Penney v. Commonwealth

53 N.E. 865, 173 Mass. 507, 1899 Mass. LEXIS 1134
CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
DecidedMay 26, 1899
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 53 N.E. 865 (Penney v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Penney v. Commonwealth, 53 N.E. 865, 173 Mass. 507, 1899 Mass. LEXIS 1134 (Mass. 1899).

Opinion

Morton, J.

Under St. 1889, c. 439, as amended by St. 1890, c. 270, the Metropolitan Sewerage Commissioners took an ease[508]*508ment in a strip of land belonging to the petitioner, for the purpose of constructing and maintaining a main sewer. In constructing the sewer they drained the petitioner’s premises and' wells, thereby causing him to lose his crops, and subjecting him to great damage in his business, which was that of a market gardener, and depriving him of the use of the wells for his family and for the purpose of watering his stock. After the sewer was finished the supply of water returned and was as before. The petitioner conveyed the premises to one Richard Penney after the taking, excepting from the conveyance the damages occa-. sioned by the diversion of water during the construction of the sewer. Subsequently, pursuant to a judgment duly entered upon proceedings instituted by Richard Penney, his representatives were paid in full, without objection by the Commonwealth, for what is denominated the easement, though the payment did not include all of the damages. The present petition is by the owner of the premises at the time of the taking. He does not seek to recover for the damages that have already been paid, but limits his claim to those that have not; that is, to the damages occasioned by the diversion of the water.'

The court ruled that the petition could not be maintained, and directed a verdict for the respondent. The question before us is whether this ruling was right.

The statute under which the commissioners took the easement and constructed the sewer provides that the Commonwealth “ shall pay ... all damages that shall be sustained by any person or corporation by reason of ‘ such taking.” St. 1890, c. 270, § 1. The Commonwealth contends that the taking for which it is liable in damages is limited to the acquisition of a title to the land or easement taken, or, what is the same thing, to the value of the land or easement taken, and that, for any other damages caused by the construction and maintenance of the sewer to the remaining premises, the remedy of the petitioner, if he has any, is by an action at law. But the taking involved, not only the acquisition of a title, but the appropriation of the land or easement to the use for which it was taken, and the statute provides that all damages caused by the taking shall be paid for. We do not see, therefore, how the damages to be assessed can be limited only to those arising from the acquisition [509]*509of a title, or how they,can be held to exclude damages to the remaining lands caused by the construction of the sewer. It never has been laid down as a general rule of law, we think, in this Commonwealth, that, when land or an easement in it belonging to the petitioner has been taken, the damages to which he was entitled should be limited to the value of the land or easement, and did not include damages caused to his remaining premises by the construction of the work for which the land or easement was taken. In Rand v. Boston, 164 Mass. 354, no land of the petitioner or easement therein was taken. In Bacon v. Boston, 154 Mass. 100, the statute was a peculiar one, and provided that the city should “ make compensation to the owners for such lands as it shall take under this act,” and was held to include only lands actually taken; and in that case no land of the petitioner was taken. In this case the statute provides that all damages sustained by any person or corporation by reason of the taking shall be paid; and land of the petitioner was actually taken. The difference between those cases and this is evident.

In Lincoln v. Commonwealth, 164 Mass. 368, which was under the same statute as this petition, the jury were ’permitted to include in their assessment damages which would be caused to the remaining land by the construction of the sewer. There is nothing in that case to warrant the view that the damages are limited to the value of the land or easement taken. To the same effect is Taft v. Commonwealth, 158 Mass. 526, in which the same case under a different name was before the court. See further Butchers’ Slaughtering & Melting Association v. Commonwealth, 169 Mass. 103, which also was under the same statute, and Dana v. Boston, 170 Mass. 593.

In Sheldon v. Boston & Albany Railroad, 172 Mass. 180, it was held, under the grade crossing acts, (St. 1890, c. 428, and St. 1891, c. 123,) which provide for the payment of “all damages sustained by any person in his property by the taking of land,” that one whose well had been drained was entitled to recover damages therefor, though his land had not been taken. A fortiori would he have been entitled to recover such damages if a part of his land had been taken.

It is not necessary to consider the cases in which or the stat[510]*510utes under which recovery has been allowed for damages to the remaining land, or in which recovery has been allowed for damages when no land was taken. There have been many such cases. The last expression of the views of the court is to be found in Sheldon v. Boston & Albany Railroad, ubi supra. It never has been the rule in this Commonwealth tliat only such damages can be recovered in cases like this as there would have been a right of action for at common law, and we think that under the statutes which authorized this taking it was the plain intent of the Legislature that all damages sustained by a person or corporation by the taking of his land and the construction of a sewer therein should be paid for. In theory such damages should be paid for at the time when the land was taken and devoted to the public use, and the owner would be entitled to compensation for all such direct and peculiar damages to his remaining land as reasonably might be anticipated to occur in consequence of the taking and of the construction of the sewer. In practice payment is not made then; but the fact that it is not does not alter the rule, or entitle the owner to maintain an action at law for damages to his remaining land arising in the course of the work for which the land was taken. He is bound at his peril to anticipate all such damages as may arise and are incident to the taking of the land and the construction of the work.

The respondent relies upon the cases of Chelsea Dye House & Laundry Co. v. Commonwealth, 164 Mass. 350, Cabot v. Kingman, 166 Mass. 403, and Magee Furnace Co. v. Commonwealth, 166 Mass. 480. But in each of these cases the sewer was constructed in a public street. It did not appear in either case that the fee" of the street was in the petitioner, and, as the court said in Cabot v. Kingman, it was in effect decided in the Chelsea Dye House case that, if the petitioner owned the fee, “ no additional servitude was imposed upon the land under the highway,” and “no right of any sort was taken in the petitioner’s land.” The cases are therefore quite different from the one before us.

The respondent further contends that the damages were temporary, and therefore not recoverable. It is possible that there may seem to be some excuse for this view in Lincoln v. Common[511]*511wealth, 164 Mass. 1, 10, and in Chelsea Dye House & Laundry Co. v. Commonwealth, ubi supra. But in Lincoln v. Commonwealth,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
53 N.E. 865, 173 Mass. 507, 1899 Mass. LEXIS 1134, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/penney-v-commonwealth-mass-1899.