Section 9 Redetermination of damages; procedure - Massachusetts Statutes

Section 9. Any person aggrieved by the determination of the commissioners with respect to his compensation or damages may have a redetermination thereof by a jury by making application therefor within twenty days after the sending of the notice of the filing of the commissioners’ draft report. The application may be placed on the trial list of the next ensuing sitting of the court with jury in the county and heard and determined in the same manner as other civil cases and may be advanced for speedy trial; but if there are two or more such applications with respect to a particular public improvement which cannot be heard forthwith without unduly delaying the trial of other civil cases, the court may direct that a special jury be summoned to hear and determine all such applications. The administrative justice for the superior court department shall preside or designate a justice sitting in said department to preside over the sittings of such special jury, who shall have in the hearing and determination of such applications all the powers of a justice appointed to said department presiding over the trial of an ordinary civil action. The award of the commissioners shall be prima facie evidence of the compensation or damages to which the applicant is entitled, and the jury shall not award compensation or damages to any person in a greater amount than as alleged by him in his answer nor less than as estimated by the board. If the jury does not agree upon a verdict, or if the verdict is set aside, the applicant shall be entitled to a new jury from time to time until a verdict has been rendered and established; but he may at any time, upon terms, waive his right to a trial by jury and accept the compensation or damages awarded by the commissioners.