Ferguson v. Pittsburgh & Shawmut Railroad

Citations

• 253 Pa. 581
• 98 A. 732
• 1916 Pa. LEXIS 894

Syllabus

<p>Eminent domain — Railroad companies — Title—Damages—Measure of damages.</p> <p>1. When the road of a railroad company has been located and its location formally adopted by the directors, title passes to the company as against rival corporations, and when thereafter a bond to secure the damages has been given and accepted by the owner or approved by the court the title to the right .of way passes to the corporation, and the owner of the property is confined to his remedy upon the bond in connection with the statutory provisions for assessment and collection of the damages.</p> <p>2. After the commencement of condemnation proceedings, a railroad company cannot, without plaintiff’s consent, diminish the amount of damages by conceding any of the rights which it has acquired by such proceedings, or by a discontinuing or abandoning the whole or any part of the right of way or any right acquired below or above the surface. The principal and surety on the bond are fixed for the amount of damages sustained as of the date of the appropriation and all such damages the owner is entitled to recover, irrespective of whether the railroad company exercises all the rights which it acquired.</p> <p>3. In determining the amount of damages due in condemnation proceedings, a railroad company should not be allowed to defeat the claim for damages or diminish to any extent the amount thereof by being permitted to concede or grant to the plaintiff an overhead crossing or tramway or any other rights which the defendant acquired by the condemnation proceedings.</p> <p>4. In condemnation proceedings for railroad purposes,, it appeared that plaintiffs-were the owners of three contiguous tracts of land which they had acquired from different owners, that the railroad right of way crossed one of such tracts only, that the three tracts were valuable as one coal proposition which could be advantageously worked from an opening on the smaller tract, crossed by the railroad, and that by means of the