179 A. 36 | Pa. | 1935
Plaintiff is the owner of about 99 acres of land in Monroe County. On this land he and his wife maintained a hotel or boarding house, also used by them as a residence, the front of which faced upon a state highway running from Milford to Stroudsburg. In May, 1927, parts of this road were relocated by the Commonwealth, for the purpose of eliminating curves, and at plaintiff's property its bed was shifted so as to run in the rear of the boarding house. The road was further improved by the rebuilding of its surface, concrete replacing the former macadam. In making the relocation the Commonwealth appropriated a strip of plaintiff's land approximately two thousand feet long by fifty feet wide, removed a barn or wagon shed, an ice house and a hog pen, and cut down several fruit and shade trees. As a result of the relocation the road separates the house from a building which is used as a barn or garage, and most of the motor traffic, from *259 which plaintiff has been accustomed to draw trade, now passes in the rear of the boarding house, which presents a less attractive appearance to the new highway, its kitchen facing in that direction. The old road in front of the house remains, connecting the new highway with a road to Shawnee. Damages were awarded plaintiff by viewers, and, the defendant county having appealed from that award, a verdict of $3,000 in plaintiff's favor was returned by the jury. From the judgment entered against it the county has taken this appeal.
Appellant complains of the admission of testimony of several of plaintiff's expert witnesses and of portions of the charge based thereon. These witnesses testified that, in ascertaining the fair market value of the property after the relocation, they took into consideration the probable loss of business to the boarding house from the changed location of the road. This, appellant contends, was an improper inclusion of loss of anticipated profits in the measure of damages. It is true that a specific estimate of future profits cannot constitute a separate item of damages in fixing the compensation to be awarded in cases of this kind: P. R. R. Co. v. Eby,
In Hedrick v. Hbg.,
Appellant further objects to the testimony of plaintiff's experts, claiming that they reached their conclusions as to the depreciation in market value by adding together separate items of damage, and that this was contrary to the doctrine of McSorley v. Avalon Boro. School Dist.,
Judgment affirmed.