Robb v. New York & Cleveland Gas Coal Co.

Citations

• 216 Pa. 418
• 65 A. 938
• 1907 Pa. LEXIS 833

Syllabus

<p>Mines and mining — Idfe estate — Damages—Misconstruction of instrument —Treble damages.</p> <p>Where a grantee under a deed in fee simple of land on which is an open coal mine, agrees in writing that his grantors “shall have the privilege and right to remain on said property during their natural lives, or the natural life of the survivor of them, free from the payment of any rent, taxes, assessments, or encumbrance of any kind,” and the grantors occupy the land and continue the mining of coal thereon for eleven years, Held, by a divided court that a person claiming under the grantee cannot dispute ■ their life estate in the coal, or their right to exhaust the coal, and if he himself mistakenly construes the instrument under which they claim, and mines the coal on the land, he will be liable to them in treble damages.</p> <p>Res adjudícala — Hearing on the merits.</p> <p>A claim of res adjudicata cannot be set up where there has been no hearing on the merits of the case.</p>