Weaver v. Berwind-White Coal Co.

Citations

• 216 Pa. 195
• 65 A. 545
• 1907 Pa. LEXIS 780

Syllabus

<p>Mines and mining — Coal mining — Surface support — Lease of coal.</p> <p>A grant of “all the merchantable coal in and underlying” a specified tract of land, excepting and reserving five acres of coal “underlying the buildings and spring,” with the necessary mining rights to mine and remove the coal does not by necessary implication waive the right of support under all that part of the tract except such as was expressly reserved.</p> <p>Mines and mining — Surface support — Damages—Measure of damages.</p> <p>The measure of damages for permanent and irremedial injuries to land caused by failure to give surface support is the actual loss in the depreciation of the value thereof. The permanance of the injury is the test for the application of the rule.</p> <p>If the injury is reparable the cost of repairing may be recovered, and if the cost of repairing is greater than the diminution in the market value, the latter is the true measure of damages. In all such cases just compensation for the loss sustained by the trespass is what the injured party is entitled to recover. When the injury is permanent, the measure of damages is the difference in market value before and after the injury.</p> <p>In a proceeding to assess damages for injuries to land caused by failure to supply proper surface support, it is error to admit testimony showing the value of the springs in themselves, as a separate, independent item not connected with the general value of the land; but the value of the springs as an element in estimating the value of the land, or the destruction of them, in determining the depreciation in the value of the land after the injury, is a proper matter for the consideration of the jury.</p> <p>In an action to recover damages for failure to provide surface support, witnesses in their preliminary examination to establish their competency, may be asked as to their familiarity with the fertility of the soil, and the uses for which it was adapted, and if in this manner it is