Portsmouth appealing bike shop eminent domain case to Supreme Court
“The city is appealing to the New Hampshire Supreme Court regarding a jury verdict ordering it to pay $130,000 to the Papa Wheelies bicycle shop for eminent domain losses related to a water and sewer project.
Following a four-day June trial, a jury determined the city owes Papa Wheelies about $130,000, including costs affiliated with the bike shop filing a lawsuit against the city. The judgment was for taking a pair of temporary easements by eminent domain to install new water and sewer lines, as well as for a permanent easement to operate and perpetually maintain sewer lines running under the private property.
Papa Wheelies’ appraiser valued the pair of easements at $125,000, while the city’s appraiser valued them at $18,500. The state Board of Tax and Land Appeals valued the easements at $27,000, but Superior Court Judge Marguerite Wageling did not allow the jury to see the land board’s estimate.
In a notice dated Aug. 14, Assistant City Attorney Suzanne Woodland notified the state Supreme Court of two questions she’d like the court to answer while taking the case on appeal. Woodland first asks the court to rule whether the land board’s valuation should have been admitted into evidence at trial. She also asks the Supreme Court to rule whether the lower court’s decision to exclude the land board’s valuation “was an unsustainable exercise of discretion.”
Dinan, Elizabeth. Seacoast Online 4 September 2012.