Shipley v. Pittsburg, Carnegie & Western Railroad

Citations

• 216 Pa. 512
• 65 A. 1094
• 1907 Pa. LEXIS 853

Syllabus

<p>Railroads — Eminent domain — Leasehold estate — Extension of lease— Damages — Measure of damages — Evidence—Notice to quit.</p> <p>In an action by a tenant against a railroad company to recover damages for the loss of a leasehold, it is error to submit to the jury the depreciation in value of fixtures in place, and the reasonable cost of removal, as separate and independent items for which a recovery may be had; but if it appears that no objection to such submission was made and that no specific instructions on the subject were asked for at the trial, the judgment will not be reversed.</p> <p>A railroad company which condemns a building in the possession of a tenant under a lease, and at the same time the leasehold interest, cannot exercise the right reserved by the landlord in the lease to require the tenant to vacate the building on ten days’ notice. If such a notice was served before the bond to secure the owner was filed and approved, it was given at a time when the company had no right in the property; if given after the bond to secure the tenant was filed, the status of the parties had become fixed, and the defendant could not, in relief of its obligation, destroy the value of the thing taken.</p>