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June 27, 2008

Court: Sail Inn seizure legal

By Mindy Favreau

Maine's highest court has upheld the Maine Department of Transportation's decision to seize the Sail Inn Restaurant in Prospect by eminent domain, citing a lack of evidence other than the restaurant owners' personal opinion.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court in Portland yesterday ruled that the DOT did not exceed its authority in 2003 when it took the restaurant and five acres of land to build the Penobscot Narrows Bridge, according to the Bangor Daily News. Sail Inn's owners, brothers Paul and Robert Dyer, filed a lawsuit in 2005, arguing that the DOT did not need the land, but took it anyway to prevent the restaurant from operating there. The DOT argued that the restaurant's location posed a traffic hazard near the bridge.

In a separate pending lawsuit, the Dyers also have challenged the $470,000 the state claims commission gave them for the property.

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