Berkey v. Berwind-White Coal Mining Co.

Citations

• 229 Pa. 417
• 78 A. 1004
• 1911 Pa. LEXIS 510

Syllabus

<p>Mines and mining — Coal mining — Surface support — Lateral support— Measure of damages.</p> <p>1. Where there is no waiver of surface support, the owner of the surface is entitled to absolute support of his land, not as an easement or right depending on a supposed grant, but as a proprietary right at common law, and this right which the servient estate owes to the dominant estate does not depend on whether the mining operations are conducted skillfully or negligently and carelessly.</p> <p>2. If an injury caused by failure to support the surface is reparable or curable with reasonable effort and expense less than the value of the property, the measure of damages is what it will cost to make the repairs. If the injury is permanent the measure of damages is the difference in market value of the land before and after the injury inflicted by the mining operations.</p> <p>3. The principle that the owner of land has the right to mine and remove his coal without liability for injuries done subterranean streams of water flowing to neighboring land has no application to the right of the owner of the surface against the owner of the coal thereunder to recover damages for injuries to the surface by mine operations.</p> <p>Evidence — Cross-examination—Examination in chief.</p> <p>4. A party will not be permitted in cross-examination to introduce matters which should have been introduced in the examination in chief, if competent at all.</p> <p>5. In an action to recover damages for injuries to surface of land where a witness testifies that he had seen depressions in the surface caused by the removal of coal below, he cannot on cross-examination be asked whether he had not in another case, concerning different land, testified that he had seen depressions due to the removal of coal, and that subsequently it had been ascertained that no coal had been removed from the land in question.</p>