225 Pa. 262 | Pa. | 1909
Opinion by
The appellee for many years had been the owner of a rectangular tract of land located within the municipal limits of the city of Wilkes-Barre containing nearly thirty acres, eighteen acres of which were high ground available for building lots and the remainder was low ground suitable for agricultural purposes. As the city grew in population the land in question became available as a residential section. Several tracts near the land of appellee were purchased, divided into lots and sold as building sites. Appellee, evidently considering that his property was adapted to the same purpose, laid out the eighteen acres of high ground into building lots, plotted streets and alleys, all of which were marked on the ground, and offered the lots for sale. It is true that at the time of the appropriation no actual sales had been made, but this is explained by the fact that the asking price óf the pwner was $1,500 per lot, while the best price offered was only $1,000. He would not accept the price offered, and so the lots remained unsold. The testimony, however, clearly shows that the lots, streets and alleys were laid out and marked on the ground; that they were located in a section of the city desirable for building purposes; and that they were available
The fifth and sixth assignments relate to the refusal of the court below to strike out the testimony of a large number of witnesses because it is alleged that it was based upon their estimate of what said lands would ultimately bring if laid out in building lots and so sold, and not upon the market value of the land before and after the entry. These assignments are in plain violation of rule 29 of this court. Each error relied on must be specified particularly and by itself. Each distinct question must be made the subject of a separate assignment. Embodying in one assignment the alleged error of the trial court in refusing to strike out the testimony of four or more different witnesses is in violation of the rule: Brown v. Forest Water Co., 213 Pa. 440.
The seventh assignment also relates to the basis of estimating market value. At the trial a point was submitted asking the court to instruct the jury to disregard all the testimony of the plaintiff and his witnesses as to the value of the land based on their estimates of what might ultimately be realized from a sale of building lots because such valuation is speculative and too remote. The court answered, this point is correct if there be any testimony showing that the estimates were based on future sales. The appellant has nothing to com
The first seven assignments go to the question of whether it is proper in estimating the value of land taken in condemnation proceedings to consider its availability for sale as building lots. Some of our recent cases are relied on to sustain the contention that it is not. Gorgas v. Railroad Co., 215 Pa. 501; Hamory v. Railroad Co., 222 Pa. 631, are cited for this purpose. What was said in these cases if not considered in connection with their facts might appear to give support to the view now earnestly pressed upon us. These cases, however, must be read and understood in view of the situation at the time of the entry. The entry in these cases was made on farm lands in rural districts and they were not immediately available for sale as building lots. The effort was made to add a fictitious value to the lands entered upon by undertaking to show that they could be divided into lots and might be sold for building purposes. It was apparent, however, that this was all speculative and had no real basis in fact. The lands appropriated were farm lands, and in determining their value it was necessary to limit the inquiry to those intrinsic elements of value existing at the time of the appropriation. In the case last cited a witness was asked on preliminary cross-examination if his estimate of what the property was worth at the time of the entry was based upon what it would bring if it had been laid out in building lots and all the lots had been sold at what he considered them worth, to which an affirmative answer was given. This court held that the method of estimating market value indicated by the answer of the witness was improper. This case was clearly right on its facts. The tract of land had not been laid out in lots. It was farm land. There was no immediate prospect of its being available for sale as building lots and hence such a method of estimating value would be purely speculative.
The test in every such case is, what was the market value of the land, at the time of the appropriation, for any available purpose. If it was then available for sale as building lots and
Assignments of error overruled and judgment affirmed.