Miller v. Buffalo & Susquehanna Railroad

Citations

• 29 Pa. Super. 515
• 1905 Pa. Super. LEXIS 368

Syllabus

<p>Railroads — Bridges—Damages to landowner — Obstruction of stream — Waters.</p> <p>In an action of trespass against a railroad company to recover damages to land caused by the obstruction of a stream, it appeared that plaintiff’s predecessor in title obtained damages for the land taken by the railroad company for its right of way. At the time the railroad was built there was a bridge across a stream on the land. The bridge had vents for the water of about fourteen feet each in width. Subsequently to the award of damages, and prior to the time when plaintiff acquired title, the railroad company caused bents or trusses to be placed under the bridge to sustain it, in such a way that the outlet for the water was reduced from fourteen feet to seven feet where one bent was erected between, the piers, and four feet and a fraction where two bents had been so constructed. There was no evidence that the bents were constructed in a faulty or negligent manner, as far as their mechanical construction was concerned. The evidence showed that the injuries of which plaintiff complained were caused by the backing of the water of the stream produced either by the lodging of ice, or the accumulation of flood debris against the piers and bents of the bridge, and that if the opening in the piers had been as they were originally constructed there would have been room for the free passage of the water, and the ordinary accumulation of drift as they were allowed to pass prior to the erection and construction of the bents and trusses. Held, that the case was for the jury and that a verdict and judgment for plaintiff should be sustained.</p>