Hoffman v. Mill Creek Coal Co.

Citations

• 16 Pa. Super. 631
• 1901 Pa. Super. LEXIS 120

Syllabus

<p>Trespass — Damages—Single action.</p> <p>Where injury is caused by trespass on another’s land, since the trespasser cannot remedy the wrong without another trespass, the injury is to be treated as inflicted once for all, and full compensation is to be recovered in one action.</p> <p>Mines and mining — Deposit of coal dirt — Measure of damages.</p> <p>Where coal dirt is wrongfully deposited upon the land of another the measure of damages is the cost of removing the deposits and putting the premises in as good condition as they were before, if that can be done, and compensation for the total or partial loss of the use and enjoyment of the premises in the mean time.</p> <p>If, however, the costs of removing the deposits and restoring the land to its former condition will be greater than the injury from them, if allowed to remain, then the true measure of damages will be the difference between the market value of the land before and after the coal dirt was deposited. Before the latter measure of damages may be invoked it is incumbent on the person injured to give evidence from which a jury may conclude with some degree of certainty that the former measure will not fully compensate him for his injuries.</p> <p>In such a case to show that the soil was unfit for cultivation after plaintiff had ploughed under the culm is not sufficient to entitle him to recover the difference in value upon the theory that the injury was permanent, unless he also shows that the cost of removing it would have been greater than this difference, or unless by reason of the quantity of the deposit, the jury would have been justified in inferring this latter fact without further proof.</p>