Lafean v. York County

Citations

• 20 Pa. Super. 573
• 1902 Pa. Super. LEXIS 279

Syllabus

<p>Bond law — Change of grade — Approach to bridge — Bridge.</p> <p>The York county act of February 17, 1860, P. L. 61, “ relating to roads and bridges in York county,” applies only to the persons whose land has been taken, and affords no remedy for consequential injuries to land not taken, caused by the erection of an approach to a county bridge.</p> <p>Where proceedings have been instituted under the Act of May 16,1891, P. L. 75, for the assessment of damages for injuries to land caused by the construction of an approach to a county bridge, and the county commissioners successfully object to the proceedings, upon the ground that the act does not apply, and the landowner then proceeds by an action of trespass and secures a verdict and judgment in his favor after a trial on the merits, the county commissioners cannot object to the judgment on the ground that the plaintiff’s proper remedy was under the Act of May 16, 1891, P. L. 75.</p> <p>Where the erection of a structure in the highway results in the impairment of access to the premises and interference with light, the property owner is entitled to damages for the peculiar injury which he suffers, and it is immaterial that the impairment was a partial and not a total deprivation of access.</p> <p>As the approach to a bridge is part of a highway, it is not improper to speak of such a structure as. occasioning an “ elevation of the grade of the highway.”</p> <p>Where property is injured by the construction of an approach to a bridge in the highway, on which the property is situated, the measure of damages is the difference in the market value of the premises immediately before and immediately after the erection of the bridge as affected by its erection only.</p> <p>Boad law — Practice, C. P. — Taking jury to view the locus in quo.</p> <p>In an action against a county to recover damages for injuries to property by reason of the construction of a bridge, the trial court commits no error, in the exercise of a sound disc