Truby v. American Natural Gas Co.
Truby v. American Natural Gas Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
We cannot agree with the defendant’s counsel that the plaintiff was not entitled to recover under the pleadings. He brought suit in trespass and alleged in his statement of claim that the defendant with force and arms entered upon his land, describing it, and laid a pipe line through and in the same, against the will of the plaintiff, which it continued to maintain to the date of suit brought. The defendant pleaded not guilty. On the trial of the issue plaintiff adduced proof of the entry, the laying and maintenance of the pipe line, and the damages, as for a permanent injury, resulting therefrom, and then rested. In defense the defendant introduced a writing called a right of way contract, whereby the plaintiff granted to the defendant the right to lay, and from time to time to replace, maintain and remove a pipe line of any size not exceeding six inches through the plaintiff’s land, being the land described in the statement, and
The remaining question is as to the measure of damages. It is apparent that the injury complained of is not of a temporary but of a permanent nature. This is not seriously questioned by the defendant's counsel. There are numerous cases in which it has been held that where there is a permanent injury to real estate the plaintiff is entitled to recover damages measured by the resulting depreciation in the value of the property. Most of these were cited and reviewed by Mr. Justice Potter in Rabe v. Shoenberger Coal Co., 213 Pa. 252. See also Carpenter v. Lancaster, 212 Pa. 581; Linton v. Armstrong Water Co., 29 Pa. Superior Ct. 172, and Becker v. Lebanon, etc., Ry. Co., 30 Pa. Superior Ct. 546. The case of Hankey v. Philadelphia Co., 5 Pa. Superior Ct. 148, is directly in point. There a company having the right of eminent domain, as this company has, without tender of bond or effort to agree as to damages, laid a gas pipe and erected a telephone line along a public road through the land of the plaintiff, who knew of the work and not only made no active effort to stop it, but actually assisted in it. It was held that he was estopped from depriving the defendant of the easement it had acquired, though entitled to compensation through a common-law action for the injuries he had sustained, including those resulting from a permanent occupancy of his land. This case was not overruled nor was its authority questioned in the recent case of Davis v. Southwest Pipe Lines, 34 Pa. Superior Ct. 438. On the contrary, it was distinctly declared in the opinion of the Supreme Court upon appeal from our decision, not yet reported, that what was held in Hankey v. Philadelphia Co. is the undoubted law. It is apparent, how
We have discussed the two questions which are alluded to in the appellant’s statement of the questions involved and in the argument of its learned counsel. We deem it unnecessary, therefore, to comment upon the several assignments of error, further than to say that we discover no reversible error in any of the rulings there complained of.
The judgment is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Truby v. American Natural Gas Company
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- 5 cases
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- Syllabus
- Corporations — Pipe line companies — Unlawful entry on land — Trespass —Pleading■—Anticipatory replication — Damages. 1. Where in an action of trespass against a pipe line company, the plaintiff avers in his statement that the defendant wrongfully entered upon the plaintiff’s land and laid a pipe line against the plaintiff’s will, and the defendant sets up a right of way agreement with the plaintiff, giving the defendant a right to enter upon the land and lay a pipe line, the plaintiff may in rebuttal show that the pipe line actually laid was in a substantially different location than that mentioned in the agreement. The plaintiff in such a case is not bound to anticipate a defense of this character and answer it, in his pleadings. 2. A permanent injury to land caused by the laying of a pipe line entitles the owner of the land to recover damages measured by the resulting depreciation in the value of the property. 3. Where a landowner has knowledge that a pipe line company is laying a pipe line on his land, without having tendered him a bond, or made any effort with him to agree as to damages, he is not thereafter estopped from suing the company in trespass for damages for the permanent injuries to his property. In such a case the owner has a right to waive his constitutional and statutory right to security for his damages, and make claim in his action of trespass for permanent injuries to his property as if the company had given such security.