Graham v. Pittsburgh etc. R. Co.

Citations

• 145 Pa. 504
• 22 A. 983
• 1891 Pa. LEXIS 688

Syllabus

<p>l. A railroad company, claiming to be the owner of a strip of ground, entered upon it and constructed a railroad thereon. Afterwards, the land having been recovered from it in ejectment, the company filed a bond and appropriated an easement of way under the right of eminent domain. In assessing damages for such appropriation, they were tobe computed as of the date of filing the bond.</p> <p>2. Evidence was admissible, however, to show the condition of the land at the time of the company’s original entry; and the jury were to compare its value in that condition, as of the date of the lawful appropriation, with its value at the same date as affected by the railroad: Wheeling R. Co. v. Warrell, 122 Pa. 613; Allegheny R. Co. v. Col-well, 2 Mona. 300; Oliver v. Railway Co., 131 Pa. 408; Lawrence’s App., 78 Pa. 365, distinguished.</p> <p>3. At the time of such original entry, the strip of land was part of a farm of 131 acres, but, before the filing of the bond, the landowner had conveyed in fee to another company another strip of ground extending across said farm, which that company purchased and used for the roadway of its railroad. Damages for the appropriation of the strip first mentioned, were to be assessed with reference to the 131 acres as a whole.</p>