Monday, August 07, 2006

Jury rules in favor of Durham landowner

From The News & Observer (8/5/2006):

The owner of a gas station won a land dispute with the state Transportation Department this week when a jury awarded $995,000 -- 66 times what the state was offering.

Attorneys for Holmes Oil Co., which owns an Exxon station at the corner of N.C. 55 and N.C. 54, argued that when the state Department of Transportation took more than 3,500 square feet for road work, the gas station would be virtually inaccessible to customers.

"They've taken a convenience store and made it inconvenient," said Emmett Haywood, a Raleigh lawyer who represented Holmes Oil along with Durham lawyer Jay Ferguson. "The DOT wants to put on blinders and say they're just paying for what they're taking and not the damages they're causing."

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