Lawsuit Over Sudbury Eversource Project Dismissed — For Now

SUDBURY, MA — For the second time this year, the local residents suing to stop a utility project that would also result in the construction of a new section of the Mass Central Rail Trail in Sudbury and Hudson have voluntarily ended their case.

But like the last case dismissal in January, the plaintiffs may bring the lawsuit back for a new attempt.

For years, the group Protect Sudbury has been trying to stop an Eversource project that's currently underway to bury transmission lines under a defunct rail line owned by the MBTA from the Wayland line to a substation in Hudson. After Eversource finishes, the state Department of Conservation and Recreation is planning to pave over the buried power lines to add a link along the Mass Central Rail Trail.

The most recent attempt to stop Eversource involved a state Land Court lawsuit filed in January led by two Hudson-based companies with land that buts the former rail line. That case was filed after Protect Sudbury dismissed its own case to focus on plaintiffs from Hudson.

Hudson plaintiffs Borg Brothers, LLC, and Most Noble, LLC, were attempting to prove they had a stake in how the MBTA purchased the land in the 1970s. A land court ruling in their favor might give the LLCs a chance to ask a powerful federal agency that oversees rail lines to make a new ruling on the status of the rail line, which could end the Eversource project. That agency, the Surface Transportation Board, has twice declined to take on the matter.

"The Hudson plaintiffs claim to have a fee interest in the MBTA’s railroad right-of-way corridor contrary to the positions taken by the T and Eversource that a 1977 taking divested all landowners along the line of their fee interests," Protect Sudbury said in an update in January. "Many of the lands were in fact just easements for surface transportation and did not convey a full fee. Most importantly, the landowners believe that the 1977 taking is void because the MBTA has no jurisdictional authority in Hudson. The T’s enabling statute ... specifies the municipalities over which the T has transit authority; Hudson is not included."

In May, Land Court Judge Jennifer Roberts said the matter was out of the court's jurisdiction because the two LLCs had not proven they "owned some portion of the fee of the property in dispute." The judge was ready to dismiss the case then, but suspended the order to give the plaintiffs until July 19 to provide property records supporting their interest.

On Thursday, Borg Brothers and Most Noble filed to dismiss their case. The filing said the case would be dismissed "without prejudice" — a legal term that means the plaintiffs can re-file the suit again.

Protect Sudbury founder Ray Phillips has said the group does not oppose the rail trail, but wants to "protect the environment, water supply, landscape, health, safety, historic character and property values of the town" from the Eversource project. However, if the Eversource project were halted, the rail trail would not be built.

Eversource began work on the project in fall 2022. Since then, construction crews have been clearing vegetation and installing infrastructure like cable vaults and manholes.

DCR has said work on the 7-1/2 mile section of the Mass Central Rail Trail could begin in 2024. The new link would connect to the portion that begins in Wayland near Route 20 and continues east to Waltham.