HODGMAN v. CONCORD, 69 N.H. 349 (1898)

41 A. 287

HODGMAN v. CONCORD.

Supreme Court of New Hampshire Merrimack.
Decided June, 1898.

Where injury is occasioned to an adjoining estate by a change of the grade of a highway, the owner’s right of action is complete when such change is made, and is not affected by his conveyance of the premises prior to the filing of a petition for the assessment of damages.

PETITION, under P.S., c. 73, ss. 24, 25, for the assessment of damages caused by a change of the grade of a highway. Facts found by the court. The plaintiff owned the premises at the time the grade was changed, but conveyed them without reservation to a third party before the petition was filed. The court referred the petition to the county commissioners, and the defendants excepted.

Albin, Martin Howe, for the plaintiff.

Sargent, Hollis Niles, for the defendants.

PIKE, J.

The injury for which the plaintiff seeks damages was complete when the change of grade was made, and he was then entitled to compensation for the defendants’ act. His right of action was not affected by the conveyance of the premises.

Page 350

Boynton v. Railroad, 4 Cush. 467, 469; Moore v. Boston, 8 Cush. 274; New York New England R.R. v. Drury, 133 Mass. 167, 169; Bean v. Warner, 38 N.H. 247.

Exception overruled.

PARSONS, J., did not sit: the others concurred.