City of Salem v. Merritt Truax, Inc.

Defendants appeal from a directed verdict entered against them on their inverse condemnation claim. We affirm.

Defendants own a corner lot in Salem, on which they operate a service station. As part of a street widening project, plaintiff condemned a narrow strip along one edge of defendants’ property and closed one of their three driveways.1 Defendants brought a claim for the damages caused by the driveway closure, alleging that their access had inversely been condemned. The trial court, however, determined that the closure was carried out pursuant to a valid exercise of the city’s police…