Hill v. Pardee

Citations

• 143 Pa. 98
• 22 A. 815
• 1891 Pa. LEXIS 908

Syllabus

<p>(a) Plaintiffs declared in case against the lessor and lessee of a coal mine, for a joint act in unlawfully and negligently removing the coal without leaving sufficient surface support, whereby the plaintiffs, as owners of the surface, were injured:</p> <p>1. The evidence, even on the part of the plaintiffs, showing that the coal mine had been demised to the lessee before any of the acts claimed to have caused the injury were done, and that all such acts were done by the lessee, prima facie the lessor was not liable.</p> <p>2. Nor was the lessor of the coal liable in this action, under the covenant of its predecessor in title to the plaintiffs, to make good all damages done to the plaintiffs’ lot by mining operations underneath it, for that covenant was not declared upon as the basis of the action.</p> <p>3. If such covenant had been declared upon* then the lessor and lessee of the coal would have been improperly joined as defendants, the lessee, whose liability arose from a tort pure and simple, not being a party to the covenant: Per Mr. Justice Mitchell.</p> <p>4. Other questions in the case, — the extent to which the obligation of lateral support was applicable in favor of plaintiffs acquiring title after the operation causing the injury had been completed, and the effect of the statute of limitations, — not decided.</p>