Lehman v. Chambersburg & Gettysburg Electric Railway Co.

Citations

• 224 Pa. 276
• 73 A. 440
• 1909 Pa. LEXIS 779

Syllabus

<p>Street railway companies — Eminent domain — Relocation of tracks— Consent of property owners — Injunction—Costs.</p> <p>1. If a street railway company seeks to exercise the right of eminent domain conferred upon street railways by the Act of June 1, 1907, P. L. 368, for the purpose of relocating a portion of its tracks, it may do so after it has secured the consent of the owners of at least fifty-one per centum of the foot frontage of the entire distance traversed longitudinally on the highway in the township. It is not a prerequisite to the exercise to the right of eminent domain that the owners of fifty-one per centum of the foot frontage covered by the relocation at a particular point, shall be obtained.</p> <p>2. Where a street railway company laid its tracks prior to the act of June 1, 1907, along one side of a public road, except at one point where it deflected its tracks by a jog to the other side of the road on account of an injunction secured by a nonconsenting abutting landowner, the company may after the passage of the Act of June 1, 1907, P. L. 368, exercise the right of eminent domain to straighten its line and relocate its tracks at the point of deflection, without again getting the consents of the owners of fifty-one per centum of the foot frontage on the road. The consents procured prior to the passage of the act are sufficient to sustain the exercise of the right of eminent domain at the point in question.</p> <p>3. Where an injunction is properly issued prior to the Act of June 1, 1907, P. L. 268, restraining a street railway company from laying its tracks on a road in front of an owner’s property, and after the passage of the act, and after the street railway company has announced its intention to relocate its tracks in front of plaintiff’s land, the case is tried, and the injunction is improperly continued until the new consent shall be obtained, the Supreme Court in reversing the decree will impose the costs upon the street railway company.</