Sweeney v. City of Scranton

Citations

• 74 Pa. Super. 348
• 1920 Pa. Super. LEXIS 152

Syllabus

<p>Municipalities — Streets—Change of grade — Pavements — Damages — Benefits—Assessments—Appeals—Acts of May 15, 1918, P. L. 215, and May 28, 1915, P. L. 578.</p> <p>Where a municipality cuts down the grade of a road, the owner of the abutting property is entitled to damages measured by the difference in value of the property before and after the improvement. The municipality is entitled to have considered the benefits special to the abutting property, and no less so because all the other properties along the line of the improvement may be similarly benefited.</p> <p>The benefits to be considered are not limited to such as are peculiar to the plaintiff’s property, as compared with other property abutting on the improvement, but should be compared with other properties not abutting upon the improvement.</p> <p>The appeal from the award of viewers brings up the whole case, including both damages and benefits, as it is from the net amount only and the proceedings in the common pleas are de novo.</p> <p>The Act of May 15, 1913, P. L. 215, was not repealed by the Act of May 28, 1915, P. L. 573. Neither in the title or the body of the statute is there any foundation for a suggestion that it was the legislative intention to change the existing law regulating the reports of viewers and appeals from their findings.</p>