Adverse Possession Prescriptive Easement Real Estate
December 23, 2019 by Joel Quick | Leave a Comment
In the second half of this year the Massachusetts Appeals Court decided three cases in which a party claimed adverse possession or prescriptive rights in real estate. In each case the focus was on one particular element of all such claims: actual use of the subject property. And in each case the Appeals Court focused on the […]
Read more »
Tagged
Registered Land
December 12, 2019 by Donald R. Pinto, Jr. | Leave a Comment
The Appeals Court’s decision yesterday in Johnson v. Christ Apostle Church, Mt. Bethel (pdf) is a useful reminder that the Land Court’s jurisdiction over cases affecting title to registered land is exclusive. Johnson involved a dispute between the plaintiff homeowner and a neighboring church over Johnson’s longstanding use of a driveway on the church’s property for […]
Land Use Subdivision
November 8, 2019 by Joel Quick | Leave a Comment
The quality of a property’s frontage on a street or way can define its development potential and therefore its value. The gold standard, which will allow a comfortable check in the ‘frontage’ box in most Massachusetts municipalities, is having the amount of frontage required by the local zoning regulation on a public way. Not every […]
Land Use Zoning
September 23, 2019 by Donald R. Pinto, Jr. | Leave a Comment
In a noteworthy decision today, the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) reaffirmed that the exemption in the state’s Zoning Act, M.G.L. c. 40A, for uses deemed to be “for educational purposes,” is construed very broadly. That exemption, which appears in Section 3 of Chapter 40A and is known as the Dover Amendment, provides in relevant part […]
Easements Urban Renewal
September 20, 2019 by Paula Devereaux | Leave a Comment
In my post last week on Pishev v. City of Somerville (pdf), I mentioned that the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) would be soon deciding another important urban renewal case, Marchese v. Boston Redevelopment Authority. It turns out “soon” was the next day. In its September 13, 2019 decision (pdf) in Marchese, the SJC upheld actions […]
Land Use Urban Renewal
September 12, 2019 by Paula Devereaux | Leave a Comment
In 2012, the City of Somerville, the Somerville Redevelopment Authority (SRA), and the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development approved the Union Square Revitalization Plan (the Plan), an urban renewal plan to be administered by the SRA under M.G.L. c. 121B. A taxpayer group and a landowner (Pishev) appealed the approval of the Plan, […]
August 26, 2019 by Joel Quick | Leave a Comment
Two bills pending at the Massachusetts State House would amend the state Zoning Act, known as Chapter 40A, which governs zoning in every Massachusetts city and town except Boston. The Zoning Act is seldom amended, even though courts and land use lawyers are well aware of its shortcomings. This is no doubt because zoning is […]
Construction Real Estate
March 1, 2019 / March 1, 2019 by Donald R. Pinto, Jr. | Leave a Comment
In a decision of great importance to property owners, developers, architects, engineers, and contractors, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) this morning ruled that the state’s six-year statute of repose, M.G.L. c. 260, § 2B, applies to tort claims based on asbestos exposure and other diseases with long latency periods. The decision is Stearns v. […]
Tree Law
January 31, 2019 / January 31, 2019 by Alexander Pringle | Leave a Comment
Imagine owning your dream house. You have your pool, your barbeque area, your big lawn for the kids to play on. You’ve worked your whole life for this, and now you have it. It’s perfect. Well, except for your neighbor’s overgrown 100-foot tall sugar oak. It’s so massive it blots out the sun. Your yard […]
Zoning
October 24, 2018 by Michelle O'Brien | Leave a Comment
The merger doctrine is alive and well in Massachusetts zoning law. In its recent decision in Kneer v. Zoning Board of Appeals of Norfolk, the Appeals Court examined whether the doctrine applies to property owned by a realty trust where a trustee owns abutting property individually. The Appeals Court disagreed with the way the Land Court […]
