M.B. Claff, Inc. v. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

In this appeal, we have been asked to rule that the statute setting the interest rate for judgments in eminent domain cases, G. L. c. 79, § 37,1 is unconstitutional because, as applied to this plaintiff, the rate that it prescribes is so low as to be *597confiscatory pursuant to the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution (owner entitled to “just compensation” when property taken for public use) and art. 10 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights (owner entitled to “reasonable compensation”). The plaintiffs request for utilization of a rate of interest higher than that provided by…