Questions linger after suit settled
“A Gorham town councilor wants verification that no one working for the town committed a crime in the handling of a 12-year-old eminent-domain case that was recently settled.
The authenticity of a town official’s signature on an eminent-domain document is at the center of a verification effort by Town Councilor Benjamin Hartwell.
“Trust, but verify,” Hartwell said on Tuesday, quoting President Ronald Reagan.
The issue stems from action the town took in 2002, seizing the sparsely populated Phinney Street Extension by eminent domain for use as a public road. The town believed it was a town road and wanted to continue maintaining it.
In April 2012, attorneys filed lawsuits for Paul Smith and his brother, Patrick Smith, and sister-in-law, Susan Smith, who all live on Phinney Street, in Cumberland County Superior Court and named the town of Gorham as defendant. The suit sought to void action by the town in 2002 that seized by eminent domain a portion of Phinney Street Extension that was on the Smiths’ property. The lawsuit claimed the town’s taking was not “justified by any highway purposes” and the taking didn’t comply with required procedures. “
Lowell, RObert. American Journal 26 June 2014.