Brittain v. Monroe County

Citations

• 214 Pa. 648
• 63 A. 1076
• 1906 Pa. LEXIS 716

Syllabus

<p>Change of venue — County—Local prejudice — Local interest — Interest of judge — Act of March 30, 1875, P. L. 35.</p> <p>Where in an action a county is defendant, and the plaintiffs file an affidavit “that local prejudice exists, and that a fair trial cannot be had in said county,” the court is bound to make an order changing the venue. If the petitioners aver that a large number of the inhabitants of the county have an interest in the question involved, adverse to the plaintiffs, it is the duty of the court to hear testimony in order to ascertain the truth of that averment in the petition.</p> <p>The fact that the president judge is a pi’operty owner and taxpayer in a county which is a party defendant in a suit, does not make him “personally interested in the event of such cause, or in the question to be determined thereby,” within the meaning and intent of paragraph 1 of section 1, of the Act of March 30, 1875.</p>