Department of Transportation v. Roberts
Department of Transportation v. Roberts
070rehearing
On Motion for Rehearing.
By motion for rehearing, the motels cite State Hwy. Bd. v. Baxter, 167 Ga. 124 (144 SE 796) (1928), and MARTA v. Datry, 235 Ga. 568 (220 SE2d 905) (1975), and
As the Baxter case, supra, shows, the easement of access "includes the right of ingress [entry], egress [exit], and regress [reentry], a right of way from a locus a quo to the locus ad quern, and from the latter forth to any other spot to which the party may lawfully go, or back to the locus a quo.” State Hwy. Bd. v. Baxter, supra, p. 133. It has not been shown that the motels’ right of ingress, egress and regress from the locus a quo to the locus ad quern and from there to any other spot or back to the locus a quo, has been taken. The evidence shows that they presently have a usable right of vehicular access by road to their property (cf. MARTA v. Datry, supra, 235 Ga.at 576-577), and from their property to that roadway, but they have not shown that they have a right of direct access under law to any particular type of highway. See Tift County v. Smith, 219 Ga. 68 (131 SE2d 527) (1963). Hence, the motels have not shown that they have a right to injunctive relief. State Hwy. Dept. v. Strickland, supra.
Motion for rehearing denied.
Opinion of the Court
On August 15, 1977, appellees in this case filed companion complaints
On April 2,1976, DOT entered into a public contract with Matthews which provided for removal of both the bridge carrying Ga. 85 over 1-75 and the northbound entrance ramp to 1-75 from the local service road. According to DOT, the purpose of the construction was to make the portion of 1-75 near 1-285 safer by constructing additional north and south lanes and by eliminating a
The motels obtained a temporary restraining order, prohibiting any further changes in the on-ramp, on August 30, 1977. By that date, the bridge at issue had already been removed; there is a dispute between the parties as to whether the ramp had been removed at the time the order issued. On September 22,1977, the Superior Court of Clayton County entered an interlocutory injunction in favor of the motels. The trial court found that "No construction is occurring on the service road contiguous to the properties so as to obstruct access from the service road to the properties; but there is no means of access from the service road to 1-7 5 except by a more circuitous route of approximately 3,000 feet.” The trial court further found that the construction effected a taking of the motels’ easements of access, and that they were entitled to injunctive relief. Thus the court restrained the defendants from doing anything to alter, deny or interfere with the motels’ access to and from 1-75, as it existed on the date the complaints were filed, until such time as DOT should have acquired the motels’ rights of access, and further ordered DOT to either restore the entrance ramp to the condition in which it existed on the date the complaints were filed, or to institute eminent domain proceedings to acquire the motels’ property rights of access
In its appeal, DOT presents twelve enumerations of error. It is only necessary, however, to reach one; that is, DOT asserts that injunctive relief should not have been granted because the motels had an adequate remedy at law in that they could bring án action in inverse condemnation.
We agree that for the motels in this case inverse
Judgment reversed.
The cases were consolidated by the trial court.
E. R. Snell, Contractor, Inc., was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice on September 23, 1977.
I-75 and the service road (formerly U. S. 41) parallel each other, running north and south, with the service road east of 1-75 connected by on and off-ramps. The motels are located on the east side of the service road.
DOT denied that the motels have any such rights subject to condemnation.
In relegating the motels to whatever remedies they may have at law, we express no opinion on the merits of those claims.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION v. ROBERTS Et Al.
- Cited By
- 6 cases
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- Published