes. This appeal from a trial referee’s reassessment of the commissioner of transportation’s original assessment of damages involves three claims of error: (1) that the trial referee erred in failing to view the condemned property; (2) that the trial referee erred in failing to consider the unique characteristics and special use to which the property had been put; and (3) that the trial referee improperly admitted certain evidence. We find no error.

A review of the record reveals the following. The condemned property is located on River Street in the town of Waterford. The property is located just south of Route 156 and is divided into two parcels by River Street, which runs southerly from, and perpendicular to, Route 156. The smaller of the two parcels is approximately .24 acres in size, with 200 feet of frontage on the Niantic River, and the larger parcel, which is located immediately across River Street from the smaller parcel, is approximately .82 acres. Improvements on the property include a mobile home that the [175]*175plaintiff occupied, a storage building, formerly a fish market, that is in fair condition, two small sheds that are in poor condition, and a cooler building that is in fair condition. The property is serviced by two septic systems and has two docks on the Niantic River. According to the plaintiff, the larger property has an unpaved area on which seventy-five to one hundred cars can be parked.

In addition to residing at the condemned property, the plaintiff had operated a head boat fishing business from the location. The trial court specifically found that the plaintiffs property “was being used as the site of a party fishing boat operation.” The plaintiff docked her sixty-five foot vessel, the Black Hawk, at the docks jutting from her property and ran two fishing trips daily from mid-April to October 31. Each trip could accommodate up to seventy-six persons and each patron would spend between $15 and $40 per trip, according to the plaintiff. In 1987, the plaintiff had a net income of approximately $55,000 from this business. The trial referee found that the “highest and best use of the property would be the continuation of the present use.”

The date of the taking was September 25, 1987. At that time, the state paid the plaintiff $416,000, the amount of the department of transportation’s assessment of damages.

In her action for reassessment of the damages before the trial referee, pursuant to General Statutes § lSa-76,1 the plaintiff introduced the testimony of John B. [176]*176Flint, a real estate appraiser. Flint testified that he estimated the value of the property at $695,000 as of the taking date. He arrived at this figure by using a comparable sales analysis to value the land at $624,000, and by using a cost approach analysis to value the improvements at $71,000.

The state’s appraiser, Edgar Russ, testified that the value of the condemned property as of the taking date was $437,000. Russ valued the improvements at $46,500.2 Both appraisers agreed that the highest and best use of the property was its continued use as the base of operations for a head boat fishing business.

After hearing the testimony of the experts and testimony from the plaintiff on May 23,1988, the trial referee issued a memorandum of decision on June 13, [177]*1771988. In that memorandum, the trial referee stated: “From the evidence, the Court concludes that the fair market value of the premises at the time of taking to be $461,000. The plaintiff has been paid $416,000. Judgment may enter for the plaintiff to recover $35,000, the balance of the award, together with interest from September 25,1987, plus costs and expenses as follows: Appraiser, John B. Flint, $3,500.” In a corrected memorandum of decision, the trial referee stated: “From the evidence, the Court concludes that the fair market value of the premises at the time of taking to be $451,000. The plaintiff has been paid $416,000.” Apparently, this corrected memorandum was to correct the discrepancy between the value of the property and balance due under the original memorandum of decision. The plaintiff appealed the trial referee’s decision to the Appellate Court and we transferred the case to this court pursuant to Practice Book § 4023.

I

The plaintiff’s first claim of error is that the trial referee erred in failing to view the condemned property as required by General Statutes § 13a-76. Additionally, the plaintiff claims that she did not waive that requirement. Although we agree with the plaintiff that the viewing requirement is mandatory, we disagree with her contention that she did not waive the requirement.

The only discussion of the view requirement at trial appears on the first transcribed page of the trial proceedings. After the parties stipulated that the taking date was September 25,1987, the trial referee declared, “I do not intend to view the premises, because I’m familiar with the area. I’ve had a number of—,” to which the plaintiff’s counsel interrupted and said, “Well, Your Honor, this is a rather —it’s a business that’s been taken on the river; and my client would like it viewed.” The trial referee responded by saying, [178]*178“Well, I’ll hear the evidence. If I decide that it’s necessary, I’ll see it.” Aside from a comment by the trial referee later that he had not seen the property since the time that there was a fish market there, this exchange is the only discussion during the trial relevant to the plaintiff’s first claim of error.

General Statutes § 13a-76 provides that in a reassessment appeal before a trial referee, the referee “shall view the land.” In the absence of contrary legislative intent, we construe the term “shall” as imposing a mandatory requirement. Hughes v. Bemer, 200 Conn. 400, 402-403, 510 A.2d 992 (1986); see Lo Sacco v. Young, 210 Conn. 503, 507, 555 A.2d 986 (1989); cf. Tramontano v. Dilieto, 192 Conn. 426, 433-34, 472 A.2d 768 (1984). The defendant does not offer, nor have we found, any indication of contrary legislative intent that would require us to construe “shall” other than as mandatory in this case. Our determination that the view requirement under General Statutes § 13a-76 is mandatory, however, does not end our inquiry. Although mandatory, the requirement can be waived. Houston v. Highway Commissioner, 152 Conn. 557, 558, 210 A.2d 176 (1965).3

In general, federal and state constitutional and statutory rights can be waived. See, e.g., Johnson v. Manson, 196 Conn. 309, 324, 493 A.2d 846 (1985), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 1063, 106 S. Ct. 813, 88 L. Ed. 2d 787, reh. denied, 475 U.S. 1061, 106 S. Ct. 1290, 89 L. Ed. 2d 597 (1986); Grecki v. New Britain, 174 Conn. 200, 201-202, 384 A.2d 372 (1978). Waiver is the volun[179]*179tary, knowing and intelligent relinquishment of a right or privilege. See State v. Wilson, 199 Conn. 417, 443, 513 A.2d 620 (1986). “ ‘Waiver does not have to be express, but “may consist of acts or conduct from which waiver may be implied.

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Bluebook (online)
558 A.2d 971, 211 Conn. 173, 1989 Conn. LEXIS 123, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hensley-v-commissioner-of-transportation-conn-1989.