Schuylkill River R. v. Stocker

Citations

• 128 Pa. 233
• 24 W.N.C. 455
• 18 A. 399
• 1889 Pa. LEXIS 787

Syllabus

<p>1. In a proceeding to assess damages arising from the construction of a railroad, it is error to allow a witness to value a part of the property and to state the effect of the road upon the value of that part alone, as it violates the rule fixing as the measure of damages the difference between the value of the land as a whole before the building of the road and its value after.</p> <p>(a) A witness in such a cause, a conveyancer and real estate broker, had investigated the selling prices of several properties one or two miles from the farm in question; he had gone upon, inspected, and estimated the value of 32 acres of the farm affected by the railroad, and had seen the remaining 52 acres in passing along the highway, but had never been upon it.</p> <p>2. Such witness was a competent witness to express his opinion as to the effect of the railroad upon the whole tract, but it was not permissible for him to value the 32 acres separately and to give his opinion as to the effect of the railroad thereon, though stating that he excluded the rest of the farm from consideration because in his opinion unaffected by the railroad.</p> <p>3. A sewing machine agent, not residing in the vicinity of the land in question, who as a special agent had made efforts to sell a neighboring property, but was not shown to have other means of knowledge as to land values in the neighborhood, was incompetent to express an opinion as to the value of the land in question and the effect of the railroad upon it.</p> <p>4. Testimony that a witness had improved a parcel of ground eight squares distant from the land in question and nearer to the built up portion of a city, by building on it many dwellings, and that building operations were still in progress, is inadmissible to show the value of the land in question for future building purposes, because introducing into the inquiry a speculative element not legitimate.</p> <p>5. When assessed valuations of the property for purposes of city taxatio