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After a two-week trial in April 2011, a Barnstable Superior Court jury awarded damages of $2,100,000 to the plaintiff landowners in an eminent domain trial resulting from various takings at the former Sagamore Rotary. Nelson Apjohn of Nutter represented the plaintiffs.

The takings were made in October 2004 in connection with the Commonwealth’s construction of the Sagamore Flyover Highway Project. The plaintiffs’ land consisted of approximately seventeen acres just west of the former Sagamore Rotary, which had historically been used in part for residential housing. The plaintiffs presented evidence at trial that the highest and best use of the land was a residential housing development pursuant to G.L. c. 40B, along with a commercial development on the commercially-zoned eastern portion of the property. The Commonwealth contended that the highest and best use of the property was for a nine-lot residential subdivision.

This trial was the fourth eminent domain trial for Nutter arising from the takings made in connection with the Sagamore Flyover Highway Project, including a trial in October 2010 resulting in a verdict of $4,150,000 for the same trial team. According to Lawyers Weekly, that verdict was among the top ten verdicts in Massachusetts in 2010.