218 Pa. 475 | Pa. | 1907
Opinion bt
The plaintiff is the owner of a tract of vacant land in the city of Philadelphia, containing about eight and a quarter acres. Broad street intersects it, affording it a frontage on the west side of 243 feet, and on the east side of 460 feet. Before the change in grade of the street, that part on the ' west side was five feet below the surface of the street, while that on the east side, was three feet above. By municipal action the grade in the street has been elevated some eleven feet, and in consequence plaintiff’s land on the one side is now nine feet below the surface of the street, and on the other side sixteen feet below. In the proceeding to determine what damage plaintiff had sustained, if any, by this change, the plaintiff offered testimony to show the amount and cost of the fill required to bring the surface of her lot to a height which would correspond with that it had before the change in grade was' made! The offer was excluded, and this ruling of the court is assigned for error. There are a number of specifications, but all may be considered together.
James Bond, a witness called by the plaintiff, testified in his examination in chief that the market value of the land before the change in grade of the street was $125,000, and that its value after the change was $60,000, thus fixing the damage at $65,000. On cross-examination he said that he had arrived at his estimate of present value by estimating in a general way the cost of bringing the lot up to the grade of the street, and the area of the ground taken for the widening of the street at a specific price per foot, and by then deducting the aggregate value of these two items from what he had determined as the market value of the land before the change. This was but another way of introducing into the case the element of cost
The admission of evidence to show that the elevation of Broad street was a part of the general scheme of improvement adopted by the city, which included, among other things, a public park in the neighborhood of plaintiff’s land, is assigned as error. It is but repeating a familiar principle that whatever would affect the value of the land in the estimation of the general buyer, whether to raise or depress, may be shown. If the establishing of a public park convenient to plaintiff’s land would add to its value, it is hardly supposable that with the ground for the park already paid for and the park itself partly improved, the general buyer would not allow the probability of its completion to influence his bid. The evidence was properly admitted.
If was within the discretion of the court whether to allow or refuse the request for a view of the premises by the jury. The proceedings were begun before a jury of view. The Act of May 21, 1895, P. L. 89, making such view a matter of right, has regard only to actions brought, and not to proceedings on appeal from the award of viewers appointed by the court. This was expressly ruled by the Superior Court in Frazee v. Light & Heat Company, 20 Pa. Superior Ct. 420, and in the view there expressed we fully concur.
The assignments of error are overruled and the judgment is affirmed.